


Kirby! Dreamland Chronicles

by Silver_Warrior_Wolf



Category: kirby - Fandom
Genre: AU, Gen, long fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-28
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2018-07-27 06:59:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 113
Words: 565,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7608301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_Warrior_Wolf/pseuds/Silver_Warrior_Wolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kirby is a little Star Warrior living out his life in Dreamland. Follow his adventures as he faces his foes, makes new friends, and does everything he can to keep his beautiful home at peace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Glimpse of the Past, Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Kirby and related characters belong to Nintendo, Hal Laboratories, 4Kids, and Warpstar Inc.

Dreamland. The very sound of the name calls to mind a place where fanciful things occur. And rightly so it should, for this is the land where dreams are made. For as long as anyone can remember, the country of Dreamland, on the planet Pop Star of the Gamble Galaxy, has housed the Fountain of Dreams. It is from this wellspring that the dreams of its citizens flows from. It rests in the center courtyard of the palace of King Dedede, where it is free to send the dreams of many individuals throughout the planet.

Once, however, the dreams did not flow, for the fountain had been corrupted by a wicked being imprisoned within, known only as Nightmare.

Nightmare was a terrible creature who ran a huge organization of monsters known to the public as NME. For years, the forces of NME waged war to take over the universe. His only opponents had been a brave race of fighters, the Star Warriors. The monsters and Star Warriors fought against each other for years, until a brave fighter among the Star Warrior's ranks, a valiant Puffal named Meta Knight, defeated Nightmare and locked him, unconscious, in the fountain of dreams. There Meta Knight stayed, vigilant to make sure the prisoner wouldn't wake or escape. He wouldn't have, either, if it wasn't for Dedede.

King Dedede, the so-called king of Dreamland, accidentally awakened Nightmare, who began to corrupt the Fountain of Dreams. Dedede attempted to stop Nightmare's fear from spreading, but he was not a wise individual, and due to his inability to communicate properly, Nightmare was accidently released from his prison by Kirby, a well-meaning baby Puffal.

Once he realized his mistake, Kirby worked, with the help of his allies, to obtain the Star Rod, defeat Nightmare, and to repair the fountain of dreams so that all the dreams of the Pop Star once again flowed free. All was once again at peace in Dreamland.

However, Nightmare had not been destroyed, only weakened. You see, Nightmare had faced Kirby without fear for he knew only a Star Warrior could wield the Star Rod. He was not, however, aware that Kirby, young though he was, was a fledgling Star Warrior, so his defeat at the hands of the infant was both shocking and humiliating. He allowed the Dreamlanders to believe that he was destroyed, and crept back to the shambles of his forces to rebuild his army.

One day, when he is strong again, Nightmare will take his troops back to get vengeance on Dreamland, and especially on Dedede, Meta Knight, and Kirby.

But right now is not that day…

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

Right now, Kirby was enjoying a bright Dreamland day. Like any young one his age, Kirby was not content with just staying inside, especially on such a bright beautiful day. Thus, when he was invited to play outside with some of his friends on a scavenger hunt, the pink Puffal jumped at the chance. Though at first, he didn't quite understand the rules.

"No, Kirby!" Tuff, a young Dreamland boy, cried. "You're supposed to hold on to the scavenger hunt items, not eat them!"

Nearby, Tiff, Tuff's sister, laughed. "What did you expect when you put apples, grapes, and a watermelon as some of the items on the list?"

"Yeah," Ado, one of the resident painters added as she handed a dandelion to her twin, Adeleine. "He can't keep food out of his mouth, not to mention in the basket!"

"Be gentle with him!" Ribbon, a fairy from the nearby planted of Ripple Star, scolded. "He's only a baby, and he's doing the best he can. Aren't you."

Kirby looked up happily after he swallowed the remainder of the watermelon. "Poyo wawa-mewon!" he excitedly proclaimed.

Suddenly, something caught the infant Star Warrior's eye. Without another word of warning, he dashed up into a nearby tree, and stretched out to look over the horizon.

"What is it Kirby?" Tiff asked after Kirby had taken a hold of a tree branch. "Do you see something?"

"Poyo! Poyo poyo poyo!" the little Puffal excitedly bounced up and down on the tree branch, pointing towards the distance. "Poyo wook!"

"I think he's telling us to look that way." Ado turned to her twin. "Adeleine, get on my shoulders. Tell us if you see anything."

Adeleine complied, and strained he eyes to see out over the distance. Suddenly she gasped. "Hey guys! He's right! Theirs smoke out over the distance! It looks like someone crashed right past Kabu Canyon!"

"We'd better head over there to make sure everything's alright," Ribbon stated, and the others nodded in agreement.

After travelling some distance, they came across a small purple and white ship, which sure enough, had crashed. There was some fire, but Kirby quickly put it out with his inhale ability. Once it was safe to proceed, the children began to move the wreckage away.

"Hello!" Tuff called out. "Is anybody in here?"

"Help!" a voice cried out from within the ship. "I'm trapped beneath the control panel!"

The children, upon hearing the voice, headed in that direction and began clearing away the debris. Soon they had unearthed a female alien with purple hair and eyes.

"Oh, thank you!" the woman exclaimed. "I was so worried that no one was going to find me. And I have such important business-" The woman cut herself off once she caught a glimpse of Kirby. "My! Are you the Star Warrior Meta Knight?"

"Poyo Kaabii Medikni! Poyo Dedededede poyo!" Kirby cried out.

"This isn't Meta Knight," Ado translated. "This is Kirby. Meta Knight is at Castle Dedede."

"I must get there immediately then." The woman hoisted herself up. "I have urgent business with Meta Knight!" After taking a few steps forward, however, she stumbled and fell, clutching her side.

"You're too hurt to go that far," Tuff said, helping the woman to her feet. "Kirby's house isn't too far from here. We'll take you there. Ribbon, please go to Castle Dedede and ask Meta Knight to meet us at Kirby's house."

The little fairy saluted. "You got it!"

"By the way," Tiff continued, "that was our friend Ribbon. My name is Tiff. This is my brother Tuff, and these are our friend Ado and Adeleine. What's your name?"

The woman smiled. "Zaroffina."

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

It had been fairly peaceful at Castle Dedede for the last couple of days. Or, at least, as peaceful as it can be with a total pengu-child for a king. Still, all was well for the time being, so Meta Knight was taking this as an opportunity to just relax.

He was reclining in the hammock in his room with his mask off. He couldn't see anything without the corrective lenses in the visor, but that didn't matter right now. What mattered was that all was quiet and was going to be able to get some well-deserved rest.

Or, at least, he thought he was. He was just starting to doze when a loud knocking resounded in his room. "Meta Knight! Quick! It's an emergency!"

Hearing the urgency in the voice, the seasoned warrior shot up and grabbed his mask. He rushed to the door, and swung it open. "What is it? What's the emergency?" To his surprise however, there was no one there.

He turned around, and realized that the knocking was coming from the window. Outside, Ribbon was madly thrusting herself against the glass. In response, Meta Knight opened the widow and repeated his questions.

Ribbon panted as she gave her answer. "We-we were playing outside of Kirby's house wh-when Kirby spotted at plume of smoke. We followed it t-to the crash site, and there was a person inside of it. She was hurt, but said she had urgent business with you. You-you need to come back to Kirby's…"

Meta Knight nodded. "I will come." He picked the fairy up, as she was too worn out for the return flight, and stretched out his own wings, a pair of blue-black bat-like wings which were typically hidden beneath his cape.

Ribbon held on tight as they flew away. Meta Knight was a fast flier. Even at her fastest, she couldn't match his speed. Still, she hoped that they wouldn't be too late.

(0u0) (0u0^) (^0u0^) (0u0^) (0u0)(0u0) (0u0^) (^0u0^) (0u0^) (0u0)(0u0) (0u0^) (^0u0^) (0u0^)

Zaroffina was resting as the children awaited for Meta Knight's arrival. They did not have to wait long, however, as the sound of flapping wings announced the elder Star Warrior's arrival.

"Medikni! Poyo!" Kirby exclaimed excitedly, before anyone else could do anything, the pink Puffal rushed out to greet his mentor.

Meta Knight's eyes tuned pink with amusement. Kirby did this just about every time they met, even when it was time for training exercises. He couldn't help but wonder if this was what he was like at sixty years of age.

Meta Knight strode forward, doing his best not to trip over the dancing toddler. "I was told that someone had urgent business with me."

"That would be Zaroffina," Adeleine said, motioning inside the house. "She's resting in side."

Something about that name tripped a warning signal in Meta Knight's head. However, nothing in particular came to mind, so he shook it off and entered into the house.

As he did, Zaroffina rose from the bed. Meta Knight bowed deeply (or, at least as deeply as you can when your body is a ball.) "I was told you have news for me, Madam."

Zaroffina nodded. "Yes, and it's quite important that we begin at once." She began as if to speak, but then turned and glared at the children. "Privately."

"Aww, come on!" Tuff exclaimed. "We won't tell anyone! Promise!" The others clambered in agreement, eager to hear what would be so important it would require the attention of the veteran Star Warrior.

"Not everything is meant to be heard by everyone," Meta Knight scolded. "Please wait outside for us to finish."

The children disappointedly trundled outside, when Zaroffina added, "Kirby may stay. What we have to speak of concerns him as well."

Kirby turned to the others questioningly. "Poyo?"

"Go on," Tiff responded. "If you're allowed you can listen."

"Yeah," Tuff whispered to the baby, "and tell us what the big deal's about."

"Poyo!" Kirby eagerly skipped back into the tiny house.

Once he was inside, the door was shut. Meta Knight held up a hand, motioning for silence. After a moment, he turned. "They have not left, so we must be quiet."

The woman laughed. "That is to be expected. Children have a natural need to know everything that's going on. I know I did. Still do."

The three moved into the other room, and the two Puffals turned to their guest. Now that the setting had been made more privet, she initiated her message.

"I'm so glad I found you," Zaroffina began. "There are several things that are very important that I need to collect. You must give them to me."

Meta Knight's eyes flashed bight green in suspicion. He moved closer to Kirby, ready to protect the younger Star Warrior if necessary. "And what would they be?"

The alien's smile turned greedy. She said a single word. "You." With that, she released a small metal canister, which filled the room with smoke.

Meta Knight wrapped Kirby in his cape, as if trying to keep the baby away from the gas, and made a dash for the door. However, it was too late, as both of them had already been exposed. The gas worked fast, and the veteran only stayed awake long enough to see Kirby fall unconscious. Then the darkness took him.

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

Outside, the other kids awaited the meeting to end.

"This is bogus!" Tuff grumbled in frustration. "Every time there's some cool Star Warrior-y thing that's going on, we get shooed out!"

"Come on, Tuff," Tiff said, shaking her head. "We don't need to know every single thing that's going on."

"But what if it's something to do with Nightmare?" he exclaimed. "Wouldn't we want to know what's happening so that we can help Kirby this time?!"

"Nightmare? You surely can't be that stupid," a rude voice called out. The children turned, and saw Kirby's bad-mannered neighbor, Tokkori, fly down from his nest.

"That ball a' wind was dealt with a long time ago!" the bird continued. "You gotta be real paranoid if you think he's coming back."

"But after that Meta Knight told us not to let our guard down," Adeleine piped up.

"Yeah!" her twin added. "He said that Nightmare was defeated, but not destroyed, and that he would come back."

"That Creampuff's got his mask on too tight," Tokkori said dismissively. "Besides, if-" Before the bird could finish, there was a loud pop from inside Kirby's house. Immediately, the children rushed to the door to see what happened.

Tiff pulled on the door, but much to her distress, it didn't budge. "Something's made it stuck!" she called out. "Ribbon, can you sense anything inside?"

The little fairy concentrated. "Meta Knight and Kirby are afraid, but I can't feel anything clearer than that!" She focused harder. "I think she did something to them!"

Before anything else could be done, a huge vessel, which had be invisible just a few moments ago, appeared above the small house. A long, tentacle like pipe descended on the place, demolishing both Kirby's house and Tokkori's tree. When it rose again, there was a pile of rubble where the structure once stood, and there was no sign of the three who had been inside.

Tokkori was the first to recover from what had just happened. "My Tree! That thing just destroyed my tree!"

"Where'd they go?" Adeleine gasped, as the others scrambled for some sign of their missing friends.

"I'm not sure," Tiff said, "but I think we'd better tell Dad what happened."

"Sword and Blade, too!" Ribbon added. "And we'd better hurry. Kirby and Meta Knight might be in danger."

The children hurried towards Castle Dedede. Tokkori took flight after them. "I'm coming too!" he stated. "This is that knight's fault, so I'm gonna give his boss a piece of my mind!"

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

The first thing Kirby was aware of when he woke up was the feeling of something digging into his side. He moved over to get away from the offending item, but only found himself plagued by a similar bother. "Poyo," he mumbled sleepily as he pushed himself to his feet. It took a minute, but soon his blue eyes were glowing, which allowed him to survey his surroundings.

There really wasn't much to look at. He was in a room that looked as if it was woven out of sticks and straw. Nearby, Meta Knight lay, still unconscious and stripped of both mask and armor. Without these items, Meta Knight looked nearly identical to Kirby, just blue and with a pair of large bat wings, which were currently splayed out by the position he was laying in.

Surrounding the duo in a semicircle fashion lay seven brightly colored balls. Red, green, white, brown, yellow, light blue, and purple, and each rested in a small divot. Kirby went and attempted to pick up the white one, but found it stuck in its resting place. No matter how hard he tried, the little Puffal could not make it move, so he eventually gave up and looked out the door of the room.

He was surprised to find that they were in a nest in a tree! That explained the odd building materials. Outside, there were many tree like the one they were hanging from, and a river passed close by. Kirby probably would have noticed other elements of the surrounding area, but soon something else caught his eye.

It was a cluster of bright orange berries, which hung from the branches of the very tree he was in. Eagerly, Kirby flew to the nearest branch, plucked a berry, and ate it. Why, it was the best thing he had ever tasted, and rather similar to Pep Brew. He ate several more berries and then flew to another near berry tree to sample some violet ones.

After a few minutes, Kirby began to feel full. That was when he remembered Meta Knight, still back in the nest in the first tree. The little Puffal gathered an armful of the berries, before hurrying back to await his mentor's awakening.

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

The kids rushed as fast as they could into the courtyard of the castle. Once within, they were soon met by their friends, the twins Lololo and Lalala.

"Hi guys!" Lololo called out. "Where have you guys been?"

"Can't talk right now!" Tiff called out. "Where's Dad? Or Sword and Blade?"

"Sir Ebrum is in council with King Dedede," Lalala answered. "I think Sword and Blade are in their rooms, mending their armor. Why are you in such a rush?"

"Long story short, Meta Knight and Kirby are in trouble!" Ribbon called back. "Tiff, Tuff, you guys go and tell your Dad and Dedede. Ado, Adeline, and I'll find Sword and Blade."

"Got it!" The brother and sister rushed off to the throne room, Lololo and Lalala trailing behind, eager to hear the important news. Meanwhile, the rest of the group headed off to the barracks.

Inside the throne room, King Dedede was going on one of his infamous tirades to his royal council, made up of the most prominent members Cappy Town and the surrounding areas. "And furthermore," he continued, "I want to have a permanent twenty-five percent tax increase on all pink puff-balls who live in the kingdom! They're an annoyance, and it's a gaudy color too! Now, on to item seventy-eight, the changing of taxes from money to food items."

Before he could finish another of his ridiculous ideas, Tiff and Tuff burst into the room. "Dad, Dad! There something we need to tell you."

Dedede visibly bristled at the interruption. "We don't have time for any moronic nonsense," the Pengu said, irritation clear in his voice. "I've got sixty-seven more items to discuss, so get a move on it!"

"Now, now, calm down sir" Sir Ebrum said. He and the rest of the council seemed glad for the interruption. "The children seem to have something important to tell us. We can quickly listen and then move back to your list of demand-I mean ideas. Now, go on, Tiff."

'Kirby and Meta Knight have been kidnapped!" Tiff cried out. A frightened hush fell over the council. Meta Knight was Dreamland's famed protector, and Kirby was gaining a reputation similar to his mentor. If some creature had abducted them, what was the country in store for? Almost everyone was in shock from the news, and only one voice sounded in the quiet.

King Dedede laughed loudly. "That's a hoot!" He straightened up, and looked Tiff straight in the eye. "Listen here, Girly, if Kirby were as easy as that to get rid of, then he would've been all the way past Shiver Star by now!"

"It's true!" Tuff voiced in. He and Tiff explained what had happened, with Tokkori butting in every now and then to complain about his tree. When they were finished, even Dedede was at a loss for words.

"Oh, my" a quiet voice said eventually. This was Bandana Dee, Dedede's personal paying intern. He tugged the corner of his blue bandana down nervously. "They really are gone, you say? What can we do?"

"I'll say what we can do!" Chief Bookem, the chief of the Cappy Police, piped up. "We start a search. We don't have any guarantee this alien woman has taken them from Pop Star, and if she hasn't, then we'll find 'em!"

There was a loud chorus of agreement, and soon the council had switched to a plan to find their missing heroes.

King Dedede grumbled as he left the throne room. "Good for nothings can't tell an important issue if it came up and bit 'em. Kirby's gonna show up again sooner or later. Annoying little pinky always does. In the meantime, who's gonna care out the lack of a personal theater in the castle? That was item ninety-four!"

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

Meanwhile, Ado, Adeleine, and Ribbon rushed out to the soldier's barracks where Sword and Blade had their rooms. They reached the area without much difficulty, and rushed into the rooms, desperate to convey their message.

Just as they had been told, Meta Knight's two knaves had been sitting in Sword's room, mending the small damages in their armor. Sword looked up as the kids entered, and called out to them. "'Ello, Ado, Adeleine, Ribbon. What brings you here today?"

The two humanoid girls were panting with exhaustion, so Ribbon explained the current predicament. After explaining what she knew, she paused, waiting for them to respond.

The duo of soldiers turned to each other, before Sword turned back to the messengers. "You are certain of what you saw?" he asked. He was skeptical, but more so in the hope rather than doubt. "Meta Knight often sets up training exercises that are meant to test your awareness. Are you certain it's not one of those?" Blade mumbled something in agreement, but only Sword could tell what it actually was.

"Completely certain," Adeleine said, her breath finally caught. "There was nothing left in the rubble to that we could find. They were all gone."

Sword nodded and stood up. "Thank you for telling us. We'll go back and see if we can't find anything."

Ado shot up, eager to help with the search. "Is there anything we can do?"

He thought for a moment, before responding. "Actually, yes, there is. Get Rick and Coo. Rick knows that area like the back of his paw, and Coo's got the best chance of spotting anything from the air. He can also alert Kine and Chuchu of what's going on. Once you've got them, meet us by the wreckage."

The three girls nodded and rushed out. Within the hour, all of Dreamland was searching for the missing Puffals. However, little was discovered.

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

Kirby returned to the nest, and found that Meta Knight was still asleep. With little else to do, the baby Puffal began stacking the berries like blocks and arranging them according to brightness of color. After he became bored with that, he instead selected a long stick and began sword practice with it.

However, shortly after he started his practice, a cracking sound came from one of the surrounding orbs. Kirby paused what he was doing and looked towards the intruding sound. When the cracking didn't stop, Kirby walked over to the balls. It was the yellow ball which was making the sound.

Curiosity overcame the young Puffal. He bent down to get a closer look at the object as cracks began to appear along the outside. However, as soon as he did so, a foot popped out and kicked him in the face!

"Aiiee!" Kirby cried in alarm. He immediately dashed over to where Meta Knight lay, and began shaking his mentor vigorously. "Medikni!" he cried. "Medikni! G'up! H'wee! Medikni!"

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

Meta Knight lay, strapped down to an operating table. He was in agony from the recent experimentation, but could do little but lay still and wait for his tormenters to return.

He could hear their voices. One of them was Nightmare. He would never forget the dark, cold voice which had condemned the young Star Warrior to this fate. "How is he doing on the trials?"

The other was Nightmare's head crony. Meta Knight had never heard his name, but he was often the one who oversaw the torment. He responded in a very cool tone, as one who had bad news but was trying to downplay it. "He is taking most of the trials well, but we've run into a problem."

"Problem?" Nightmare growled. "What sort of problem?"

"The last trial caused severe injury. He'll live, but he is completely blind now."

"That matters little." The disregard in Nightmare's voice was completely evident. "He is only here to show us Project Night-Terror's limits. How is that project developing?"

"The egg has shown high levels of growth stimulation. It will be the best monster you've ever created!"

"And with it, those puny Star Warrior's will fall for good!"

Meta Knight struggled against his bonds. He had to break free, to get out and stop Nightmare. However, he was tightly bound and wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

As he fought with his bindings, a third voice began to overtake the other two. "Medikni! Wh'up! H'wee kwik!"

Kirby! That was Kirby's voice! Had Nightmare captured him too?!

The veteran Star Warrior forced his eyes open. No, they weren't in NME. That had just been a dream. They were in some sort of nest-like room. Kirby was nearby, shaking him hard. It was clear the baby Puffal was scared.

"I'm up, Kirby" he said, trying to sound as comforting as possible. He tried to move, but found his body unresponsive. He began to grow frightened himself, but he did his best to mask it. "What's wrong?"

The little one hid himself behind his elder's wing and pointed. Meta Knight looked at what was pointed out, and was surprised by what he saw.

The yellow ball had a large piece kicked out of it, and through the hole a glowing blue eye could clearly be seen.

To Be Continued…


	2. Glimpse of the Past, Part Two

Even after two days, the search for the missing Star Warriors was still full on. With no sign of what had happened to their friends, the tension was becoming unbearable for certain individuals.

"Coo! Have you found any sign of them?" Tiff called out.

A large purple owl descended from his flight. "I'm afraid not, Tiff," he said, straightening several feathers that had been knocked askew by the down draft. "There's no indication or evidence of any ship in the sky, and Kine and Chuchu give the same report from the sea. It looks like our kidnapper made a clean getaway." Noticing Tiff downcast expression, he was quick to add, "Now, don't worry so much. Kirby's made of tougher stuff than that, and Meta Knight's with him, too. We'll find them, and I'm certain they'll be quiet alright in the meanwhile."

"I guess you're right," the girl sighed. "I just can't shake this feeling that something bad is going on and if we don't hurry, we're going to be too late."

"That's how we all feel," Coo responded. Suddenly, and idea came to the owl. "I'll go see if Dyna Blade saw anything. It's a bit early for her to be off her nest for long, but she has sharp eyes and might have seen movement or something similar." With that, Coo took back off into the sky.

Tiff turned to go back to the castle. The frustrating thing was that there wasn't really much that could be done at this point. They knew it was a kidnapping, and they knew who the kidnapper was, but information after that became far less clear. For all they knew, their friends weren't even on Pop Star anymore. Tiff kicked at the grass in frustration. If only there was something else she could do.

 _Everyone's doing everything they can do,_ she scolded herself. Still, it seemed as if there was little even the combined effort could do.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

There was, however, a single individual who was not working to solve the kidnapping.

King Dedede had been in a foul mood ever since the interrupted council. There was a very special way that Dedede liked things: centered on him. Ever since the discovery of the kidnapping, things had become drastically less him-centered.

Finally, he could take it no longer. "Bandana Dee!" he called out. "Get in here this instant!"

The little orange creature rushed in as fast as he could. "Yes, your highness? What can I do for you?" he asked quickly, eager not to upset the temperamental Pengu.

"Where the heck is everybody?" Dedede snapped.

"Well, sir, Bandana Dee started, "everyone's looking for Kirby and Meta Knight. I mean, they're still missing, and if those kids are right about a kidnapping, they could be in danger."

"It's been two days since all this ruckus about a kidnapping started up. Why won't anybody get the picture that those two will show up when their good 'n ready to?" The king of Dreamland fumed some more.

"But, sir," the smaller creature interjected quietly, "what if they don't?"

Dedede froze. He couldn't think of a response. Meta Knight had always been able to take care of himself, and it seemed that nothing could do Kirby any harm, so the idea that they might need help was foreign to the king's mind. However, he waved the idea out near as soon as it came in.

"That's ridiculous," he scolded. "Those two are impossible to get rid of. I should know. They'll turn up, but in the meantime, I'm getting ignored! What's a guy gotta do to get some attention!"

An idea popped into Bandana Dee head. "Well, sir, I know you're confident they'll return on their own, but the people of the surrounding areas aren't so certain. Why don't you take this time to show your great leadership by leading your own search party? That way, the people can be confident that Kirby and Meta Knight's case is being looked into, and they'll have to listen to you."

"No, no, that'll never work," Dedede grumbled. Suddenly, he brightened up. "I know exactly what I'll do! I'll take this time to show my great leadership by leading my own search party! That way, the people can be confident that Kirby and Meta Knight's case is being looked into, and they'll have to listen to me!"

"Brilliant idea, sir," Bandana Dee said, turning to go back to one of the search parties.

"It certainly is," Dedede grinned. "I thought of it, after all!"

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Meta Knight struggled to move as the cracks continued to circle the yellow orb. However, whatever had been used to keep him unconscious had also partially paralyzed him, so he could only watch while being able to move only a little.

Kirby, meanwhile, had wrapped himself in the older Puffal's wing, trying to hide himself from whatever was coming out. He whimpered, wishing that this would end.

The cracks expanded, and with a sudden jerk, whatever was in it stood up and started walking around with the top part of the eggshell still on its head. Not very well, however, and soon the creature walked right into a wall, and the rest of the shell was knocked off as the creature fell back with a startled "Poyo!"

The duo were startled by what they saw. What had hatched from the egg was a Puffal! The little one was smaller than even Kirby, and was yellow with orange-gold feet and blue eyes. "Poyo," the hatchling repeated as it got up from the fall.

This revelation emboldened Kirby, who eagerly walked over and picked the newcomer up. "Kaabii!" he squealed, delighted in this new discovery.

The little yellow one, however, protested being picked up. After letting out a clamor of poyos, the baby proceeded to squirm free from Kirby's arms. With that, the little one rushed behind Meta Knight.

At this point, however, more cracking sounds arrived. One by one, each of the orbs, now obviously eggs, hatched, revealing a baby Puffal the same color that the egg had been. There were seven in all.

Much to Kirby's disappointment, though, the newborns did not pay him much heed, choosing instead to flock around Meta Knight. The older Star Warrior noticed his displeasure. "Do not worry," he called, moving what little the chemical allowed him to. "They are new hatched infants, so they are imprinting. They will play soon."

This was true. Infant Puffals, when they first hatch, must imprint on at least one adult. This is when the baby recognizes his or her parents. Kirby, though older than them, was still much too young to be considered an adult, and thus the babies rushed over to the only adult present.

Meta Knight then noticed the pile of berries that Kirby had brought in. Why, those were Pep Berries! Where on Pop Star had Kirby gotten those?

He would have to worry about that later. "Kirby, did you bring those in here?" he asked. When the younger Puffal gave the affirmative, he continued. "Why don't you try giving some to our little friends here? I'd bet they'd enjoy it."

Recognition dawned in the little Star Warrior's eyes. Enthusiastically, he grabbed a berry from the pile and offered in to the closest baby, a little brown one with lighter brown feet. "B'wee?" he asked.

The baby looked at the berry for a moment before deciding to eat it. Delight glowed in the little one's eyes, and before long, all seven eagerly clamored around Kirby to be fed.

Kirby handed out the fruit, happy now that he had the little ones' attention. He looked up, and noticed that Meta Knight, though propped up, was still laying where he had originally been. "Medikni 'kay?" he asked. "B'wee?"

"No thank you, Kirby," the older Puffal answered. "I'll eat later." He was too nervous to eat. Pep Berries. He had the only supply of those left that weren't on Popopo, and they certainly weren't at his base. If this place was Popopo, however, then they were in more danger than he initially thought.

He did his best to portray a calm outlook, but what signs he saw made this very difficult. There were many things he did not understand about this circumstance.

First among them was his sight. He had only recently discovered that his mask was off, yet he could see clear as day. It was as if he had never been caught by Nightmare.

Secondly, there was the babies. That these were Puffals, it was clear. Six little boys and a little girl. That part wasn't what was bothering him. What was bothering him is the lack of knowledge of where they came from. Puffal parents are extremely protective of eggs. Seven of them, all alone and left with a stranger, would be cause for alarm. Normally on Popopo, the attempt to get near a single egg would result in an attack by the whole family.

Finally, there was their location. Meta Knight was not clear on it completely, but all signs seemed to point to them being on Popopo itself.

Popopo was the home planet of the Puffal species. Though he had been born there, circumstances had happened so that Meta Knight had not been raised on it. However, he did know of the legends of the planet. Especially of the Legends of Warning.

These legends had been written for multiple purposes, one of them being warnings. The foremost in the blue Puffal's mind was the story of the first year of Tinkuru Popo, the first Puffal Leader, and the origin of the copy ability.

The legend went like this: when the world of Popopo was new, all the creatures on it, great and small, were allies. They lived together in peace and harmony, and all ate from the berries that grew from the Pep Trees that were so common on the planet. One of the creatures among the first chiefs was Tinkuru Popo, the white Puffal.

Now, Tinkuru Popo was a good leader, but he was prone to boasting. When it became clear that his tribe, small though they were, was the most prosperous tribe of the planet, he began to brag of their greatness. Nova, one of the oldest and wisest creatures in creation, was sent and warned Tinkuru Popo that this arrogance would be the undoing of his people, but the Puffal chieftain did not heed the warnings.

Now, as this was happening, the other creatures gathered and discussed what to do about their Puffal problem. One of these creature, a monstrous beast known as Wolfwrath, had hated Tinkuru Popo for a long time, and brought up now his solution. All creatures, be they of land, water, or sky, would turn against the Puffals, and attack and eat them at any opportunity.

So it went. This sudden attacks came and hit the tribe so suddenly that Tinkuru Popo had no time to prepare his people. Many were killed in the attacks. Finally, when it was clear that the Puffal people could take it no longer, the white Puffal cried out, begging for the lives of his people.

The Creator heard this cry, and answered. All those who had participated in the attack were struck witless as punishment, and turned completely into the monsters they had behaved as. Furthermore, as an attack struck, Tinkuru Popo found that he had been given a single strong defense. When he stood in front of a smaller enemy and inhaled, he could copy all his foe's strengths and turn them against the aggressors. So the Puffal species lived, but all the world was their enemy.

This tale had been told by all elder Puffals to their youngsters, and the message of the fable was clear: beware the creature of Popopo. Meta Knight knew this message well, and if he were on Popopo, without Galaxia and with eight small children to defend, then their chances were slim.

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Hope was growing thin among the searchers. A small group, formed by Adeleine, Ribbon, Lololo, Lalala, and their friends Rick the hamster and Phan-Phan worked at clearing out the rubble from the destroyed building.

"Careful there, mate," Rick said, as he went over to help Phan-Phan lift up one of the fallen walls. "Wouldn't want to get flattened out trying to get this on your own."

"Thanks," the elephant-like creature responded. "Why are we doing this, anyway? Didn't Tiff and the others already search here pretty thoroughly?"

"Yes, they did," Ribbon responded, "but it is way too easy for something to go unnoticed in all the confusion. We're here to make sure no stone goes unturned until we are certain that we have found every clue that is to be found."

Phan-Phan nodded sagely. "Ah, I see. So what does a clue look like?"

"Anything that looks like something that shouldn't be here," Adeleine responded. "Could be a footprint, or a piece of cloth. Something like that."

"Would this work?" Lololo asked, and he lifted up what he had found. It was a small metal canister. It had a spray nozzle on the top and had clearly been activated, as it was empty of all contents. It also had a faint imprinted picture on the side.

"That's perfect!" Ribbon cried, and the small group huddled around to get a closer look at the object.

"What's that?" Lalala asked, pointing to the unclear pictogram.

"Let me see if I can highlight it," Adeleine said, taking the canister. Using a bright paint, she traced the pictogram, until whatever it portrayed was as clear as day. It was a capital C with a spear going through the center, and a gun crossing the spear at the top.

"I've never seen that image before," Rick muttered, "but I'm certain that Kirby never had anything like this before. Wonder what that symbol means?"

The group sat and though for a while. After some time, Lalala spoke up. "We might not be able to recognize this symbol, but I bet I know who'll know about it," she cried. "Kabu! If anyone in Dreamland will be able to recognize where this came from, it'll be him!"

"Your right," Ribbon said. "Let's go get the others. Once we're all gathered, we'll go to Kabu Canyon and ask about it."

The others of the group nodded, and turned to go gather together the remainder of their search party.

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"Now, all you here listen up!" King Dedede declared to the small group of people in front of him. "I want all of your eyes front and center!"

It was a motley crew that Dedede was speaking to. Mostly formed of Waddle Dees, the crew was spotted here and there with Cappies and a few other creatures that the Pengu King could impress into his small group. As it is with most impressed groups, the people forming the small gathering were interested in going elsewhere.

As such, King Dedede was having a difficult time holding their attention. "As I was saying," he continued once he thought he held their attention, "I'm afraid I have some of the most tragical news that you'll ever hear. Meta Knight and Kirby have disappeared!" He paused, waiting for the gasps and cries of dismay.

Only one voice spoke up. "We know!" a Cappy called out from the center of the crowd. "I was on my way to help Mr. Curio's search party when you grabbed me!"

"Well, now you're in a better group!" King Dedede retorted. "Now, do we have anyone here who actually saw what happened?" When no one spoke up, he started again. "So we don't know what the kidnapper looks like, but we do know what Meta Knight and Kirby look like, so I want you all to fan out and look for any clues that seem to point to where they've been taken and bring them back here. I'll be here doing the most important job! You're all dismissed for now!"

He turned back to the castle. He really did mean it when he said he had another job to do. He had to see if there was anything his two cohorts could do.

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Meta Knight waited until he was certain that the little ones were asleep until he made his move. He wanted to have a look around the area, to get an idea of what they would have to deal with. However, the nest would be the safest place for Kirby and the babies, so it would be best to wait until they were asleep before slipping out.

Finally, the time came. All of the little ones were asleep. Even Kirby lay in a light doze. Taking his chance, Meta Knight moved quietly towards the entrance of the nest. He had almost made it out when a small voice spoke up.

"Medikni, poyo?" Kirby said questioningly. He rubbed his eyes sleepily, but was determined not to go back to sleep until he understood what was happening.

"Go back to sleep, Kirby," the blue Puffal responded quietly. "I'm going out to get an idea where we are and to see if there is anything dangerous out there. You need to stay here."

"Kaabii come," Kirby said in a determined voice. He was not afraid and wanted to make it clear to his mentor that he wasn't.

Meta Knight shook his head in response. "I know you aren't afraid, Kirby. And I'm sure you could handle yourself against whatever we would find out there. However, these little ones are another story. They would be unable to defend themselves if they were attacked, so I need you to stay here and make sure they stay safe. You can do that for me, can't you?"

Kirby turned back to the sleeping babies. It was true that they couldn't fight back. At this point, they probably wouldn't even be able to fend off a Waddle Dee. The outside seemed to beckon with excitement, but it would be important to keep the babies safe. "Poyo stay," he said finally as he went back to his former position.

"Thank you." Meta Knight smiled as he faced away from the young Star Warrior. He was impressed by his student's maturity. He was growing more and more each day.

With the matter now settled, the blue Puffal spread his wings and took to the skies. There was a light wind prevailing, but it wasn't enough to hinder his flight. As such, he was able to focus on the strange surroundings.

The area seemed to be a lush, almost jungle like atmosphere. Thick trees grew a large canopy over the floor, and it took Meta Knight a while to pierce its cover to get a higher look. When he reach above it, he was surprised by what he saw.

The entire area was enclosed! It was a large segment of area with no visible walls, but when he looked to the sky, he could see no moon or stars. There was merely a black covering, with large lamps hanging from it, which undoubtedly would bring the "day".

Zaroffina's last words came to his mind. She had wanted something. "You," she had specified. So this is what she had meant. They were in a large cage, for who knows what purpose. He, Kirby, and, without a doubt, the newly hatched as well, were just some set of animals to be locked up.

Anger flooded his system and his eyes turned blood red. "Where are you?!" he roared as he flew against the invisible walls of the enclosure. "I know you're watching me! What do you want with us?! Answer Me!"

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Tuff and his friend Poppy Bro. Jr had been going through the main courtyard to rejoin Tiff's group. They had been speaking with several of the members of the adults' groups. It wasn't hopeful. No one had found any evidence to point to where the duo had been taken. The two boys were about to bring Tiff the bad news when something else caught their eye.

It was King Dedede, walking quietly past the few people still out and about. When he thought no one was looking, he walked over to a tapestry and pulled on the long rope hanging next to it. The wall the tapestry was hanging on then flipped, and the king stepped through the opening before the wall flipped back.

Seeing this, Tuff grinned. He grabbed Poppy's arm and rushed over to the tapestry. "Did you see that!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, I saw it," Poppy said, disapproval clear in his eyes, "and I think we should stay out of it. Old trap doors give me the creeps. Come on, let's go join Tiff, she's waiting for us."

"You go if this scares you," Tuff said as he grabbed hold of the long rope, "but I'm gonna have a look. My sis can wait. Besides, all we have is what we already know. We might get something good in here." With that, he pulled the cord as hard as he could and ran down the opening.

Poppy looked nervously. Finally, he broke, and headed down the tunnel after Tuff. "Alright," he called as quietly as he could, "but only quickly. I don't want to get in trouble!"

As the two boys walked down the tunnel, they could hear voices. King Dedede's was the loudest. "What do ya mean you don't have any clue what happened?! What on Pop Star am I paying you for?"

"You don't pay us anything," a calmer voice answered.

As the boys got closer, they got a clearer view of the scene. They were in some sort of laboratory, and King Dedede was standing with two other people, a tall purple snail and a white and blue alien creature in a coat and scarf.

It had been the snail who had spoken, and he continued as he shined a beaker. "We weren't there to see what happened and there had been no evidence to hint as to what sort of machinery took them. Beside, even if there was, it wouldn't be much use to us. I might be good with machinery, but I still need more than a second hand account to go on, and Magolor's area of expertise is not exactly, um, _here_ enough to really be much help."

"I resent that remark!" the white alien, Magolor, snapped. "Just because you don't understand my magic doesn't mean it doesn't work!"

"Maybe magic in general," Escargoon responded drily, "but _your_ magic never seems to work."

"Come on, guys," the Pengu really did not have time for another magic vs science debate. "There's gotta be something you can do that can hint about where those two might have gotten to? You know enough about these sorts of things to have some ideas!"

"Well," Magolor, piped in, "if we can get out to have a look see at the destruction, I might be able to come up with-"

Dedede's eyes went wide. "And have all those Cappies find out you two are still here? Absolutely not! Not after your incident with those enchanted balloon animals, and that serum of yours!"

"You test one little chipmunk with Behemoth Serum and suddenly you're marked for life," Escargoon muttered under his breath. "I don't even see why you're so eager to get them back. I thought you'd throw a party the moment the Kirby vanished."

"I'm not eager to get them back," the Pengu snorted. "I sick of all this nonsense, but nobody will listen to me. If getting those two back gets everyone else back to paying attention to me, then then that's what's gonna be done!"

"Well, I'm sorry, your highness," the snail said calmly as he put his beaker away. "I'm afraid there's nothing else we can do for you."

"Fine!" Dedede snapped before storming out. "I'll see if my Waddle Dees have found anything then. Those guys are far more helpful than either of you, anyways!" With that, the king of Dreamland marched out and went back out the trapped door.

When it was safe to, the boys ran out as well. Tuff couldn't help but snicker when he spied Dedede again, trying to explain to his Waddle Dees that, no, Kirby was not related to plums in any way. "That goof Dedede couldn't find a piece of paper that was attached to his beak."

"Maybe not," Poppy said wearily, "but that could have been dangerous, and we didn't find anything out by it! We shouldn't have done something as risky as that."

"What do you mean, 'didn't find anything out'?" Tuff asked, a sly grin appearing in his face. "We found out Dedede's been keeping secrets. We'll want to tell Tiff and keep an eye on this. It could help us later."

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Tiff had been close to giving up. Days of searching had led to no development, and every day that they found nothing was a day more likely that they'd never find their friends. She had been searching the beach side with Ado and Chuchu the octopus, but nothing was coming up. She was about to announce the time to head home when Ribbon's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Tiff! Ado! Chuchu! We found something!"

The trio looked up. Ribbon, along with Rick, Phan-Phan, Adeleine, Lololo, and Lalala, was hurrying over to the beach side, carrying a small canister. "Take a look at this," the fairy declared, handing the canister over to Tiff.

"A can?" Chuchu declared, more than a little annoyed. "Kirby's life might be depending on us, and you want us to focus on a can?"

"Not the can itself," Lalala responded. "Look at the imprint!"

Tiff looked closely at the mark. "I've never seen this before."

"Neither have we." Rick motioned towards the nearby canyon. "We were going to ask Kabu if he's ever seen it before. If anyone can help us, it's him."

"Good idea," Tiff said, handing the canister to Ado, who slipped it in her art bag. "Let's go find Tuff and Poppy and then we'll go ask Kabu."

However, it was unnecessary to go looking for the two boys. They came running up the beachside at that moment, running and calling out to the small group. "Hey! We found something out!"

"We did too!" Tiff called back. "You tell us first!"

The two boys explained everything that saw and heard while eavesdropping on Dedede. Tiff frowned. "So King Dedede's been hiding these guys, huh? Well, that certainly is suspicious, but we'd better keep it to ourselves for now. If things get stranger on that end, we'll investigate further."

"Now, what did you guys find out?" Tuff asked. Ado explained the canister with the strange mark that was found in the ruins. "Now that we're all together," she finished, "we're going to ask Kabu if he recognizes the mark. If he does, than this little can might lead us right to the kidnapper, and by connection, Kirby and Meta Knight."

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Chuchu asked as Phan-Phan placed her on his head. "Let's go ask!" With that, the group headed to the canyon.

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Meta Knight was still demanding answers when panel in the wall slid out behind him, revealing Zaroffina. She was standing behind a glass pane, but could be seen and heard clearly. She was putting her hair, which was now clearly a wig, up on a stand. "My," she said, a sly look appearing on her face. "You're one of my most persistent catches yet. Most would have passed out or given up by now."

"Who are you and what do you want with us?" the knight asked, his eyes never changing from the rich red hue.

The woman smiled, and pulled a scarf over her head and face as she answered. "Right to the point, aren't you? Well, alright, I'll tell you. As you've probably guessed, my name isn't really Zaroffina. What my real name is no matter to you, but you may know me as The Collector. I find rare, endangered creatures and add them to my collection. It's quite vast by now."

Meta Knight's eyes widened for a moment and then narrowed again. "A poacher."

The Collector laughed. "I suppose you could look at it that way. However, I prefer to think of myself as a connoisseur."

"You still haven't answered part of my question." The Star Warrior was growing more and more frustrated by the minute. "Why do you want us? Kirby and I aren't rare, and since you found those eggs, I'm sure you're aware of that fact."

The Collector smirked. "You are only partially right there. You _weren't_ rare. Not a few weeks ago, you weren't, but now you are." Meta Knight's eyes widened again, and his opponent gave voice to his thoughts. "That's the other part of my job. I collect rare, valuable creatures, and when I can't find any, I find creatures to _make_ rare and valuable."

The pieces came together in Meta Knight's mind, and a look of mixed horror and rage came in his face. "All of Popopo…thousands of lives…you destroyed them all!"

She calmly shrugged. "Not all of them. You found those seven eggs. It was difficult in getting them. I did get lucky though. The little green and white ones are twins, which meant I had one less stop to make."

"You monster!" Meta Knight cried. "You fiend! You're no better than Nightmare himself!"

"I was a bit hasty in the destruction of that world," she admitted. "I didn't observe long enough to find out about that imprinting problem. Lost two of the eggs to that. Real shame, they were fine specimen, too." She casually tossed one of the scarf ends over her shoulder and began reapplying her lipstick. "That, to answer your question, is what I want you for. I can't lose any more of my specimen, and since an adult is necessary to keep the infants alive, I grabbed the first I could find. Your little pink friend was just a bonus."

She calmly looked up when Meta Knight did not respond. Upon seeing his eyes, she laughed aloud. "So, that serum I used to fix your eyesight didn't hinder that little trick of yours, huh? Judging from your stance and past comments, I would say that red denotes anger. I'll have to keep track and see if that trait is present in any of the others."

As she turned to leave, she called back one last time. "By the way, I wouldn't try escaping. You're unarmed, in an alien territory, and have no way of getting back to Pop Corn. Such unrest would be…bad for your health." With that, the panel slid shut.

Left alone once more, Meta Knight sunk to the ground. Popopo, a huge populated world, was destroyed, and its destroyer held no more remorse than if it were an ant hill. Now, he, Kirby, and the little ones were literally the last of their kind. This was the second time such a shock had hit him.

After a few moments of mourning, the Star Warrior pushed himself up. Kirby and the babies still needed him. He'd look for a way out of this abominable prison, but he'd keep quiet on why they were there. The others were too young to understand such horror. He alone would bear that burden.

He took a few deep breaths and allowed his eyes to fade back to white. After that, he flew back.

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Kirby sat up straight as he waited in the nest. He was eager to show Meta Knight how good a Star Warrior he was becoming, and keeping watch over the smaller Puffals was the perfect opportunity. He'd make sure nothing bad happened.

There was another part to the young Star Warrior's excitement. All his life, he had been the littlest of all his friends. While it was nice that the other children played with him, at times it was frustrating to be the littlest one in the group. There were times he wished he wasn't always the youngest one.

Now, however, he wasn't the littlest anymore! With these babies, he could be the cool older kid now! There was so much he could teach them. He'd show them how to fly, and inhale, and copy. This was going to be so much fun!

Kirby opened his eyes and glanced over at the small pile of Puffal hatchlings. The little red one had somewhat slipped out of the pile and was laying upside down, sucking on his little nub hand. Eager to interact with the babies, the fledgling Warrior toddled over and set the baby back in the pile right-side up.

He turned to go back to his post, proud of his babysitting skills, when he spotted the reason for the previous disturbance. The yellow one had woken up and, eager to get out moving, was toddling towards the opening in the nest.

Kirby went up to the little one. "Poyo, no," he said as he moved the struggling baby back to the pile. "Ye'lo Kaabii stay, poyo."

The baby did not approve of being told where he was to stay. "Poyo!" he squealed. The minute Kirby set him down, he dashed away again.

"Poyo, no," Kirby repeated firmly, placing the baby down again and sitting in front of him so that he could not escape again. He held a stern look and crossed his arms as best he could to make it clear that he would be listened to. "Medikni say stay, poyo!"

The infant frowned and imitated Kirby's sever look. "Poyo poyo poyo!"

This surprised the pink Puffal. Deciding to try again, Kirby made another face, squinting his eyes and pressing his tongue against his lower lip. Much to his delight, the infant again imitated the face back. "Poyo, good, poyo!" Kirby praised. "Now t'is!" He pulled his face down and stuck his tongue out.

The game went on this way for quite a while with Kirby making a face for the infant to imitate. After a while, another of the babies, the blue one, woke and took notice of what was happening. "Poyo? Poyo poyo!" she exclaimed before getting up and seating herself nearby and joining in the game.

Kirby prepared to continue when the sound of flapping wings signaled Meta Knight's return. Eagerly, the pink Puffal ran to greet his elder. The two babies followed close behind.

"Medikni!" Kirby cried as he ran up. "Kaabii poyo Kaabiis play!"

Meta Knight gave a small smile. "That's nice, Kirby." He slumped down against the side of the nest and closed his eyes.

This concerned the pink Star Warrior. "Medikni 'kay? All safe?" he asked in a concerned tone of voice.

"Huh? Oh, yes, Kirby. There's nothing out there but plants. I'm fine, just a little tired. Just let me rest for now." Meta Knight leaned back and started to doze.

Kirby, still worried but respectful of his mentor's wishes, settled down nearby and started amusing the babies again. As he dozed, the elder Star Warrior smiled, thankful for such a good student, and silently promised the youngster that he would not allow him to rot in this cage.

To be continued…


	3. Glimpse of the Past, Part Three

The sun was starting to set as the group of friends reached Kabu Canyon. The flames of the torches that were always around the wise tiki casted shadows all around. "This place always makes me nervous," Poppy whispered to Lololo. "It's so big and echo-y. It's almost like someone's watching you as you get close."

"That's because there is someone," Lololo laughed, "but it's only Kabu. We don't have to worry about anything with him."

"Do you really think he'll know where Kirby and Meta Knight were taken," Lalala asked. Her mind had already started to think of all the terrible fates that might have already befallen the duo. "I mean, no one's seen this before, and everyone we have asked say they can't remember anyone named Zaroffina. What if she was lying, and she's taken them someplace far away, and is doing horrible things to them?"

"We can't afford to panic right now," Tiff scolded. "We don't know what's going on, but letting our imaginations run away with us is helping no one. We just need to do what we can to find them first, and then see what else can be done to help them."

They drew closer to where the ancient tiki stood. As they approached, the wise creature called out a greeting. "Welcome, young ones. Have you come to consult me on some matter?"

Tiff stepped forwards to act as the children's mouthpiece. "Yes, sir," she called up. "I'm afraid we have some serious news. Kirby and Meta Knight were kidnapped."

"I am aware of this," Kabu said calmly. "There has been much tension among the people of Dreamland because of this. I am certain, though, that you would have come all the way out here at this hour merely to tell me this."

"That's right," Tiff responded. She turned to Ado, who handed over the mysterious canister. "We found this in the area where our friends were taken. It has some mark on it, but we can't say we recognize it. We were wondering if you could tell us what it means." She held up the canister so that the mark could be clearly seen.

Kabu was quiet for a moment, as if in thought, before he began speaking. "I have seen this symbol before, but I did not expect it to appear on Pop Star."

"What is it?" Tuff blurted out in excitement. He backed down again, however, when his sister shot him an angered look.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

"It is the mark of a creature known as the Collector," Kabu continued. "She has used so many aliases that her true name is unknown, but she always has this clear calling card on everything she possesses. However, it is strange that she would come here to add to her collection, especially for creatures that are found in much more abundance elsewhere."

"What do you mean?" Adeleine asked.

"The Collector's past behaviors," the wise tiki explained, "have been a history of stealing rare creature from various worlds, and locking them up in terrariums meant to mimic their home worlds as close as possible. However, she is highly selective on what she takes. Only creatures that are or are near to being the last of their kind are valuable enough for her collections. However, Kirby and Meta Knight's race, though rare here on Pop Star, were once a large people. If she has resorted to taking the two who are here, I fear for their planet."

There was a pause as the small group took in this information. It was Rick who broke the uncomfortable silence. "So what you are saying is this Collector person takes valuable species to keep a hold of so that she is the only one with access to these now unusual creature. That's good news for us!"

"Why on Pop Star would you say that?" Chuchu cried in disgust. "It means that wherever they are, they're being treated like animals!"

"Yes," the hamster explained, "and that in and of itself is terrible, but it also raises their chances of survival. From the sounds of things, the kidnapper views these rare creatures as more valuable alive. If she's going to the trouble to collect near extinct races, she's not going to just kill them. That increases our chances of finding them alive."

"Rick's right!" Ado agreed. Then she thought for a moment. "Uh, Kabu, you wouldn't have an idea where she might be holding them, would you?"

"The collector holds her catches in a variety of ships. They are cloaked so that they are hard to find, but their massive size means they move slowly. It is unlikely that she has gone too far away from Pop Star, but her use of the cloaks means that the ship will be difficult to locate."

"Difficult doesn't mean impossible," Tiff declared, gripping the canister tightly. "We'll do whatever it takes to bring our friends home!"

"Just one question," Poppy interjected. "If they're in space, how are we going to catch up with them?"

The kids froze for a moment. That was right. They didn't currently have any way of travel. Suddenly, Phan-Phan squealed. "Kirby's ship!" he exclaimed. "Rick and I hid it in a cave in the forest after we first met Kirby! I'll bet we can use that!"

"Great idea," Tiff said approvingly. She turned back to Kabu. "Thanks for your help. Now that we know where we've got to go, now we can work on getting there." With that, the young friends left.

Kabu smiled inwardly to himself. These young ones were maturing fast. Perhaps the hopes that a new generation of Star Warriors would arise were not in vain.

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The next couple of days were quiet inside the enclosure. Meta Knight did not tell Kirby all of what he had found out, though he did let him know that there wouldn't be any danger for the time being. The veteran did not wish to cause any undue worry. If it became important for Kirby to know all the details of their situation, Meta Knight would tell him then.

Until then, however, the blue Puffal would be on the lookout for any chance of escape. Any hint of flaw in the enclosure would serve the purpose. A divot that might lead to a place to dig, a shimmer in the glass that might mean a weak point, the warrior search vigilantly for anything that might give him and his companions a chance at freedom.

However, their prison was apparently as sound as sound could be. The walls, though they could not be seen, were harder than rock. The roof, which was made from some reinforced metal, was also difficult to break. It seemed as if the Puffals would never get their chance. Until one morning, that is.

It had been a rather foggy "morning", and it typically was in the enclosure. It was very early, and due to his late night searches, Meta Knight was still asleep. Kirby, who was getting bored with just staying inside the nest until midday, took this as a chance to go outside and play.

He crept over to the entrance as quietly as he could. Before he got outside, however, a small hand touched him. "Poyo?" a quiet voice asked questioningly.

The young warrior turned to see who had spoken. It was the little purple baby, who had crawled over to him. The others were awake as well, and watched with great interest what the older child was doing.

Kirby saw this as a great chance. Now he could finally teach the babies how to play outside, just as his friends in Dreamland taught him. "G'win out," he proclaimed, pointing out of the nest. "Wanna come, poyo?"

The baby peered nervously out of the opening. "Poyo," he mused quietly for a second. Then he nodded. "Poyo!" the infant eagerly declared, and he rushed out to the branch outside the nest.

One by one, each of the infants crawled out. Once they were all on the branch, Kirby motioned for them to watch him. He then took a deep breath and floated down to the forest floor. Once he had reached the bottom, he let go of the breath and motioned to the other. "Now you!"

Cautiously, the little blue one tried first. She held her breath, and slowly floated down to join Kirby. Emboldened by their sister's success, the others followed close behind. Before long, all eight of the young Puffals were on their way to explore their new surroundings.

Meta Knight woke up with a start. He had been in the throes of another nightmare, and had awoken with the terrible feeling that something was wrong. He closed his eyes momentarily, calming himself. He was being silly. For the most part, all was well. They were still imprisoned, but at least Kirby and the little ones were still alive and in the nest. He looked over to where his apprentice lay to allay his fear.

Kirby was gone. Of course, this caused a sudden panic to emerge in the knight. The babies were gone too. Where had they gone? Had the Collector decided to do something with them? Had she done something to discover Kirby's origin? If she had, then that would be a disaster. Hurriedly, the blue Puffal rushed out of the nest, desperate to find his charges.

It wasn't too long before he found them. They had gathered around an area by the wall, and seemed to be playing some game that involved rock throwing.

Relief and anger mingled as Meta Knight descended. "Kirby!" he snapped, disapproval clear in his voice. "What are you doing out here? You know you are not supposed to leave by yourself."

"Sowwy," Kirby said, glancing down towards his feet.

Meta Knight was about to continue when something caught his eye. It was a small detail, something that would have been overlooked by the untrained eye, but he did not miss it.

To the normal view, it would have just appeared to be a warped leaf, something damaged by the wind and rain. However, the Star Warrior had been trained to notice the unnoticeable. This was an area where a stone had struck the wall and left a mark. Not a large enough one to cause too much concern to the Collector, but enough to give the hope of freedom.

Meta Knight regained his composure. "We will discuss this later," he said, trying to mask his sudden change in interest as a time of calming down. "Let us return for now."

The younger Puffal's head drooped as he returned. Meta Knight sighed. He didn't like having to scold Kirby, and he understood his anxiety to be out and about, but there were times when circumstances made it a necessity to stifle one's desires in order to remain safe.

However, the knight kept the discovered imperfection in mind. If that was what he thought was, they might not have to waste away in this cage for much longer.

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"What do you mean this is all they found!" Dedede snapped at his unfortunate servant.

Bandana Dee stood, clutching his spear close as he told the temperamental Pengu the bad news. "Well, sire," he said, the hesitation clear in his voice, "you were rather unclear in your orders. Or at least, unclear to the Waddle Dees. They have been searching for anything that would seem to be related to Meta Knight and Kirby's disappearance."

"And what do they bring me!" The king was almost purple with anger. "A couple of balls, a plum, two Bronto Burts, and a traffic cone! I don't even know how they could have made that mistake with the last one!"

"They've been doing their best, sire!" The unfortunate Dee covered his head. "Just try to be more patient! I promise their doing their best!"

Dedede prepared to bop Bandana Dee on the head when he spied Sword Knight and Blade Knight coming down the hallway. That gave Dedede an idea.

He got up and chased after the two knights. "Hey there, buddies," he called out. "We're friends, right?"

The duo froze. Blade mumbled something in confusion. Sword nodded in agreement. "When did you ever like us?"

Dedede did his best to fake injury. "Well, I never! I've always been fond of you two!"

Sword sighed, picking up on what was going on. "We're very busy right now, sire. Just tell us what you want and then please be on your way."

"Alright then," Dedede said, getting down to business. "You two are in real close to Meta Knight. So if you just say that he and Kirby are just off on some sort of training mission, everyone'll believe you. Then things can get back to the way they were."

Both Star Warrior knaves just stared at the king for a while. Then they turned and left, Blade mumbling something about thinking of others for a change.

Dedede, completely aware he was just blown off, turned back to his throne room, where Bandana Dee still stood waiting. "Of all the nerve," the Pengu muttered to himself. That was when he spotted his servant still waiting for him.

"Bandana Dee, you've given me an idea!" he declared after a moment. "I want you to follow those two and keep an eye on them. They know more than they're letting on. Once you find out something important, report back to me."

The orange creature looked sharp and saluted with his spear. "Yes, sir." With that, he hurried out of the room, eager to get away from the volatile king.

Dedede smirked and congratulated himself on his clever scheme. He'd show everyone how silly all this panic over those two Puffals was and then everything would go back to the way he wanted it. Yes sir, sometimes he even impressed himself.

A voice interrupted his self-flattery. "Sire," Waddle Doo called in, "several of the Waddle Dees say they found Kirby!"

 _Well_ , Dedede thought to himself, _it's about time_. "Bring him in!" the king called out. "He'll be able to explain what's been going on."

Two Waddle Dees marched in, carrying a brown sack between them. As they came before the throne, they bowed and emptied the bag of its passenger.

What was dumped out certainly _looked_ like Kirby, as it was indeed a pink ball creature with large red feet. However, the mouth was too small and the eyes were black not blue.

"You morons!" the irate king yelled out. "That's not Kirby! That's a Batamon!"

As he hurried after Sword Knight and Blade Knight, Bandana Dee thanked his lucky stars that he was out on this mission, rather than back there, dealing with an incensed Dedede.

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

Rick and Phan-Phan worked furiously to unearth the small vessel from the cave. It had been hidden there years ago, when Kirby had first arrived at Dreamland. Back then, Dedede had been even more hostile to the little pink puff than now, so Kirby's new friends had thought it best to hide everything that had to do with him. This had the added benefit that they knew where it was now.

"Almost got it, mates," Rick called out as he and Phan-Phan started pushing the small ship out. The ship was light, so the kids, with a little struggle, were able to pull it out on their own. "Got it! Just like we remembered," the hamster said once they were done.

It was a tiny vessel, really only practical for carrying a single passenger. It was shaped like a bright yellow five-point star with a small bubble-like cockpit for where the passenger would sit. All in all, it was in good shape for having sat in a cave for several years.

"Alright," Tiff said as she opened up the cockpit of the ship. "Let's see if we can't get this thing airborne." She slipped into the ship and took a look at the controls. She gasped in shock. There were more buttons and levers in this thing then she had ever seen before. How the heck had Kirby flown this thing? Well, she thought to herself, at least we know now why he crashed.

"This is gonna be a little tougher than we thought," she called out. The other kids gathered as close as they could to see if there was anything they could do, were just as surprised as Tiff was.

"Well," Adeleine said, trying to be helpful, "green means go, so maybe it's one of the green buttons."

Tiff nodded, and pressed several of the green buttons. Most of them didn't respond, and those that did activated the horn, wipers, and flashed the cockpit lights.

"Try the red ones next," Chuchu recommended. "Red typically means important."

Those too yielded little results. Once again, most did not respond, no matter how hard they were pushed. The one button that did respond turned out to be the landing gear, which caused the ship to collapse under the weight of its passengers.

Once they had thoroughly recovered and set the ship back on its wheels, they set to examining the controls again. It was Tuff who noticed a compartment marked in an unknown language. "What's this?" he asked. Without waiting to be answered, he reached inside and opened the compartment. Inside lay a single button, which the young boy eagerly pushed.

There was a shaking sound followed by a small explosion that shook the whole ship. Smoke started pouring from the front of the ship. Poppy rushed forwards and lifted the panel where the smoke was coming from and waved the offending plumes away. However, what lay inside was not any more hopeful.

"Good news and bad new," he called over to his waiting friends. "I think Tuff did find the ignition. However, it was too much for the engine, which exploded."

The children rushed in a frenzy to the front of the little ship. Sure enough, the small block of glass and metal that used to be the engine lay in a twisted heap, still giving off little plumes of smoke.

"Oh, no!" Ribbon cried in distress. "This was our only way into space, and none of us know how to fix it! What are we going to do now?"

Ado looked closely into the engine block when a little symbol caught her eye. "Hey," she said suddenly, "we might not know how to fix this, but Sword and Blade might." When the others looked at her questioningly, she pointed at the little symbol of a five point star. "This is Star Warrior technology," she explained. "Sword and Blade are Star Warriors, so maybe they'll know how to fix this wreck."

"Good idea," Lalala agreed. "Let's get this to Gus' shop, and we'll find Sword and Blade from there." The others nodded and started moving the busted star ship out of the forest. They were getting closer and closer to finding Kirby and Meta Knight, and they weren't going to give up until they found a way to help their friends.

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

Meta Knight worked quietly and quickly. Upon further investigation of the imperfection, he found his previous conclusion to be correct. For some reason, and imperfection in the mixture that made up the wall had made this area softer than the rest. After feeling around, he also found this area to be rather sizable. It would be a bit of a squeeze, but with time and patience, he would be able to make a hole big enough to get through.

He started work that night. As soon as he was sure that Kirby and the babies were asleep, he crept out, keeping in mind to be back long before dawn, so there wouldn't be a repeat of this morning misadventure.

Once he got to the area, he selected a patch of dry grass and twigs, which he bound to a long stick. He then took several rocks which he hoped were flint and started working to make sparks. After a few minutes of work, he had a small torch, which he held against the weak point. After a few moments, the wall was soft with a few areas that had out and out melted. This part he dug out with a small con-caved rock. Once the area had cooled, he applied the torch again and repeated the process.

It was slow going, but it was the best option that they had. After a few hours of work, Meta Knight covered over the small dug out patch with some of the thick foliage that covered everything and headed back to the nest. Much to his relief, none of the little Puffals had awoken yet.

Now relieved that his charges were safe and he had a plan of escape, the knight settled down to sleep. It was the first time since the capture that he had rested well. Dreams of the past still rushed to his mind, but for once they were pleasant dreams, where his long gone friends were present again.

The next few days continued this pattern. The days would be spent in training Kirby and keep a close watch over the babies. Meta Knight was careful not to let any of the younger Puffals know about his escape plan, so they would be spared if the Collector caught wind of what he was doing. However, this was getting more and more difficult to do, as Kirby began to notice his odd sleep habits. This made the pink squire suspicious.

"Medikni 'kay?" he had asked once when he noticed that the elder warrior was beginning to doze off.

Meta Knight caught himself and forced his eyes back open. "I'm fine, Kirby. Don't worry about me. Why don't you practice your range of inhale? See that stone? Try to pull it off the overhang without swallowing it."

"Poyo-kay," the younger Puffal answered. By now, this sort of distraction didn't work quite as well as it used to. Kirby was aware that his mentor was hiding something, and he would find out what, but he also knew that Meta Knight would take it to his grave if he had to. The young Star Warrior would have to be patient and vigilant if he wanted to figure out what was going on.

Things went like this for several days. Meta Knight would work on their escape rout in the night, and Kirby would try to figure out what was going on during the day. Thankfully, the little ones, who were developing rapidly every day. Their exploration did, however, make for an easy distraction if Kirby started discussing his absences too much.

The small group soon fell into such a routine, which was carried out day after day. Finally, Meta Knight was almost finished with the hole. He had broken through the night before, and with a little more work, they'd be able to slip out an escape. He would explain everything to his charges in the morning. After that, they would begin their journey back to Dreamland.

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Sword examined the inside of the small vessel as he explained the situation. "No, I'm afraid this thing's busted. It must have took a lot of damage in the initial crash that brought Kirby here, and then being started without warming up after years of disuse was the last straw. This won't fly again."

The small group had gathered together at Gus' garage, and having explained the situation to the two knaves, were now looking in dismay at the remains of the little ship's engine.

"Is there really nothing we can do?" Adeleine asked in dismay. It seemed as if the final hope of rescuing their friends was vanishing.

"Maybe there is," a voice from the shadows said.

Everyone turned to look where the voice had come from. Much to their surprise, Bandana Dee came out.

"Hey, you work for King Dedede!" Lololo exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

The Waddle Dee raised his arms. "I'm not here for Dedede! I mean, I am, but I didn't reveal myself for him."

"Explain yourself," Tiff said calmly, "but no funny business."

The Waddle Dee walked over to the ruined ship. "The engine is wrecked, but everything else seems to be in working order. This is good, because we need this." He lifted the radio from its cradle. "With this, we can contact the _Rising Arrow_."

Sword snapped his fingers. "That's genius! Why hadn't we thought of that?"

"Uh, excuse me," Chuchu put in. "What rising arrow, and how will this help us find our friends?"

"You see," Sword explained, "Blade, Kirby, and I are not Sir Meta Knight's only students. The rest of our group patrol around Pop Star, making certain that Nightmare isn't causing trouble elsewhere. That group travels in one of the last starship of the Galactic Star Army, the _GSA Rising Arrow_."

"If I can patch this in right," Bandana Dee said as he leaned into the busted up space ship, "we'll have their help in rescuing Meta Knight and Kirby."

"I just have one question about this," Poppy said. "How do you know about them? You work for Dedede, not Meta Knight."

"Oh, that's really simple." The Waddle Dee adjusted his bandana so it wasn't in his eyes. "My brother is a member. There!" He picked up the small radio speaker. "Bandana Dee to _Rising Arrow_. Come in, _Rising Arrow._ "

The monitor flickered a little before coming to life. On screen, a Waddle Dee nearly identical to Bandana Dee appeared. The only difference between the two was the fact that the newcomer was wearing a white sailor's cap. "Sailor Dee here. Hey, bro, long time no see!"

"Hi, Sailor," Bandana Dee greeted. "It's nice seeing you too, but I'm afraid we have grim business."

"Oh, my. This sounds serious." The orange creature took off his cap. "What's wrong?"

"I'm afraid that Lord Meta Knight and Kirby have been abducted," Sword explained. He and Tiff explained everything that they had found out about and why they needed help.

"Oh dear, that is grim news." Sailor Dee put his cap back on. "I'll alert the others and we'll meet up with you soon. You know where to meet us, right?"

"In the landing field," Sword answered. "Hurry, time is of the essence."

"Got it," the Waddle Dee responded. " _Rising Arrow_ out." With that the screen flickered and then turned off.

"Alright, we'll take it from here." Sword and Blade retrieved their weapons and prepared to leave. "You kids head on home."

No way!" Tuff cried. "We're coming too!"

"Yeah," Ribbon said, backing the young boy up. "They're our friends too! We're coming along!" There was a clamor of agreement among the kids.

Sword lifted his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, you can come. But you'll have to listen to rules, and I warn you, the captain has a bit of a temper."

Tiff laughed. "If we can handle old Dedede, I think we'll be fine."

"Come on, then," Sword said. "They'll be here soon, and we'll want to meet them when they land."

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It was the morning that Meta Knight was ready to finally explain the plan to Kirby. He was gathering the small group together when an unwelcome surprise came to them.

The Collector met them inside the enclosure.

Meta Knight glared darkly as he made certain to place himself directly between her and his charges. Kirby peered from behind his mentor with fear, and the babies gathered close in curiosity.

The Collector laughed when she saw their response. "Is this any way to treat your host?" she asked, though the tone in her voice made it clear that she was not surprised in the least.

"What do you want?" Meta Knight said frankly. His voice had lowered to little more than a growl and he spread his wings.

"Well, first of all, you and I are going to have a little chat." She then glared at the children who hung close to their guardian. "Alone."

"They remain with me," the knight responded calmly. "Say what you have to say."

Emboldened by his mentor's composed attitude, Kirby stood up boldly. "Kaabii stay! Not sca'd, poyo!"

Their captor rolled her eyes. "I didn't want to do this, but you leave me no choice." She pulled out a silver whistle, which she then blew into.

The veteran warrior heard nothing, but waited for some sort of monstrosity to appear. Soon, however, it became clear that the whistle wasn't meant to summon something, but to scare someone away.

The minute she blew the whistle, Kirby clutched his head and the little ones began crying. To them, it was the most horrible sound they had ever heard! In a rush to get away, Kirby ran as fast as he could, grabbing the little brown and white babies and leading the others off.

Meta Knight turned see what was happening, but fell as he felt a dart find its mark in his shoulder. The Collector smirked at him. "High frequency whistle," she explained as he struggled against the drugs which were clouding his senses. "You and I are both too old to hear it, but to them it was one of the most intense experiences they will ever have. Don't worry about them. They'll be fine. Now, on to our business."

She casually walked around and yanked him up by his wing. He winced, but did his best not to cry out. He wouldn't give her that satisfaction.

She clicked her tongue as if she were scolding a naughty child. "You've been a busy boy, haven't you?" She pulled out a syringe filled with a strange liquid. "It was a rather clever scheme at that, too. My sensors almost didn't notice the hole you were making in the wall." She jabbed the syringe into his side and began pulling him away from the nest area.

"You're quite clever. It's almost a shame that I have to do this now." She opened another panel that revealed the door of the enclosure. "But, I did already warn you. Escape attempts are dangerous for your health." With that, she pulled him into the dark corridor as he lost consciousness.

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The landing field wasn't too far. It was a large grassy pasture away from most of the living areas of Cappy Town, nearby Whispy Woods.

Just as Sword had said, it didn't take long for the _Arrow_ to arrive, and it was a sight to behold! It was a long, slender ship, with a look to it that made it clear that this was a ship made for speed.

The ship settled down in field and opened up the hatch. Blade mumbled something to group that sounded as if he was telling them to go aboard the ship. Eagerly, the band walked into an examined the interior.

As they were looking around, a young man with spiky blond hair that was tied back with a headband stepped into the room. "Well, kids," Sword said motioning towards the new comer, "let me introduce you to the captain of the _Rising Arrow_ and the leader of this band when Sir Meta Knight is unavailable, Knuckle Joe."

"Right as always, Sword," the young man said, shaking Sword's hand hard. He then turned to the kids. "You guys must be Kirby's friends. Well, a friend of Kirby's is a friend of mine! Welcome aboard."

"Nice to meet you," Tiff said. "I wish we could have met under better circumstances, though."

Knuckle Joe's face darkened at this comment. "Yeah. Sailor Dee filled us in on all the details. This is serious, but don't worry too much." Here a grin spread across the young warrior's face. "We'll find 'em, and we'll make sure that Collector doesn't take anyone else ever again."

Suddenly, the ship began to shake. "Looks like it's time for takeoff." Knuckle Joe motioned towards the room he had just come out of. "You'd better head in there. There are takeoff seats in there, and you'll meet the rest of the crew."

The group complied and headed to their seats. It was both exciting and nerve wracking, but they were finally on their way. They'd soon rescue their friends.

To be continued…


	4. Glimpse of the Past, Part Four

Kirby had rushed the babies away so quickly that he hadn't had time to really think about what he was doing. All he had known was that whistle made a terrible sound, and that they must get away from it as soon as they could. It wasn't until the small group had made it a good distance off that he thought to check to make sure they were all together.

The little warrior set down the two babies he was carrying and took a headcount. All seven babies were present and accounted for. He gave sigh of relief.

"Poyo, got way," he said as he calmed down. He turned around to address Meta Knight. "Whe' we go, Medikn-" he cut himself off as he realized his mentor was not present.

Once again, Kirby began to panic. Meta Knight was back with that mean whistle lady! The little pink puff began running back to the nest area. "Stay here, poyo!" he called back to the smaller ones. "Be back kwick!"

The infants watched for a moment as he ran off. Suddenly, the yellow baby turned to the others. "Poyo!" he declared. "Poyo poyo poyo! Poyo!" With that he took off after Kirby, and most of the other babies trailed close behind.

Something caught the eye of the little white baby, however. He instead ran off to investigate this new curiosity.

Kirby made it back to the clearing in time to see the panel slide shut, allowing the young Star Warrior just a moment to see his mentor get dragged off by the mean lady. Angrily, he rushed against the doors and began kicking at them in an attempt to break them. However, they were too strong and he only wore himself out.

He turned around and much to his surprise, he found that the babies had followed him there. "Poyo, s'posed to stay!" he scolded. "Cu'ld be hurt!"

"Poyo! Poyo Kaabii poyo!" the little blue one squealed as she explained. The other ones began to try to knock down the wall as Kirby had been a moment ago.

Kirby shook his head in dismay. "No good, poyo," he sighed, half-heartedly kicking at the door again. "Too stwong."

He suddenly noticed the deficiency. There was something wrong with the number of babies. He took a head count. Realization hit him hard. "Whi' Kaabii! Poyo poyo Whi' Kaabii!" With that, he went to find the stray infant.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

It didn't take him too long. The baby had found the hole in the wall that Meta Knight had succeeded in making and had enthusiastically tried to go through it. However, it was still too small for him, and he had gotten himself stuck halfway. "Poyo!" he cried, trying to get someone's attention. "Poyo!"

Kirby was quick in dislodging the little one from his prison. He was about to start explaining how dangerous this was again when he looked closely at the hole.

When he had first seen it, he had assumed that it had been in a rock face or a tree trunk. Now that he had a closer look, he could see that it seemed to be floating in midair. This curiosity prompted the pink Puffal to take a closer look inside it.

It was darker outside. There were some plants to be seen, but they looked to be behind a glass pane. The place also had the look of a metal hallway. The same kind of hallway that the kidnapper had pulled Meta Knight into!

Kirby gave a small but excited dance. So this is what Meta Knight had been up to! He had found a way of escape! They would be free soon!

After this revelation, the fledgling Star Warrior had another, more shocking one. This must be why that mean lady took him away! She knew he had found a route of escape and wanted to stop them. She might even hurt him!

Well, if that was the case, then Kirby would just have to move fast and find them before she could.

He backed up as far as he could and examined the hole and its surroundings. It was obviously too small to get through, but if he could find something to copy, he might be able to enlarge it.

That was when he spotted three coconuts hanging from a tree nearby. Kirby grinned broadly. Those would do quite nicely.

"Poyo, ge'bek!" he called to the littler ones. "Poy-poyo Boom!"

Understanding the meaning of the warning, the babies rushed behind a nearby rock and peered out to see what Kirby was going to do.

He backed up slightly and then began to inhale. The coconuts were high up, so the pull of his inhale would have to be intense. It took a few moments, but sure enough, one by one each of the fruits fell off of the tree and into the young Puffal's awaiting mouth.

Now that he had ammo, he positioned himself in front of the hole. He held the coconuts in his mouth as if forming something, and then released. What flew out was a large golden star with two smaller stars orbiting around it. These had been formed around the fruit that he had inhaled.

Once the stars made contact with the wall, they exploded, blowing small golden shards everywhere. Along with them, the three volatile fruit also blew up on contact.

The force of these two reactions caused the hole in the wall to melt and be torn away very quickly. Within a few minute, there was a hole large enough for them to move easily out of.

Behind him, Kirby could hear the babies cheering excitedly. They thought it had been one of the most impressive things that they had ever seen! The young Puffal beamed with pride, and gestured towards the newly made exit. "C'mon," he said. "Les' go, poyo!"

With that, the small group left and began their search to find where their guardian had been taken.

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Dedede gritted his teeth in frustration. Nothing had been going his way at all! Everyone was still paying attention to the search, and no one other than his Waddle Dees were reporting back to him. It had even been hours since he sent Bandana Dee out after Meta Knight's two servants.

With nothing else to do, the Pengu decided to go out to Cappy Town and see if anything was still running like normal. He went down to the stables where his own personal Grand Wheelie was kept.

When he entered the room, the Wheelie immediately sprang up. "So, you're as eager as I am to get out, huh, Mr. Mufflerkins?" he laughed as the creature raced around the stable. "Well, at least someone else has a sense of normalitude."

He got on top of the Wheelie, which let a groan of protest, and turned to head to the main road. Much to his surprise, however, it appeared that some of Cappy Town was running as normal again.

Dedede chuckled as he spotted the activity. "Well, it seems like these no-count Cappies have finally figured out what's really going on."

He turned to his favorite shop in town, which was the restaurant run by Chef Kawasaki and Nago the Cat. The king then got off of his Wheelie before tying it to a nearby post. "I'll be in a while, so you take your break here." As if in response, the Grand Wheelie sank to the ground, relieved that, at least for the time being, he didn't have to carry the rather heavy Pengu.

The shop had been empty for most of the day, and at this moment it seemed to follow the same pattern. The two owners, however, were right where they normally stood. Kawasaki, who was a mediocre cook but a very friendly person, stood wiping down the counters where people would normally be sitting and eating. Nago, meanwhile, was back in the kitchen, where he was free to work on his culinary masterpieces without the annoying distraction of casual chatter.

As Dedede entered the restaurant, Kawasaki sprang to attention. "Oh, my! Your highness! We weren't expecting you to come in today. Please, take a seat."

The king examined the empty room. "Where is everybody?" he asked curtly. "I thought things were finally getting back to where they should be!"

"Didn't you hear?" Kawasaki said. "We've got a lead on where Kirby and Meta Knight were taken to! Several of Kirby's friends went to Kabu and found out that some space poacher took them up into space! So the kids and those two friends who always follow Meta Knight around called for some help and they went after them. The rest of us are preparing in case they come back and need help."

"Waste of time if you ask me," Nago grumbled from the kitchen. "Either they're gonna have succeeded or they're gonna be dead. It'll either be one or the other, but _no_ , we just _have_ to prepare several dozen boxed lunches just in case we need to bring an armada up there to retrieve two people!"

"Aw, come on Nago," Kawasaki said in a somewhat pleading voice. "What if they really need it? It's better to be prepared and the need never comes than for the need to come and we have nothing ready. Besides, they're our friends!"

Nago grumbled, but went back to his work in the kitchen.

With that matter settled, Kawasaki turned back to his customer. "So, your highness, what can I get for you?"

Dedede began to peruse the menu when something mentioned earlier stuck him. "Wait a minute, you said those two toadies of Meta Knight's went with those kids, right?"

"That's right," the chef nodded. "They seemed to be in quite the rush."

The Pengu frowned deeply. "Well, that doesn't any sense. Bandana Dee would 'a told me if those two were doing anything funny."

"Oh, I thought you would have known," Kawasaki said, some surprise in his voice. "He went with them when the ship came and picked them up."

Now Dedede was livid. "Why that traitor! I aught 'a have him proselated! When I see him next, he's gonna get it!" With that, the king stood up to storm out.

"Oh, so you don't want to have any lunch, sire," Kawasaki asked, disappointed that the one customer who came in today was about to leave.

Dedede turned around. "Well, if he went with the kids into space, I see no reason why I can't have a good meal first." With that, he sat back down and focused on the menu once more.

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Meta Knight was awakened by the sense of water dripping off of a palm frond onto his face. He forced himself up as his memories of the last few minutes flooded back to him. As he examined his surroundings, an unwelcome voice spoke up.

"So," the Collector grinned as she approached. "You're finally awake."

"I'm surprised you left me alive." He tested out his wings, and was pleased to find that neither of them was broken. "I would have expected that you would be getting rid of my remains by now."

The Collector shook her head. "So uncreative. But I suppose that's you, right straight to the point." She chuckled and adjusted a gun slung over her shoulder.

Meta Knight wanted to find a way of escape, but as none was presenting itself, he decided to keep his captor distracted until he could come up with some sort of plan. "So you don't plan on killing me then? It seems pointless to make empty threats."

"Oh, those threats weren't empty." She casually circled him, like some predator laying claim to a kill. "You will die, but just killing you isn't any fun and is very wasteful. One doesn't come on such a specimen every day, after all. No, you and I are going to play the most dangerous game."

She smirked, awaiting some sort of response. When her prey offered none, she continued. "I'll give you a half-hour head start. In this time, you can do whatever it is you want to do, unarmed of course. After that, I will hunt you and I will kill you. Things are as simple as that." She held up what looked like a timer. "I would suggest you get moving."

Meta Knight lowered his red eyes and spread his wings. Without a word, he took to the air.

The Collector smiled to herself as she prepared for the hunt. This would be a good game. The Star Warrior was a formidable prey, but she had one ace up her sleeve. That serum on his eyesight would wear out before the half-hour was up, and without any mist to replenish it, he would be blind as a bat by the time she was able to locate him.

Elsewhere on the ship, Kirby and the babies were exploring their new surroundings. Each hallway corridor was lined with glass that looked in on areas very similar to the one they had just left. Most of these appeared empty, but occasionally some creature would wander closer to the observation area. These creatures were all non-sapient, so there was no help on those fronts.

They wandered, looking for anything that might give them a hint to where that mean lady had taken Meta Knight. However, evidence was not easy to find, as the ship was dark and winding, with many corridors leading to more and more windows.

Kirby was beginning to lose hope when an open door caught his notice. It had a sign on the door, but the little Star Warrior could not read quite yet, so that did not matter to him. What was hanging on the wall just inside, however, did matter a lot.

Much to their amazement, there inside the room and surrounded by a variety of other weaponry, was Galaxia! Hanging near the sword was also Meta Knight's mask, cape, and armor. The young Puffal rushed into the room with the littler ones trailing behind.

Kirby rushed forwards and quickly inhaled Galaxia. He transformed in a flash of light, and when it was clear to see again, he was wielding Galaxia and wearing a green and yellow cap. "'Ilaxa Kaabii!" he declared triumphantly.

The little ones stared up, amazed by the transformation. Kirby grinned broadly. "Poyo poyo copy!" He pantomimed inhaling. He then motioned to the other weapons. "You twy, poyo."

The babies looked at each other questioningly for a moment. Finally, the little green baby stepped forwards. He examined the rows of weapons until he found one that was to his liking. It was a boomerang with one side that was bladed. He took a few steps back and started to inhale.

However, he was not able to get up enough strength to pull the object into his mouth. This was a shock to Kirby, who had always assumed that his strength was the normal amount. However, the young Puffal shrugged this discrepancy off, and decided to help his younger sibling by placing the boomerang within closer reach.

Now that it was closer to his mouth, the green child easily inhaled it. Like Kirby before him, the little one was briefly enveloped in a flash of light, and when it had passed, he had a bright yellow hat in the shape of a duck with a blade at the top of it. The baby turned to Kirby. "Poyo?" he asked quietly.

"Poyo, Cutta Kaabii!" the young Star Warrior declared.

Excitedly, the little yellow baby jumped up next. He began pointing at a large tire-like object and letting out an excited stream of poyos.

Like before, the little one inhaled the object as soon as it was placed within reach and transformed. This time, he when he was finished transforming, he had a bright red baseball cap which was turned backwards. He then turned to Kirby for an explanation.

The toddler grinned brightly. "Whee' Kaabii!" he explained. It was neat for him to be the teacher for once, and he was thoroughly enjoying this.

One by one, each of the babies selected an object and received their first copy abilities. The white one chose beam, the blue one fighter, the red one hammer, the purple one tornado, and the brown one stone.

Once they all had copied, they were prepared to continue their search. Now, at least, once they found their captor, they could fight back.

Before they left, Kirby decided to do one last thing. He gathered up the remainder of Meta Knight's armor and put it on. He would need to return them to their proper owner as soon as possible. Besides, he had always wanted to try the mask on.

Kirby then motioned to the babies. "C'mon," he called out, pointing to the door with Galaxia. "We he'p Medikni, poyo!" He turned dramatically to walk out the door and promptly walked into the door jamb. Embarrassed but not defeated, he moved the mask up to that he could see, but returned back to their important mission.

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As the kids traveled into the bridge, they were greeted by a young woman. She had long white hair and, like Knuckle Joe, wore a headband wrapped around her head. "'Bout time you got back," she said, affectionately punching Knuckle Joe in the arm. "We were starting to worry we were going to have to pull you out of another duel."

The young man laughed. "Not this time, sis. Though I wouldn't mind a quick break if we met up with Dedede." He turned to the kids. "This is my sister and one of the best pilots this side of Aqua Star, Silica."

Silica laughed at the praise before motioning for the others to follow her. "He's exaggerating, of course. So you're the ones who tipped us off to our little poacher problem, huh?"

"Yes," Tiff responded. "Thanks for coming so quickly. We were starting to worry that we were going to lose their trail for good."

"We still might," Poppy added pessimistically. "Remember those cloaking devices that Kabu mentioned."

A boisterous laugh answered the comment. "Cloaking devices! Hah!" a nearby warrior dressed up in purple armor laughed. "I'll be darned if there's a cloaking device that can fool the _Rising Arrow_ 's sensors."

Silica motioned to the newcomer. "This is Mace Knight. She's the mechanic that keeps us airborne, quite the feat with this old a ship."

"Aww, the _Arrow_ 's not old," Mace Knight said, her tone almost motherly. "You just need to know where to tweak."

Another knight, this time wearing a skull mask, chuckled as he helped Sailor Dee set up several more seats for their guests. "You'd know about that. You've needed to tweak just about every part on-board."

"All right, you two," Silica put in before Mace Knight could respond. "We don't have time for the sibling rivalry, Ax." She then slid into the pilot's seat as everyone took their seats for takeoff.

"Javelin, Trident," Knuckle Joe called out to the last few members of the crew, "we're looking at what's probably a class-nine living ship, definitely cloaked. Set up the sensors to pick up the traces given off by such devices and make sure we're ready for any surprises set up for us."

Much to the children's surprise, two robots seemed almost to rush out at the pilot's command. One of them, which was purple and floated rather than walked, plugged into a port in the control panel. "Sensors are set, sir."

The other one, which almost wouldn't have seemed to be a robot if it wasn't for the voice, handled the controls at another panel. "Shields are locked and weapons are set. Is there anything else you'd like, sir?"

"Just to get underway, Trident. We set to go?"

"Engines ready," Silica responded. "Takeoff begins now."

There was a smooth but noticeable sensation of rising as they took to the air. The kids, unused to the sensation, gripped on to the seats. Within a few moments, they were outside of Pop Star's atmosphere.

Once they had reached that level, Sailor Dee unbuckled his seat. "It's safe to get up now, if you want," he called over to the others. "If you want, you can see Pop Star outside."

It was amazing to look down upon their own world. It was beautiful, but seemed rather small compared to the vastness surrounding it. "Crikey," Rick muttered as the group looked out on the sight. "And here I was thinking Whispy Woods was huge."

Suddenly, a voice interrupted the amazed group. "Sir!" Ax Knight called. "Sensors caught something just beyond Rock Star, and it's big!"

Knuckle Joe went over to the screen and grinned. "Looks like we've got our kidnapper." He turned back to the robots. "Javelin Knight, set a course for Rock Star."

"Immediately, sir," the robot responded before entering something into the computer. With a small lurch, the ship headed to its destination.

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Meta Knight was eager to get as much space between himself and the Collector as possible. A hunt. She intended to hunt him. He shook his head. He saw his chances, and they weren't great. She knew this containment room better than he did, and she was far more armed than he was. He also suspected she had some sort of other handicap on him as well, and that it wouldn't be long before he found out about it.

He began gathering what supplies he could use to defend himself. There wasn't much, only some long sticks and large rocks which stuck out from the ground, but his time in the war against the Nightmare Empire had taught the Star Warrior not to overlook anything that might give an advantage.

He soon learned what other handicap had been placed on him. The serum that his captor had mentioned was beginning to wear off. His vision had already blurred, and soon he wouldn't be able to see a thing.

He would have to fight his best, though. If he was going to have any chance at survival at all, he'd need to use everything at his disposal. Besides, he did have one trick up his sleeve.

While his vision, weak though it was, was still present, he set up several decoys and traps in the trees. She'd be expecting him to keep to the trees as a way of compensating for his blindness, and it would be a good idea to set up for that expectation.

On the other hand, he did have a way of keeping out of sight, instead of going into the trees, he set small clearings with markers that he could feel, where he'd be able to move on the ground from root cluster to root cluster. He would have liked to set up a tunnel system, but there wasn't any time for something like that.

Faster than he would have liked, his time ran out. The click of a hammer some distance away signaled to him that the hunt had begun. Without waiting another moment, he rushed down one of his hiding systems.

The Collector examined the surrounding. The Star Warrior had done well in hiding himself, but without any sight, he'd slip up eventually.

That was when she spotted a dark shape in the bows of a tree. Immediately, she unloaded several rounds into the shape. It fell as soon as it was hit, and revealed itself to be a dummy made out of woven sticks. As it fell, a primitive sling filled with stones was unleashed, and the huntress was forced to dash for cover from the small projectiles.

She smirked. This one had the will and determination to live. Those were the most fun once they were caught.

Meta Knight turned at the sound of one of his traps being sprung. His pursuer wasn't far behind. He resisted the temptation to take to the air. Even though it would expand his speed, it would also make him an easier target. Besides, he would need his wings free if he was going to survive the encounter that was coming up.

The hunt went on this way for much of it. The pattern movement was hidden, but not too well. The Collector assumed that this meant that her prey was getting desperate and sloppy. Because of this assumption, she didn't notice she was being lead right into a clearing.

Once she had arrived at the area, Meta Knight revealed himself. She laughed at this strategy. He was just giving up! She lifted the gun to take a shot.

Much to her surprise, however, his wings lifted and he dashed away from his previous position. Furthermore, he rushed straight at her, and with a quick movement, knocked the gun from her hands, which then skidded back into the foliage.

She smiled and withdrew a dagger. "So, you don't intend to keep running? Good." With that, she charged him, using a pattern of movement so as to confuse him from the sound.

However, Meta Knight was no stranger to fighting blind. Calmly, he held out his wings, which were sensitive enough to catch the changes in the movements of his opponents. Using this primitive sort of echolocation, he was able to predict the movements and respond accordingly.

The duel went on for a time without either gaining the upper hand. The Collector was better armed and had the advantage of clear sight, but Meta Knight was the better fighter and had trained himself to be able to hold his own without being able to see. As such, the fight went on for a while without a change in the footing.

Suddenly, the Collector found her opportunity. The fight had gone closer to the foliage, and the huntress caught sight of her gun. Taking the opportunity, she snatched it back up. "I'm ending this now!" she declared before firing at him.

Meta Knight was in a hard position. Unarmored and exposed, he wouldn't last long taking the shot. However, he had not preformed the only move that could save his life in so long. Inwardly, he braced himself for what he was about to do.

He began to inhale the large shot. It felt like he was swallowing molten lead, but as this was the only option, he continued until he was certain that he had caught the projectile. Once he was certain, he spat it out.

This startled the Collector. He had never used inhale in any other circumstance, and she had assumed that it wasn't one of his skills. However, the shock wore off fast, and she saw her opportunity.

He was resting on the ground, recovering from the shock. He was reminded why he hadn't inhaled in years, as the strain of it made it feel as if his body were on fire. As he tried to push himself up, his opponent threw a net, tangling him in the fibers.

She walked calmly over to her trapped prey. She casually stepped down on his wing. A snap and a cry of pain from the Star Warrior signaled that she had succeeded at crippling him farther. She raised the knife for the kill. "You were a harder kill than I expected," she sneered to him, "but I told you that you were going to die."

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As the _Arrow_ sped to their destination, Ribbon couldn't help but feel worried. They had found good aid, but what if they were too late? What if the Collector had already hurt, or killed Kirby and Meta Knight? Or what if, despite their best intentions, they weren't able to help their friends? She tried to banish these worries from her mind, but she couldn't shake that awful feeling.

"Penny for your thoughts?" The fairy was shaken from her thoughts by the question. She turned and realized that Mace Knight was sitting next to her. "You seem nervous. Want to talk about it?"

She shrugged. "I suppose I'm afraid we're going to be too late and that something…bad will have already happened." She shuddered at the thoughts of what might be happening that ran through her mind.

Mace Knight patted her shoulder. "Don't sweat it. We'll all worried, but I'm sure nothing bad is going down. From what I've heard, Kirby's one tough little guy, and I know Meta Knight's no pushover."

Ribbon smiled at the comforting words. She then sat up. "How do you know Meta Knight? I mean, no one on Dreamland knows much about him, except maybe Kirby. How did you guys meet him?"

Mace Knight leaned back in her seat. "That was quite a while," she said, a tone of wistfulness in her voice. "I guess it started back when we were kids. Sword, Blade, Ax, and I had always been together, and we were in pretty bad straits back then. We were orphans and street thieves. One day, Sir Meta Knight found us. Straightened us out and gave us a second chance at life. It was the first time we really met anyone who cared what was going to happen to us.

"Silica and Knuckle Joe, on the other hand, were a different story. They had always known him because their parents were two of his partners in the Star Warriors."

Ribbon cocked her head questioningly. "Their parents were Star Warriors?" she said inquisitively.

The older girl laughed. "Oh, yeah. That's how most Star Warriors come to be. Some of us were brought in when we were older, but most of the time, if you were a Star Warrior, it was because you came from a long line of Star Warriors.

"Silica and Knuckle Joe's folks were two of the most famous Star Warriors of their time. Sir Jecra the Fierce and Lady Garlude the Skillful were half of what was known as the Four Forces. Sir Meta Knight, known as the Warrior of the Wind, and another warrior known as Sir Daroach the Shrewd made up the other half. They were the best team of their generation, and even Nightmare himself got nervous when he learned he was going to have to deal with them!"

Ribbon waited for her to continue, but when Mace Knight did not, the fairy asked, "Then what happened?"

Mace Knight sighed. "Same thing that happens when anyone is exceptional. Others got envious. In particular, there was an ally of the Star Warriors known as Yamikage. He had observed the Star Warriors for years, and had helped them many times against the forces of Nightmare. No one noticed that he was growing resentful of the Four Forces. So the day he betrayed them came as a shock."

"It was he who led the four into a trap. After that, Nightmare and his monsters ambushed them. Nightmare himself killed Jecra and Garlude. Daroach was killed by the monsters quickly, and his body was never found, though his smashed mask was. For the longest time, we thought Meta Knight was dead, too. It was nearly eighteen months later that he escaped and we learned what had happened."

"What happened?" Ribbon asked, leaning forwards with interest.

Mace Knight shrugged. "He was kidnapped and experimented on. That much we know. Beyond that, he wouldn't talk about it. He only told his superior, Sir Arthur, and his father what happened, and they never mentioned what it was. The only clear thing was that it changed him."

"That was also when-" she started, but was cut off by a call out from Silica.

"Guys!" the pilot called back to her passengers. "We've found it!"

The others rushed forwards and stared at the image on the monitor. Sure enough, through the filter that caused the cloaking device to be worthless, there was a huge ship, moving slowly past the nearby planet. On the side was the symbol of the Collector.

Knuckle Joe turned to the others. "Alright, everyone," he called out. "We've made it but we're not in the clear yet. Everyone strap in and get ready to fight." He took his seat and grinned widely. "We're getting out friends back."

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Kirby raced forwards, looking for anything that might lead to their missing friend. He searched thoroughly, but it seemed that this ship just had miles and miles of observing areas, and nothing that might help in the young ones' search. However, the young Puffals were nothing if not persistent. They'd continue to search if it took them forever!

Thankfully, it did not take them forever. They soon came upon another door, which Kirby attempted to open. He pulled on it as hard as he could, but it refused to budge. That was when he got an idea.

"Cutta Kaabii t'y," he said, motioning towards the door.

The baby looked up questioningly, so Kirby pantomimed striking the control panel by the door with a blade. Realization and delight filled in the little one eyes once he figured out what he was being told. He reach up and plucked the large blade off the top of his cap and struck the control panel with it. Much to the young Puffals' delight, the panel crackled for a moment before the door slid open.

Inside was a room full of various flashing buttons and levers. The sight was amazing to the young ones, who eagerly rushed to find out what they did.

Kirby himself went to what seemed to be the largest of the control panels and tried to find a button that would help them find their guardian. Nothing seemed to happen within the room, but unknown to the little ones, chaos was reigning in nearly every other part of the ship. Doors opened and closed at random, lights flickered, "rain" was turned on and off repeatedly. All this, however, was too far away for its instigators to have any idea what was going on.

Finally, by complete accident, they found what they were looking for. The little purple baby, enjoying his tornado ability a little too much, accidentally threw the brown one into Kirby, who was pushed forwards and slid off of the seat he had been perched on. Trying to catch himself, he caught a hold of a switch that had been camouflaged into the panel, which opened up the cover to a window and revealed a whole new set of controls.

The babies then rushed forwards to look out the window, and then gave a cry of horror at what they saw. Kirby pulled himself up and gasped at the sight. Within, they saw the mean whistle lady, and she was about to hurt Meta Knight!

The squire acted quickly. Finding a joystick on the new control panel, he tested it out to see if it would help. In response, a large mechanical arm within the hunting enclosure revealed itself, its movements corresponding to the controls of the joystick. Kirby quickly took advantage of this, knocking the mean lady aside with the arm before hooking the net the older Puffal was still tangled in and pulling him up to the window.

Meta Knight had felt the cold steel against his skin and was preparing for death when the unexpected happened. With a grunt, he had been released from the Collector's grasp and was a moment later hauled into the air. He couldn't see what was going on, but had a good idea what had happened when he was greeted by an excited chorus of "Hi!"

The Collector scowled. She wasn't about to be robbed of her prey by a group of meddling babies. She turned to a panel on the side of the wall, where the wires connecting to all the machinery was housed. With a quick tug, the wire keeping the arm up was pulled out.

Joyful reunion turned to dismay when the arm, which Kirby had been attempting to use to pull Meta Knight into the control room collapsed. However, the little ones reacted quickly, each using their abilities to smash open the window. Kirby was the first to succeed, and with a cry he leaped into the hunting room wielding Galaxia. The others followed closely behind.

The children had reached where Meta Knight had fallen before the Collector did. After instructing the little ones to begin untangling their guardian, Kirby took off the mask and cape and turned to face the foe.

The kidnapper smirked at him. "Bold little troublemaker, aren't you. Well, I know how to deal with you." She revealed the whistle, and prepared to blow it like last time.

However, the babies reacted faster. The blue baby rushed up and knocked the whistle away with a Vulcan Punch. It then flew over to the brown baby, who took his stone form and crushed it flat.

Now with that hindrance out of the way, Kirby rushed forwards with Galaxia. The Collector was fast enough to respond with a blade of her own, and the two dueled as the babies finally succeeded at untangling and waking up Meta Knight.

Kirby was good with Galaxia, but ultimately was not skilled enough in swordplay to defeat his foe. She disarmed him, and the famed blade flew into the foliage. The Star Warrior attempted to follow his weapon, but was struck from behind. The Collector went up and place a foot on the pink Puffal's back.

Seeing their elder brother in trouble, the babies tried to rush their opponent from behind. The Collector, however, was ready for them this time, and responded by whipping out a net which caught the infants in one fell swoop. An electrified current then ran through it, causing the little ones to drop their abilities.

The Collector was now fuming. "I've had it up to here with you troublemakers!" She yanked Kirby up, and the young Puffal gave a cry of pain and shock. "I'm going to kill the lot of you, and I'm starting with you!"

Before she could do anything, though, a rush of blue rammed into her, forcing her to drop the young one. There stood Meta Knight, once again wearing his cape and mask. "Your fight is with me," he said, his voice dangerously quiet.

She gave a cruel laugh. "You couldn't face me before. All you have now is piece of metal and a scrap of cloth. How are you going to face me unarmed and helpless?"

"I may be unarmed, but do not think I am helpless." With that, he pulled his cape around himself and Kirby and the duo vanished.

They reappeared not far away, where the unconscious infants still lay. Setting Kirby down, the elder warrior tore the net off of the little ones. "Get them away from here," he instructed. "I'll take care of her."

Kirby nodded and helped the little ones to their feet. "C'mon," he said gently but urgently as they began to wake up. "Gotta run, poyo!"

Once Meta Knight was certain that Kirby and the babies were a good distance off, he turned to his opponent. He now had the advantage that he could see again as well as the short distance teleportation that the Dimensional Cape gave him, but he would need to retrieve Galaxia if he hoped to finish this fight.

Kirby was looking for a safe place to put the babies so that he could go back and help when a loud whirring started up. He looked up for a moment, before herding the babies away from the wall. He was just in time, as boarding tunnel soon broke through the metal.

The young Star Warrior placed himself between the strange tunnel and the babies in case whatever exited was dangerous. However, much to his delight, he knew the people who came out!

"Poyo, fw'ends!" he called out happily as the small party of warriors came out.

Hearing his cry, the kids rushed out. Tiff reached him first, and pulled the little Puffal into what would have been a bone crushing hug, if he had had any bones. "Kirby!" she cried. "Oh, you're alright! We were so worried!"

Soon after, the others came out and eagerly greeted the little Puffal. Kirby, noticing that he was the only Puffal there, motioned for the babies to come out. "Safe!" he called. "They the goo' guys!"

The babies, who had been somewhat overwhelmed by the sudden crowd, crept out timidly. The little yellow one, boldest as usual, ran up first. "Poyo, poyo!" he declared, eager to make it known that he was not afraid.

Silica couldn't help but laugh at the cute little creature. "Where did these little guys come from?"

"Up in nes'," Kirby explained. "Medikni an-" Remembrance hit the youngster like a ton of bricks. In all the excitement of the reunion, he had forgotten about Meta Knight, who was still in danger.

His tone became frantic after this. "Medikni poyo twu'ble! Poyo bad lady poyo fight! Poyo kill Kaabii! Poyo Medikni stop poyo! Poyo still fight! Poyo need help!"

Despite the rather garbled nature of the delivery, the message came through loud and clear. Knuckle Joe turned to the makeshift team. "Kids, you get the babies secure on the _Arrow_. Make sure nothing comes in after them. Kirby, I want you to lead the rest of us to where Sir Meta Knight is."

"Poyo!" Kirby declared as he threw a salute.

The fight had not gone well for the Collector. Now that Meta Knight was no longer handicapped by his blindness, the knight was a much more formidable opponent. However, she was able to keep her ground as long as he didn't reach that sword of his.

She had finally succeeded in getting into a favorable position, but she would have to move quickly. He was searching through the thick vegetation for his weapon, giving her a single shot with the poison darts. However, before she could use it, a strong wind the dart gun from her wrist. She turned in anger to realize that the knight's squire had returned and had inhaled to disarm her. Much to her surprise, he was also not alone.

She tried to flee, but by then Meta Knight had retrieved his sword. "Yield," he said in a low voice. "You are beaten. Give in now and face justice for what you have done."

The poacher glanced from the warrior to the collection of his students, before a wicked grin alighted on her features. "I might be defeated, but I'm not going out alone." She swiftly to a remote from her belt and pushed the button on it. Red lights began flashing and a siren's blare cut through the air. "That would be the self-destruct mechanism. You now have two choices, escape and live, or try to take me and die." With that she darted off.

The group of young warriors started to follow, but Meta Knight stopped them. "No," he called out, "there's no time. We have to get out of here!"

The young one nodded. "The _Arrow_ 's just out this hallway," Silica shouted so she could be heard above the siren. "The others are already there! Let's hurry!" The small group rushed to the ship and were quick to leave. They made it just in time, as the Collector's exhibit ship imploded nearly as soon as they had left.

The Collector scowled at the sight of the destruction. That had been one of her best displays, and it had been ruined because those creatures. She hadn't liked to run without her trophy, but as the adage goes, "the fox that fights and runs away lives to fight another day." And fight another day she would. She would have to wait before she could strike again, but one day, she'd make room in her trophies for the bodies of the blue and pink warriors.

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It was night when the group had made it back to Dreamland. Bandana Dee, wanting to get in quietly, was doing his best to avoid the throne room and a certain temperamental ruler. As he walked quietly, he tried to think of how to break the news of the return to Dedede, who would undoubtedly be upset with the new additions.

He froze when the light turned on all of a sudden. "They're ya are, ya traitor!" Dedede cried out. He was clearly upset. "I send ya on one simple mission, and what do ya do? You completely forget what you're supposed to do and go off on a glorified road trip!"

"But, sire," the little creature tried to call out. "We found-"

"And without telling me anything about it!" the Pengu continued without stopping. "Of all the crazy things that ya could have done, you have to go running into space with a bunch a' kids, traipsing about looking in places where imaginary kidnappers are hiding Kirby and Meta Knight. I would be upset even if ya did find those good-for-nothings!"

"But, sire, we did find them!" Bandana Dee tried to interject again. "There's also something I really need to tell you!"

Dedede ignored him again, instead choosing to continue to rant as he headed towards the kitchen. "And here I am, without an idea what's going on! What am I supposed ta-" He cut himself off when he saw what was in the kitchen.

There was something green leaning into the refrigerator. Hearing the sounds of the newcomers, it turned around, and much to Dedede's horror, revealed itself to be a green Kirby.

Dedede backed up in shock. He had never seen a green Kirby before. "Come on, get a hold of yourself," he murmured to himself. "I'm sure all this stress has just got you seein' things."

"Actually, sire," Bandana Dee tried to say again, "that's what I need to tell you about."

Before either could speak again, the sound of a motor cut through the silence. In a moment, Mr. Mufflerkins raced into the room, desperately trying to shake a wildly giggling passenger. Once the grand Wheelie succeeded in that, the rider was revealed to be a yellow Kirby!

Dedede rushed back. He wouldn't take this invasion of the Kirbies lying down. He went to retrieve his hammer, but much to his shock, hanging on to the handle was a red Kirby, who was sucking on his hand.

The Pengu tried to shake the little Kirby off, but when it became clear that that wasn't happening, he dropped the hammer and tried to back off.

"Poyo!" a loud voice cried from behind as Dedede tried to sneak off. He turned around and found to his horror that it was another Kirby, this time white!

"Run!" he yelled out as loudly as he could. "We're being invaded! Everyone for himself!" As the king turned a corner in his panic, he ran into another creature, this time the original pink!

Dedede backed up. He was surrounded by multicolor balls of cuteness! He gasped, wishing this was just a bad dream. "Who-what are you?" he questioned the surrounding Puffals.

The answer was unanimous. "Kaabii!"

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" The king's cry was heard throughout Dreamland.

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Chaos reigned in the dark castle that sat in the center of the Nightmare Empire. Ever since the defeat of the creature whose name the empire bore, the place had been falling to pieces. This was due, in no small part, to the utter war that was started over who would be the next boss.

The fighting among the lieutenants of Nightmare had continued even to this time, so none of the creatures noticed when a dark shadow crept into the castle. It did, however, cease when it owner revealed himself.

"Mutiny!" Nightmare cried in rage, scattering the creatures of darkness in his anger. "Treachery! You mean to dethrone me! I, who created half of you, and without whom the other half would have no power!" In a rush of madness, he destroyed the creatures who had tried to take his throne. He had no need of them. He would make more.

When he had finished, a single creature was left inside the dark throne room. "Ah, Lord Nightmare, welcome back." It was a creature who, from the waste up appeared to be a purple skinned human. However, he had no lower body to speak of, only a set of feet that resembled those of the many other creatures of the area.

"Honest John," Nightmare said, his voice taking on a much calmer tone. "Your assistance in gaining access through the dissonance was greatly appreciated. It is good to know that at least you still know who is master around here."

The creature, Honest John, bowed low. "Is there anything you would have me do?"

Nightmare thought for a moment. "Contact my spy in that fool's court. I am not yet strong enough to take on those warriors myself, but I have orders for him to fulfill in that wreck of a palace."

"As you command, sire." With that, the crony turned around to fulfill his master's wishes.

Nightmare grinned an evil grin as his chess board materialized. Soon the inhabitants of that puny world would know his wrath!

To be continued...


	5. What's In a Name?, Part One

"Please hold still," Dr. Yabui said as he finished wrapping bandages around the splint on Meta Knight's broken wing. They, along with Sir Ebrum, Lady Like, and the little blue, brown, and purple babies were sitting in the Ebrum's living room.

"You were lucky this was a clean break," the doctor continued. "If it had been splintered, I might not have been able to set it. As it is, you'll need to be resting that wing, and flying will be out of the question for a least a few weeks."

"I thank you for your swift assistance," the knight said as he positioned his wing in a way that was both safe and somewhat comfortable.

The doctor smiled as he prepared to leave. "Glad I could help. You sure you don't have any other injuries in need of attention?"

"Nothing that won't heal on its own, thank you."

"Well, then, I bid you good night." He turned to the two hosts. "Good night to you too, Sir Ebrum. Lady Like." With that, he turned to go back to his office.

"Thank you for keeping the infants with you for now," Meta Knight said. "I hope they won't be any trouble."

Upon their arrival in Dreamland, most of the littler ones had run off with the children for a tour of the palace while Meta Knight thanked his students for their aid. The three here had fallen asleep on the trip home.

"Oh, they'll be no trouble at all," Sir Ebrum assured. "It'll be nice for Tiff and Tuff to have some other children around."

"Besides," his wife added, "they're such darling little things. It's horrible the think of what that wretched woman had in store for you. To be held in a cage your whole life!"

Meta Knight nodded. "Yes, but it is thanks to the quick thinking of the children that we are free now, even though the fiend escaped."

The conversation was interrupted by the sound of the door slamming open and then shut. King Dedede rushed into the room, panic in his voice. "Meta Knight! Sir Ebrum! Lady Like! Good, you're all in here!" He began flailing his arms around furiously. "It horrible! It's terrible! It's a de-de-disaster! We've been invaded! He's splitting into an army!" He was about to continue when he saw the three babies laying asleep on the couch. "There's more of them in here!"

Meta Knight raised his hand before the Pengu could shout any more. "Calm yourself, your highness. We can't understand you while you are yelling like that. Now, what is your problem?"

"Can't you look and see what the problem is!" Dedede cried, pointing an accusatory wing at the sleeping infants. "The problem is that Kirby's been splitting into new puffballs! Pretty soon we're going to be overrun by little eating machines! We gotta work to stop this invasion before it happens!"

The three mature adults in the room did the best they could to keep from laughing out loud. Meta Knight shook his head, his eyes pink with amusement. "No, sire, Kirby is not splitting. These are infants who were orphaned by the woman who kidnapped Kirby and me. As they have nowhere to go, they were brought back here with us. The Ebrums have been kind enough to take them in for the time being."

Dedede frowned. He wasn't convinced that his theory was incorrect. "Well, even if they aren't an invasion, why do they have to stay here? Why can't they go live with Kirby, outside of the palace?"

"Actually, about that," Meta Knight started. He was interrupted by the sound of the door being opened.

"And this is our house," Tiff said, leading the group of Puffalings inside. "This is where you'll be staying for a while."

"Yeah!" Tuff cried out in delight. "You can come with me, Kirby! It'll be just like having a little brother!"

"Poyo!" Kirby responded happily.

Realization hit Dedede as Meta Knight finished explaining. "You see, as Kirby's home was destroyed in the kidnapping, he will be staying in the palace as well."

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Dedede cried again, this time frightening the babies into howling as well.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

"Kirby, think fast!" The little pink puff looked up from his butterfly chasing in time to see a ball flying his way. Moving quickly, he jumped up, grabbing on to it as tight as his little arms could grasp.

"Nice job!" Lololo called out as he, Lalala, Tuff, and Poppy ran up. The babies were also with them, tagging close behind. "I think that's the first time you actually caught it instead of being knocked over."

Tiff, who had been sitting nearby reading a book, shook her head. Whenever the boys played ball, it always ended badly for Kirby. If it wasn't something flying at him, it was being mistaken for the ball and getting kicked. Furthermore, with the new babies hanging around, it was certain that they would inherit some of their elder brother's bad luck.

"Hey, guys, be careful," she called out in a scolding manner. "You could hurt one of them or break something if you're not paying attention!"

"Aw, lighten up, sis," Tuff said casually as he took the ball from Kirby. "Nothing bad happened. Besides, it's fun. You should try fun some time!"

Tiff sighed and went back to her book. Sometimes she wondered why she even bothered.

"Alright," Tuff said as he prepared to kick again. "This one's going far. Kirby, you go out right. Poppy, go center." He froze a moment. "Hey, Kirby, what's the little guys' names again?"

The young Star Warrior grinned brightly. "Kaabii!"

"No, I mean the others," the other boy explained, a look of exasperation on his face.

Kirby happily walked to each of his siblings as he clarified. "Ye'lo Kaabii, Bwu Kaabii, Wed Kaabii, Gwe' Kaabii, Whi' Kaabii, Pu'pl Kaabii, an' Bwown Kaabii!"

"But they can't all be named Kirby," Lalala said, trying to get the pink Puffal to understand. "Kirby's your name, so they need names of their own."

Kirby thought for a moment. After a while, he shrugged. Meta Knight had been rather distracted by his attempts at escape while they had been imprisoned, so he had never brought it up. Furthermore, Kirby had been under the assumption that all who looked the same as him were called Kirby, so the idea of giving them different names had never come up.

The babies themselves, however, were growing antsy. Right now, they didn't care what they were called. They just wanted the game to continue.

The little red one in particular was getting frustrated. He had had enough of conversation. "Poyo!" he cried out as grabbed the ball away from Tuff. He then kicked it himself, causing it to sail off into the distance.

For a kick from such a small creature, the ball flew pretty far. It landed in a tree a distance off…and hit something, causing a puff of green feathers to appear from the shocked victim.

Tiff quickly stuffed her book in her bag to do damage control. "See what I mean?" she yelled quickly before running off.

"What did I do?" Tuff asked defensively before he and the others took off after her.

When they reached the tree, they could see a small bird setting himself to right from being knocked over by the ball. "Sir," Tiff called out in an apologetic voice, "I'm sorry if our ball hit you. Do you mind giving it back?"

The bird looked out and smiled pleasantly. "Certainly, you can have it back. Accidents happen, so don't worry about it." With that he rolled the ball out to the children and flew down to join them. "My name's Pitch, by the way. How do you do?" He held out his wing to shake.

"I'm Tiff, and very well, thank you." Tiff took his wing. "This is my brother, Tuff, and our friends Lololo, Lalala, Poppy, and Kirby, with his siblings."

The bird raised an eyebrow. "Kirby? Well, if you aren't the very guy I was looking for!" Pitch hopped over to the young Puffal. "I'm looking to visit with my Uncle Tokkori, and I'm having a hard time finding his tree. I heard you were a neighbor of his. Would you mind it terribly if you could tell me where to go?"

"Tokkori's your uncle?" Tuff asked, a tone of disbelief in his voice. It was hard to believe that this very well-mannered young bird could be related to someone like the cantankerous Tokkori.

"Oh, yes," the green bird responded. "He's my Mum's brother. Mum thought it'd be a good idea for me to see more of the world, so I'm going to live with him for a little while. Would you mind showing me where to go?"

"Sure," Lalala said. "You'll need to come to the palace with us."

"The palace!" Pitch cried out in surprise. "I didn't know that Uncle Tokkori was that important!"

Poppy laughed. "He's not. He's just staying in an elm outside the castle walls until he can find another tree." The kids explained to the newcomer what had happened and why there would be new living arrangements.

"Oh, dear," Pitch said as soon as they had finished their story. "Well, I'm glad to see that everyone's all right. Just let me grab my luggage and we'll be on our way."

However, when they looked up, they realized that the babies, getting bored with the story, had begun to go through Pitch's belongings.

"No, stop!" Kirby cried as the older children tried to move the babies back. "Not yows!"

It was a bit of a struggle, but they finally were able to get all of the items back. Kirby frowned, trying to seem firm but make it clear this was for their own good. "Say sowwy!" he said sternly.

"Poyo," almost all of the babies said, except for the brown one, who shrugged apologetically.

Pitch laughed. "Not to worry. Little ones get curious easily, and there really is no harm done." He patted the brown baby on the head. "Not much of a talker, are you? I used to be that way myself. Used to be called 'Silent Sam'. Well, there's no shame in being a Silent Sam."

Kirby's eyes lighted in delight as he realized what had just been said. He excitedly picked the baby up. "Name Saami!" he declared excitedly to Pitch.

"Excuse me?" Pitch said, looking genuinely confused.

"Well," Tiff explained, translating for the excited Puffal, "the babies actually don't have names yet. What Kirby's trying to say is that you gave him an idea for this one's name: Sammy."

"Well, I'm glad to be of service," the young bird said, bowing politely to the Puffals. "Now, shall we be on to the palace?"

"Of course," Tiff responded. She motioned for the others to follow her. "It's this way. Let's hurry."

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Dedede was in a foul mood. This new explanation on the origins of the babies hadn't pleased him one bit. Even if it did mean that they weren't being invaded (which he wasn't completely convinced), it did mean that people took little stock in what he thought! After all he'd done for those ingrates, they don't even bother asking if he was OK with not only those littler Kirbies, but _the_ Kirby himself, moving into the palace! And what had been their excuse?

"They are children, sire. They cannot be expected to fend for themselves."

The Pengu gritted his teeth. When Meta Knight had said it, Dedede had been unable to come back with any retort. So for the last hour or so, he had been going over in his mind everything he wished he had thought of.

That's when he heard a commotion going on in the courtyard. He got up and looked out the throne room window. It was those rotten kids again, and this time they were showing another newcomer around!

He stomped out of the throne room to go do something about it. At this rate, all of Cappy Town would be moving in if he didn't do anything! Meta Knight might be able to bring in more strangers because "they're children," but he'd be darned if he was going to allow everyone to just invite people in!

"…and this is the courtyard," Lololo finished as they passed into the palace walls. "Tokkori's tree is on the side of the walls. I don't think he'll be here right now, so now might be a good time for a tour of the palace."

Pitch settled down from his flight. "Thank you so much for showing me around. Truth be told, I was a little nervous in coming up here. Cappy Town is so much larger than Grape Gardens. I'm so glad to find so many kind people here."

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" a loud voiced yelled at the kids. It was Dedede, who was clearly upset.

Kirby, however, seemed to ignore the king's foul mood and greeted him cheerfully. "Poyo! Dededededede!" he happily chattered. "Me' Pitch! Tok'i 'is nuncle, poyo, so 'e com'n ta s'ay!"

Dedede turned angrily at him. "I've told you a thousand times, Pinky! I can't understand that strange language you insist on using, and the name is De-de-de! Three de's, got it?!"

Kirby grinned brightly. "Go't!"

Dedede found to his dismay that as he had been yelling at Kirby, the babies had clustered around him curiously, and most were now clamoring a rather loud series of "hi" and "poyo." The only exception was Sammy, who pulled on the Pengu's robe to get his attention. This reminded him of his original intentions.

"Who the heck to do you think you are, bringing strangers in here?" Dedede snapped. "This is my castle, and I'll say who can and can't stay! This isn't a hotel after all!"

Tiff, who typically took umbrage with Dedede's outbursts, responded in kind. "This is Pitch, and he's coming to stay with Tokkori. He's just going to be staying a while, and he's not even in the palace, so I don't see why this bothers you so much. Besides, _you're_ one to talk about bringing strangers in the palace."

"And what do you mean by that?" Dedede scowled. He and the young Ebrum girl never really saw eye to eye, so arguments escalated easily.

"You know what I mean," Tiff said, before turning to leave. "C'mon, Pitch. I'll show you where Tokkori's tree is." With that, the other kids went to follow her.

"Bye, Dedededededededede," Kirby called back happily.

Dedede scowled. Now, not only had Meta Knight completely ignored his opinion in bringing the baby Kirbies in, now he had lost another argument with a pre-teen! He needed a distraction for the moment. Finding a Waddle Dee, he called out to him. "Hey, you! Find Marx and send him to the throne room." The creature nodded and headed off to do as he was told.

The Pengu sighed. At the very least, Marx had some way of keeping Dedede's mind off of his issues and coming up with good solutions.

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"I apologize if I got you in trouble with that rather portly fellow back there," Pitch said quietly after they had gotten a distance off.

"Don't worry about it," Tuff responded, slapping the bird on the back in a friendly manner. "Tiff and Dedede are always arguing about something or other. If it wasn't you, it'd be Kirby, or the weather, or simply that the other exists."

"He's just so conceited! It makes my blood boil." Tiff crossed her arms. "I don't see how someone like Dedede could've become the king!"

"Well, I had better get settled in." Pitch once again extended his wing. "Thank you for bringing me here, and I hope to be seeing you again soon."

"Of course, and welcome to Cappy Town." Tiff settled down and shook his wing again.

"And good luck with finding names for the little ones!" Once Pitch had said his goodbyes, he flew into the large elm tree they had approached.

Lololo chuckled. "I wish him luck. He's gonna need it, staying with Tokkori."

"Hey guys!" Everyone turned around to see Ado running up to them. She was eagerly waving her arms in the air. "I have major news!"

"Ado!" Lalala greeted. "What are you so excited about?"

The girl soon joined them and after taking a moment to recollect herself, she continued. "Adeleine and I were working with Mr. Curio to restore and copy several of the ancient wall paintings found in the dig site," she explained. "While we were working on the paintings, there was a small avalanche on the far side of the dig. We went back to see what damage had been done, but we weren't too worried because not much had been found back there before. Boy, were we shocked by what we found!"

"Wa't 'as it?" Kirby asked, his curiosity piqued.

"We think it's a ship," the artist answered, "but there's more. We aren't certain, but we think there's a Star Warrior emblem on the side!"

The reaction of surprise was unanimous. The Star Warriors were a mysterious group, with all that was known about them to most people was that both Kirby and Meta Knight were members. The unearthing of a Star Warrior ship was a major event. Upon hearing this news, the children ran of eager to see what the mysterious vessel held.

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The creak of a door signaled to Dedede that Marx had arrived. He was a small, ball-shaped creature, who, other than his eyes and lack of arms, didn't look all too different from the Puffals. He took his jester's hat off (a rather impressive feat, considering his lack of arms) and bowed to the Pengu. "You called for me, sire?"

"Yeah, I need your help," Dedede responded.

"As you know, I am always available and at your disposal." The jester straightened up from his bow and placed his hat back on his head and began bouncing on a ball he had brought in. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"I need ya to do that thing ya did to help me again." Dedede leaned back in his throne. "The one where ya helped me to relax and figure out a solution to what's going on."

"I see," Marx said, his voice going soft and low. He continued bouncing, but the sound became slower and more rhythmic. "And what would your problem be this time?"

"No one takes me seriously!" Dedede proclaimed. "Meta Knight started it with bringing those little Kirby brats in here, and now everyone been presuming on my good favor! I just want people to see how I'm the one in charge here, and how they should be listening to me!"

"Oh, of course, sire." The rhythmic thumping continued as the jester bounced on his ball. "And why do you think people don't take you seriously? Perhaps there is some reason why they'll listen to someone like Meta Knight or even Kirby and then don't see your majesty for what it is?"

"It's all 'cause those two are warriors and fight off monsters wherever they appear," the Pengu scowled. "Doesn't anyone get suspicious on why monsters always appear where those two are at?"

"Well, it's too bad there has been no chance for your majesty to prove your own abilities." Marx grinned slyly. "Perhaps if you could prove you just as strong as, no stronger than, those two, then the people would listen to you instead of them." He jumped off of his ball. "This is just my observation. Too bad there's no chance of that happening, what will the lack of attacks lately."

Dedede sprang up. "Ya know what, Marx! You're right! That would work! I know just what I'll do!" With that, he ran out of the room without another word.

Marx grinned to himself as he left. Dedede was too easy to manipulate. No doubt the fool was going to his minions to make some sort of trouble in order to make himself look good. With any luck, it would also cause problems for those two pesky Star Warriors as well.

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Energy ran high as the small group raced to the dig site. Sure enough, poking out of the side of a far wall, was a huge hunk of metal. It was partially showing through the crumbles of dirt and rock which clung to its huge form. It was rusted and dented, as if it had suffered from some sort of attack, but it stood with no holes or apparent openings. On its side, also somewhat hidden by the debris of the unearthing, was about half of what appeared to be a five-point star.

Adeleine and Mr. Curio were already examining the exposed area of the hulking object. Adeleine, who was working hard to sketch out the amazing find, turned around as she heard footsteps. She grinned brightly when she saw who it was. "Hey, guys!" she called out, waving for the other children to come over. "Take a look at this!"

A tone of awe and amazement overtook the group as they overlooked the discovery. This thing was huge! How on Pop Star had it been here for so long without any hint of its presence?

"Mr. Curio, how old is this?" Tiff asked, running her hand over the worn but still strong metal.

"That's the confusing thing," the old archeologist answered. "Normally, something buried this deep would date back around several thousand star-years. However, the mineral patterns that show in the surrounding wall is mixed up, suggesting that this hasn't been here nearly that long. From the looks of things, this was buried only for a small number of years ago, around a star-decade or so."

"How could something huge like this get buried without anyone noticing it?" Ado asked.

"Yeah!" Tuff added. "There's no way something like this could appear without anyone else taking notice!"

"Well," Mr. Curio said as he examined the exposed side, "hopefully, whatever is inside can answer those questions. If only there were some way to get this open." He continued to work at the side with a brush to try to show any area where the vessel might be opened without damaging it.

The only one not to react with shock and amazement was Kirby. He just stood back staring at the huge ship. Something about it tickled his memory, as if he had seen it before, but he wasn't sure why. It was like having a word on the tip of your tongue, but not being able to say it. "Poyo," he murmured thoughtfully, trying to place this feeling.

The younger Puffals, eager to help with the amazing discovery, had begun moving away rock and dirt from the lower areas of the ship while their elders had been musing over the puzzle the ship presented. Suddenly, without warning, the little red one began crying out excitedly. "Poyo! Poyo poy poyo!" He waved his arms and pointed out to something he had uncovered.

The other reacted quickly and saw what the little one was trying to point out. It was some sort of controller pad, the likes of which that are used to open and close mechanical doors. It was likely overlooked, as it was located lower than expected, as if it had been made for someone who was shorter than the typical height.

Mr. Curio smiled and patted the young Puffal on the head. "My, aren't you the handy one!" He turned back to the device. "If the control panel is here, than the door can't be too far away."

The baby beamed from the praise. Suddenly, a look of surprised delight appeared in his face and he ran over to Kirby. "Poyo Handii!" he declared proudly.

Kirby thought for a moment before nodding. "Handii goo' name!" he agreed.

Lololo laughed. "'Handy' isn't a name. It just means that you are helpful."

The little one frowned, about to argue, but was cut off by Lalala. "But Andy is a name, if you like the sound of it."

The red baby thought for a moment before nodding. He grinned broadly. "Aandii!"

The four suddenly turned when a cry of delight came out from the other group. They hadn't been paying attention to the naming game due to the new discovery. They had now gotten somewhat further by the discovery of some sort of peephole, which had been uncovered by several of the buttons on the control panel.

"Well!" Mr. Curio declared. "I wouldn't expect the machinery to still be in working order! Whoever built this must have made sure that it would be able to take untold amounts of damage.

Poppy pressed his face against the hole, ducking down because it was also positioned for someone shorter. "Nothing to see," he said, disappointment clear in his voice. "It's just black in there."

"Poyo, le' Kaabii see!" Kirby declared. Poppy moved over, allowing the young Puffal to move in. It was just over the young one's head, but he was able to look into it a little more comfortably. As he looked in, a broad beam of light came out and scanned the young one's eye.

Kirby jumped back in surprise when it happened. Suddenly, the whole panel started to respond. _Retinal Scan confirmed,_ a robotic voice said as the machine whirred to life. _Designation: Kirby, Level: Galactic Star Army Squire, Order of Star Warriors. Welcome aboard, Squire Kirby._ With that, a doorway opened up, allowing the group to peer inside.

"How the heck did you do that?" Tuff asked, the only one to voice the surprise and astonishment that the whole group felt.

Kirby rubbed the side of his head, just as surprised by this sudden turn of events as everyone else. "Poyo?" he shrugged.

To be continued…


	6. What's In a Name?, Part Two

The group looked into the opened doorway and strained their eyes to see what was hidden within. However, it was very dark inside, and near impossible to see from the outside.

Mr. Curio took out several glow sticks and handed one each to Tiff and Adeleine. "It's structurally sound," he said as he did so, "so it should be alright to go in. Stay in groups and call out if you need help." With that, he activated his own glow stick and entered the ship.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

The inside of the ship showed signs of the natural decay of time. It was clear this had once been a magnificent battle ship, but the years of laying under dirt had caused much of it to fall into deformation and chaos. All around, items that once had been of use to the Star Warriors lay scattered around. Most of them were broken, so they were uninteresting to the two groups of children.

Adeleine's group, which consisted of Poppy, Ado, Andy, and the green and white babies, had wandered down a hallway which seemed to lead upwards. The rooms that lined the hall appeared to have been chambers, as every one of them had a bed, a dresser, and a mirror. These rooms were in just as much disarray, but they were considerably more interesting.

The kids examined these rooms with interest, wondering who had once occupied them. Occasionally, a small personal item was found. A broken communicator, a polishing brush, or a photo of people who they didn't recognize were all found and brought with.

Their most interesting discovery was in the last room of the hallway. It was just as ripped up as the other rooms, so they were considering just passing by, when something reflected the light from the glows stick back in an odd fashion.

"What's that?" Poppy asked, noticing the sudden glint.

"Let's go see," Adeleine said, and she turned to enter the room. The item of interest lay under a drawer which had fallen from the dresser and had been covered, for the most part, by long discarded clothing. This was easy enough to clear away, revealing the mysterious item to be a metal box.

"Oh, see what's inside!" Poppy cried, and the others nodded sharing his excitement.

The box contained three things: A huge leather bound journal and two photos.

The journal was locked, but Adeleine put it in her art bag. She would see if she could open it later.

The first picture was just like all the others they had seen before. Two creatures from a species the children had never seen before were the focus, and they looked lovingly at each other. On the back, the title "Rosalyn and Heavy Knight, thirtieth anniversary" was written in flowery handwriting, which meant nothing to the children.

The other one was much more interesting, however. It featured four individuals, one of whom was clearly Meta Knight! The others were three other creatures, a man and a woman of the same species as Knuckle Joe and Silica, and a mouse. All four had masks on, though they were pushed up so their faces were revealed. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. On the back, in a much simpler hand, was the description "At the knighting of Sir Meta Knight, Sir Jecra, Lady Garlude, and Sir Daroach."

Things were dead silent for a while. Finally, Ado spoke. "Whoa." She had intended to say more, but the surprise made any other attempt to speak seem silly.

Adeleine placed both pictures into a small pouch in her art bag. "We'll have to ask later," she said. "Right now, we need to see if the others have found anything else."

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"I'm just saying," Magolor stated, "if you'd just let me use even a small ice or water-type spell, you wouldn't have any need to use so much coolant on making sure those mechanical monstrosities of yours don't have a meltdown."

"And wind up with it going out of control and getting an ice sculpture or a puddle?" Escargoon snorted. He turned back to attending to the engine of the robot he was working on. "No thanks. I'd rather depend on what has been found to work and has a sensible explanation, thank you very much."

"Just because your precious science can't explain magic doesn't mean that it won't work!" The white-clad alien dashed forwards. "I know on personal experience these things only go bad when there's some sort of interference. Here, I'll show you!"

"No, don't! I'm still working on stabilizing the-!"

**Boom!**

"Now look what you did! I was working on that all week!"

"If you had only let me work without any distractions, this wouldn't have happened, you moronic gastropod!"

"Moronic! Well, I'll show you, you idiot! I'll send you on a one way trip back to Halcandra in a wooden crate!"

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Why you! When I get my hands on you-!"

"Magolor! Escargoon! What in the blue blazes are the two of you doing?!" King Dedede waved smoke from the explosion away as he entered the secret laboratory.

Immediately, both of the workers, who had each other by the throat, pointed at the other. "It's his fault!"

"I don't care whose fault it is!" The Pengu pushed his way forwards through a near sea of rubble and debris. "I just want this place cleaned up. I've got a job for you, and it doesn't involve being buried under junk."

"Oh! I've got just the spell for that!" Magolor declared. He was about to start it when Escargoon cut him off.

"We'll just have the Waddle Dees clean it," he said. "It would be better to have this done the old fashioned way. After all, it was magic that made this mess."

Magolor frowned, but was unable to come up with a retort. He just scowled before taking a seat.

"Now, that that's settled," Escargoon said, turning to Dedede, "what can we do for you, sire?"

Dedede grinned. "I need ya both to make a monster!"

This caught the duo's attention. "A monster?" Magolor asked, cutting his sulk short. "What do you want a monster for?"

"I'm glad you asked." The Pengu took a seat before explaining his reasoning. "It's come to my notice that folks around here don't have the respect for their king that they do have for certain individuals who will remain nameless. I suspect this is because said individuals have had multiple opportunities to prove their strength against foes that I have not."

"So," Magolor intuited, "you want us to make a monster for you to defeat so that the people of Dreamland will respect you as much as they respect Kirby."

Dedede became defensive. "Who said I was talking about Kirby? I just said certain individuals! Anyway, I want you two to work together to make some sort of trouble. I come in, and before ya know it, people are paying attention to me, and not to Kir- I mean other people."

"Sire," Escargoon put in, a tone of nervousness in his voice, "is there any particular reason you want us to be in on this together? Our areas of expertise don't exactly…mesh well."

"He's just afraid to accept that he can't understand everything that would be going on," Magolor grumbled under his breath.

"I need something that can't be traced back to me. The mixture of magic and mechanics will make it harder to track back." Dedede stood to go. "And I need it by this afternoon."

"What!" Both of the workers jumped about six feet in the air.

"Sire, there's just not enough time!" Escargoon tried to reason.

"If you could just wait a bit longer, things would work much smoother," Magolor added.

"I need it this afternoon," the Pengu repeated. "It had better be ready by then!" With that, he turned to go.

Left alone once more, the duo stared at each other in disbelief. Finally, Escargoon sighed. "Well, we'd better get started." He gathered together his tools. "As we have only a few hours to get this done, we're going to have to do our best to get our projects to work together."

"Let's get to it then," Magolor said. He looked over the set of blueprints spread on the table. He looked up suddenly. "I can already see where some changes will need to be made to accommodate my work."

Several crashes from the laboratory told of how progress would be for the next several hours.

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Inside the strange vessel, the children continued their search. Tiff band, which had Tuff, Lololo, Lalala, Kirby, Sammy, and the blue, purple, and yellow babies, had been working their way into the lower portions of the ship.

There wasn't much to be seen this way. Most of the rooms contained damaged machinery which, when it was still running, must have powered and controlled the ship. These might have been interesting in the past, but with star-years' worth of rust and decay coating them, it would be rather difficult for there to be must distinction between different gear. As such, the kids typically passed by when they came upon such rooms.

Finally, they reached a room which must have been in the back-center portion of the ship. It was a wide, mostly empty room. Scattered over the ground was a variety of equipment of differing kinds.

"This must have been some kind of training room or gym," Lalala stated, observing the different equipment.

"Oh yeah!" Tuff cried out all of a sudden. "Take a look at this!" He held a bright silver stick with several different carvings on it up in the air. "This must be some sort of awesome Star Warrior spear or something!"

"Put that down, Tuff," Tiff scolded. "We don't know what these are or what they do. They might be dangerous."

"I'll bet they are dangerous," her brother responded. He grinned, twirling the spear around. "Some warrior probably used this to defeat lots of monsters! I'm so keeping this!" He slammed the butt of the weapon into the ground. This somehow cause some kind of spring-loaded response which sent the boy into the air.

"See what I mean!" Tiff shook her head. "Put that back before you get seriously hurt!"

The boy just laughed as he got back up. "Why? That was awesome! I've gotta keep that in mind for the future."

"We do have to find some samples for Mr. Curio," Lololo pointed out. He looked eager to avoid an argument.

Tiff frowned for a moment, before she sighed. "Fine, just no more weapons."

All this time, Kirby was staring at everything the ship had to offer. Somehow, it was all so familiar, yet all new. It was almost like something he had seen in a dream, and he had forgotten the dream, only to barely recall it now.

He only looked up when his foot hit something, making a clink. He looked down, and realized that he had accidentally kicked a gauntlet. It was a dull gold color, and its pair could be seen nearby.

"Poyo!" he called forwards, waving his find. "Poyo, f'und sum gwoves! T'is goo'?"

"Those will be great, Kirby," Lalala called down. "Just be careful. We don't know what these things will do."

After a few more minutes of searching, Tiff spoke up. "There doesn't appear to be anything else in here. We'd better head back out and see if the others found anything of use."

Outside, the others were already waiting. Most of them had gathered around Mr. Curio, who seemed to have gleaned some info from what was left of the computers. The only exceptions were the artist twins and the green and white babies.

Adeleine had finished painting an apple, and using her special abilities, tore the painting off of the canvas so that it turned into a real apple. This she handed to the little green Puffal at her feet. "Here you are, Marty," she said.

"Poyo!" the little one said gratefully before popping it in his mouth.

"Hey guys!" Tuff called out as he reached the four. "Who Marty?"

Adeleine laughed. She motioned to the little green baby. "This is Marty. That one is Mikey." Here she pointed to the white baby. "The babies need names, so Ado and I came up with names for these two. Isn't that right, little guys?"

Marty grinned brightly. "Poyo Maatii," he declared, pointing a stubby little hand at himself.

Mikey, not wanting to be ignored, tackled his brother. "Poyo Miikii!" he stated proudly.

Ado laughed and picked the white Puffal up. "These two are together so much that we decided they should have matching names, like me and Adeleine, and Lololo and Lalala."

"Cool! I want to name one, too." Tuff said. He thought for a moment before picking the purple baby up. "This one's Charlie!"

"That's cute," Adeleine responded. "Any particular reason for that name?"

"Charlie's an awesome name," Tuff answered in a matter-of-fact tone. "Right, Charlie?"

The baby grinned delightedly. "Cha'lii, poyo!" he squealed, giving his approval.

"Hey guys!" Tiff called from over at the other group. "You might want to take a look at this!"

The six rushed over to see what was so interesting. Mr. Curio was holding up some sort of hand-held device. Hovering over it was a picture of a Warrior in gold armor and some writing in a language that they couldn't recognize.

"What does it say?" Ado asked as they gathered nearer.

"I don't know for certain," the archeologist answered. "It's not written in a language I am familiar with, but I think I can pick up bits and pieces. From what I can see, that ship's name is something like the _Caliburn_ and it belonged to this fellow, Sir Arturune. Beyond that, I'm afraid that I cannot decipher any meaning from the writing.

The kids stared at the writing. The letters were familiar, but they might as well been scribbles from how much sense they made. Suddenly, Poppy spoke up. "I bet Sir Meta Knight will be able to read what it says," he commented. "He's a Star Warrior himself, after all. He'll know what this says!

"Good idea." Mr. Curio handed the holodeck to him. "Why don't you kids go ask him? I have to get these artifacts back to the shop, as well as arrange a new area in the museum for the Star Warrior artifacts."

"You got it, Mr. C!" Tuff brandished his spear, as if leading and army. "Come on guys! Let's head out!"

"Poyo!" the yellow baby squeaked in agreement. He dashed off at an amazing pace, which even the older children had difficulty keeping up with.

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"Well, I guess it's as ready as it's going to be," Escargoon sighed as he and Magolor over-viewed their "masterpiece". Quite frankly, it was garbage. Usually, the duo were pretty good in their respective fields, but they rarely worked well together, and never when so pressed for time. As a result, the "monster" they had built looked less like a monster and more like some bits of scrap metal welded and hammered into the shape of a velociraptor with a few bits of magic to make it able to move in a jerky fashion that would make a toy robot look high-tech. It pretty much looked that way because that was exactly what it was.

"Maybe his highness won't notice the gears sticking out," Magolor added, trying and failing to sound hopeful.

"Mr. Escargoon, Mr. Magolor, his highness King Dedede sent me to check on your progress." The duo jumped at the sound of a voice behind them. They turned to see Marx enter the room, for once without his trademark ball.

The jester didn't wait for any comments and just went to examine the sorry excuse for a Halloween decoration. Finally, he spoke. "Ah, very good! Very good! This will do quite well."

The two looked up in surprise. "You really think so?" Magolor asked, a questioning tone in his voice.

Marx nodded. "Of course! This will do a great job of keeping the townsfolk off guard before the real monster pops out. Now, where is the real monster?"

"Well," Escargoon said, rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly, "about that…"

"You don't mean to say that _this_ is the monster you've been working on all day?" The small jester shook his head. "Well, his majesty isn't going to be pleased to hear that! Well, we had best go and bite the bullet right now rather than tell him later." With that, he turned to go.

"Wait! There's no harm in telling him later!" Magolor called as he chased after Marx.

"As much as I hate to agree with him, he's right!" Escargoon added as he too joined the chase. "We can tell him after he's lost interest! It happens all the time!"

The trio had rushed out so fast that none of them noticed when the curtain nearby rustled. It then moved back, revealing that someone had been listening in to their conversation.

Meta Knight chuckled quietly to himself as he left. This sort of turnout was typical. The Star Warrior always kept an eye on the duo, just to be on the safe side, but while they were both excellent, and perhaps even dangerous, in their own areas of expertise, those two could never get along. This meant that any attempt of Dedede's to cause trouble was harmless and, more often than not, hilarious. There would be no problem with leaving this alone for now.

He walked silently down the palace corridors, an impressive achievement considering how much metal he was wearing. Nothing had happened that required his attention at the moment, so he thought he'd take this opportunity to get back to his room and continue his book on Pop Star lore.

However, something else caught his attention before he could reach the security of his room. In the main corridor of the palace, several of the children were speaking with Bandana Dee. "No," the Waddle Dee said in response to some question, "I'm afraid haven't seen Sir Meta Knight all day."

"You wish to speak with me?" the knight asked, coming forwards out of the shadows.

The children responded with surprise and Bandana Dee froze up and fell over in shock. The voice of the knight had not been loud, but it was so unexpected that it was rather startling.

Meta Knight offered his hand to the fallen Waddle Dee. "My apologies. I did not mean to startle you, but I overheard that the young ones wished to speak with me."

"Don't worry about it," Bandana Dee responded, straightening his namesake. Honestly, he knew Meta Knight was a good guy, but he was kind of unnerved by how the knight was always moving about unseen and popping out of the most unexpected places. Right now, the Dee was just eager to be on his way. "I've got to go, uh, examine something! Goodbye!"

"Farewell, my friend." Meta Knight turned back to the young ones. "Now, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" His expression changed when he saw what Tuff was carrying. "Where did you find that?" he asked, his eyes turning a light red broken with white flashes.

For the most part, the kids did not notice his emotional change. "We found this really, neat old Star Warrior ship!" the boy answered, holding the spear aloft. "There was all sorts of neat stuff in there!"

"We also have some information from the ship," Tiff added. "We think it's about why it was here and who brought it, but we couldn't read the information. We thought you might know what it said. Poppy, show him the holodeck."

Poppy activated the small machine and handed it to Meta Knight. The warrior saw the image and read the information clear as day. Underneath his mask, he paled as if he had seen a ghost. Which, in one way, he pretty much had.

After several minutes, it was Kirby who broke the silence. "Medikni, w'at it say?"

Snapped back to reality, Meta Knight turned off the holodeck and shoved it under his cape. "Nothing that you must be concerned with," he said quickly. There was a tone of uncharacteristic harshness in his voice.

He then took the spear from Tuff. "I'm afraid this is too dangerous for you to use untrained," he said, trying his best to regain his composure.

"Then train me to use it!" Tuff replied. "All this Star Warrior stuff is cool! I want to join too!"

"Be thankful that you don't have to," was the only reply.

Meta Knight turned to go. Before he left, however, he gave one last comment. "I cannot keep you from examining that ship, but heed my warning. Some secrets are better left as secrets." With that, he left as quickly as possible.

The kids could only stare in shock. Meta Knight had never acted this way before. It was almost like he was afraid of something.

Back safe in his own room, Meta Knight looked over the holodeck once more. It listed the information about the ship, the _Excalibur_ , and the reason it had brought its crew to Pop Star. The mission that they had failed. That _he_ had failed. The face of Sir Arthur seemed to stare at him in judgment.

Unable to bear it any longer, the remaining Star Warrior turned his gaze to the spear he had confiscated. Sir Ephraim's spear. He hadn't even been on this mission. The weapon must have been left in the training room by accident. Ephraim had always been absent minded like that.

Meta Knight sighed, and turned his thoughts to the problem that he had been trying to ignore. If the _Excalibur_ had unearthed itself that meant that the time of reckoning had come.

He slammed his hand down on the desk near the door. He wasn't ready! Kirby was nowhere near trained enough to deal with this! He'd do his best, of course, to keep the baby out of the line of fire, but he knew this would be difficult, if not impossible.

Then there was those kids. Meta Knight liked those children, but sometimes they were too inquisitive for their own good. He didn't even want to think about what would happen if they got too close to the source of these problems.

He placed the spear in a trunk where he kept several other items from his past. He had to calm down, that much he was certain of. He'd go out to his training field far outside of Cappy Town and practice with Galaxia. Hopefully, this would help him calm down. He had experienced enough to know that answers to his problems would come in time. He just had to be patient and vigilant.

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Dedede stood facing a window in his throne room, thinking about just how to pull of his big entrance this afternoon. It would be great! He'd finally get the respect and admiration he deserved! He turned around and opened his mouth, prepared to practice his grand speech, when he noticed that someone else was in the room.

"Marx!" He declared, shocked by the jester's sudden entrance. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"My most gracious apologies, great king," Marx responded, bowing deeply. "It's just that I finished checking on the progress of your monster."

"Is that so?" Dedede grinned brightly. Time was almost near. "So what did ya think?"

At this point Magolor and Escargoon had caught up, and were trying to motion for Marx to keep quiet without being seen. The jester, however, had other ideas.

"Oh great king, I'm afraid that it is so amazing that I cannot describe it. Instead, why don't you have the inventors themselves tell you of their progress?" With a swift kick, he opened the door wide, revealing the duo's hiding space.

Dedede was liking where this was going. "Alright then. What do you two have to say?"

"Ah, sire," Escargoon said, trying to think of something that wouldn't set off the Pengu's infamous hair-trigger temper. "It's, ah, coming along very well, isn't that right, Magolor?"

"Of course," the Halcandrian stuttered out, "it's important, um, to remember that this is a work in progress."

"Oh, they are being far too modest," Marx said, shaking his head as if dismissing false modesty. "You must come and see their progress yourself, sire. I don't think you'll be disappointed."

"Alright then," Dedede responded. "I think I will. If you're so impressed with it, it must really be something!"

"Oh, it's something alright." Escargoon mumbled quietly.

"Now," Magolor said, desperate to keep the Pengu away from their disaster of an invention, "we don't need to see it now. Why don't we come back after dinner? After all, these thing tend to look better when you don't have food on the mind."

"Nonsense." The jester gave a sly smile. "They're just eager to make sure everything's perfect, but I can guarantee you'll be impressed by what you see."

"Well, it's settled then!" the Pengu responded. "I command you two to show me what you have finished."

"Yes, sire," both responded in defeated voices.

It was a painful trek to the inventing studio. When they arrived, Dedede entered first, eager to see the progress on his monster. He was followed closely by Marx. Escargoon and Magolor stayed outside and waited for the outraged outcry that Dedede was bound to give. However, when it came, it wasn't quite what was expected.

"Well!" the Pengu exclaimed in a pleased tone of voice. "This is what I call a monster!"

The duo's jaws dropped in unison, and they rushed in to see why the king was so happy. They had no preparation for what they were about to see.

Standing in the place of the hunk of junk they invented was what appeared to be a real flesh-and-blood monster! It stood on two legs which appeared to have been made for running swiftly. At the ends of both its legs and arms were long claws which sparked with electricity. It had a long spiked tail, which also had an electrical glow, swung with a deadly gracefulness around its legs. The head, which was eyeless yet seemed to sense everything, housed a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. All in all, it had taken on the appearance of a creature made with one purpose: to kill.

Dedede was pleased as punch. "Well, I'll admit I had my doubts there for a few moments, but you boys outdid yourselves with this!" He patted the side of the monster. "Once I beat this thing, everyone's gonna have to listen to me from now on!"

The duo could only stare open mouthed. They had no idea how this creature had replaced the junk heap they made.

"Is it not as I said?" Marx commented. "This will be a most glorious triumph for you, oh great king."

"Uh, yeah! Of course!" Escargoon collected himself first. "This is just what we had planned." The snail then turned quietly to Magolor. "Is this some spell of yours?"

"Not that I can think of," the Halcandrian responded. "I have no clue how this happened, but let's not look a gift Wheelie in the engine." He then turned to Dedede. "We're so pleased you like it, sire. When do you plan on using it?"

"Start getting it ready in the Main Street in Cappy Town." The Pengu grinned broadly. "We'll get out in about a half-hour. I want everyone to witness my great victory!"

To Be Continued…


	7. What's In a Name?, Part Three

"Is it just me," Ado asked as the group of kids turned to leave the castle, "or was Meta Knight acting kinda funny?"

"I don't know what was on that recording," Tiff responded, "but it seemed to spook him."

"Maybe we should let things be," Adeleine said after a few moments. "After all, if it spooked someone like Sir Meta Knight, then it's probably something dangerous and scary."

"No way!" Tuff declared. "If there's something coming, it'd be better to know about it beforehand. That way, we can prepare to face it, instead of always having to hide when trouble comes!"

"Normally, I'd say that we should listen to Meta Knight," Tiff said after thinking for a moment, "but here, Tuff's right. Remember when Nightmare attacked us? We were basically only Kirby's cheer-squad. Even in that deal with the Collector, there really wasn't much we could do to help." She got up after a moment. "One things for sure. As long as we're in the dark, we're going to be pretty useless."

Kirby patted the girl on her shoulder. "No u'less," he said, doing his best to be comforting. "You Kaabii fwiends!"

Tiff gave a small smile to the little Star Warrior. "Thanks for trying, Kirby, but I'm afraid even the babies would be more help than we are right now." She motioned to the little ones, who were happily playing with several shiny pebbles they had found. "At least they have the copy ability, like you do."

"Hey, guys!" a voice in the distance called. "You guys coming or what?"

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

The kids looked up and spotted three more of their friends, Iroo, Hohhe, and Honey. The three Cappy kids were waving for the others to join them.

"Coming where?" Poppy asked.

"Don't you remember?" Iroo called back. "It's the fourth Thursday! Free sample Thursday at the restaurant!"

All the kids got up at that. Every other Thursday, Kawasaki and Nago gave out free samples of the food they offer. They would alternate who cooked by the day. Kawasaki got the second, and Nago the fourth. Samples always went fast, so you always had to hurry to make it on time.

Hearing the prospect of food, the babies also got up and followed after the older kids. Once again, the little yellow one raced ahead of the others, overtaking even the older children. However, in doing so, he ran smack into Hohhe, knocking them both over.

The Cappy kid looked around in shock. As usually, he wasn't really paying attention, so the yellow baby had stunned him. "What hit me?"

Honey was quick to pick the baby up. "Aw!" she declared, cooing over the struggling Puffal. "He looks just like Kirby!" She then noticed the other babies as they clustered around. "Where did they all come from?"

By now, the older kids had caught up. "These are Kirby's new siblings," Adeleine explained. She went on to explain everything that had happened with the Collector. "Now, since they have nowhere else to go," she finished, "they're going to be staying here, in Cappy Town."

"Aww, man!" Iroo grumbled. "It figures that the time when there's a big adventure is also the time when we had to be in Yogurt Yard on an errand for school!"

"That's OK," Honey said. She was still fawning over the yellow baby, who was making it clear he wanted to be put down. "At least these little cuties are getting to stay. What are their names?"

"Well," Tiff said, "we only have names for a couple of them. The brown one's Sammy, the red one's Andy, the Green one's Marty, the white one's Mikey, and the purple one's Charlie. I'm afraid the yellow and blue ones don't have names yet."

"Well," Hohhe recommended, "since this little guy likes racing so much, how about Toby? Like Toby Falcons, the Cappy racer who holds the record for fastest speed on a race track."

"He also holds the record for most crashes walked away from," Poppy snarked.

The baby, however, seemed to like the idea. He succeeded in squirming away from Honey. "Poyo Toobii!" he declared.

Suddenly, he stopped for a moment, and looked up. He grinned brightly for a moment and rushed off. He was then followed by the other babies and Kirby, who had caught on to what he had sensed.

The other children caught it in a moment too, and rushed off after the babies. "Hey, wait guys!" Tuff called out. "Leave some of the samples for us, too!"

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The town square was full, as it typically was on sample days. The villagers who live in and around Cappy Town always made certain to be present. Indeed, it was hard to imagine at this time that this area was usually pretty peaceful. It was the perfect area to set up the plan.

Dedede grinned. With everyone here, there would be lots of witnesses to his "heroic" feat.

He was currently waiting near a shop across the street from the restaurant as he usually did, with Bandana Dee (who was clueless as to the plan) standing guard nearby. Marx was currently setting up the fake monster in a clearing of tall bushes. It would be controlled by Escargoon and Magolor, who would be able to view all the happenings from back within the palace.

The "Monster" wouldn't hurt anyone, only cause a panic among the gatherers. Then, when everyone was certain that the horrible creature couldn't be stopped, he'd come out and save the day! Everyone would then laud him as a hero, and then he'd finally get the respect he deserved.

The Pengu smirked at the idea. If he was lucky, that Ebrum girl might even see it, so he could rub his great victory in her face.

He was still thinking about his soon to be victory when he felt something hit him in the back. Whatever it was that hit him moving fast, and when it hit fell back and squeaked "Poyo!"

Dedede turned around and realized to his dismay that it was one of those annoying Kirby babies. "Watch where you're going, pipsqueak," the Pengu growled.

The baby, however, wasn't intimidated. "Poy poyo poyo Toobii," he said, waving his little arm in a scolding manner. "Poyo poyo, poyo poyo poyo!"

"I don't know what you just said," Dedede snarled back, "but I know ya just said something I wouldn't like. You've got some nerve, ya know. Don't you know who I am?"

"Poyo!" was the bold response. "Poyo poy Dedededededede poyo poyo poyo poy!"

By now, Kirby had caught up with his younger brother. "Poyo, Toobii ha' ta wait for ev'y-u," he explained as he tried to catch his breath. He suddenly noticed Dedede. "Hi!" he said, grinning brightly. He proudly patted his brother on the head. "Thi' Toobii, Kaabii's brotah! Toobii ve'wy fas'!"

Toby grinned, beaming with the praise.

Dedede scowled. "Just what I need. A mouthy Kirby." With this, he stormed off, ignoring chattering Puffal.

Kirby frowned. He was very happy to have new siblings, and he was rather upset that Dedede wasn't happy too. After all, the babies might be a bit of a handful, but they were so much fun to have around, and the little warrior was certain that everyone would agree with him, if only they'd come to meet the little ones.

Bandana Dee, after viewing the fight, patted Kirby on the shoulder. "Don't worry about it," he said, trying to be comforting. "I'm sure his highness is just in a bad mood. He'll come around eventually."

"Hey guys!" Ado called over from the line forming outside the restaurant. She, along with the others, had arrived and taken their places while the argument had been going on. "They're getting ready to open! You'd better hurry up and join us!"

Kirby and Toby hurried to the two spots saved, though Toby was still upset by the way Dedede had yelled at him. Tiff laughed, giving the little yellow Puffal a smile. "Don't worry about it. I've been having problems with him since I started talking, and I still haven't had much progress. He's just that way."

"Poyo," Toby squeaked in agreement, crossing his arms.

"It's kind of funny, though," Lalala added. "Usually Dedede's at the front of the line and won't move for anything. Today he just kind of ran off. Do you think he's up to something?"

"Maybe," Iroo replied, "but whatever it is, it can probably wait until after the samples are given out."

"Poyo!" Kirby squealed in agreement.

Dedede rounded a corner, and looked briefly to make sure he wasn't being watched. When he was certain that everybody was focused on the sampling, he pulled out a walkie-talkie. "You two online yet?" he asked.

It was Magolor who answered. "We're online and ready to go. We're just waiting on your word."

"Well, ya got it." He grinned to himself. "It's time that all these no-counts figure out who's really ruling the roost around here!"

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Meta Knight worked hard in his training. He had gone far out into the woodlands to practice. Whispy Woods had been kind enough to allow the knight to have a secluded area to practice with Galaxia and clear his head. Usually, such activity calmed him and allowed him to see things from a less emotional perspective, but today, it wasn't helping much.

He felt bad about snapping at the kids. They hadn't intended any harm, and they were only curious. On the other hand, however, they were coming too close to dangerous secrets; secrets that he had held for who knows how many star-years; that even Sword and Blade were completely unaware of. If they found out just what was hidden within the old files of the Star Warrior Archives, than everything he had worked for, even before he arrived at Dreamland, could be put in jeopardy.

Then there was the awakening of the _Excalibur._ All Star Warrior vessels were well made, so there was no surprise in that it would still be semi-functional after all these star-years, but the fact that it had unearthed itself, rather than waiting to be activated, was a bad sign. It stated that they had far less time than he had first anticipated. That danger was close at hand.

Meta Knight swung Galaxia twice at the limb of a dead log, cutting it neatly, first from the trunk and then in half. He watched as the twigs fell and then, moving swiftly, caught them before they hit the forest floor.

Perhaps he should tell someone else. At the very least, the heavy weight of all these secrets would not rest solely on him. Then, he would have a confidant he would be able to discuss these problems with. Even if they couldn't help much with executing what must be done, a listener to bear the burden with him would be such a relief to have.

He tossed the twigs away, as if tossing those ideas away with them. No. This was his problem, and his problem alone. In his experience, bad things have happened to people who tried to aid him with his problems. It would be better to keep these secrets secret, and deal with them himself when the time came.

The Star Warrior was snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of a loud explosion. He looked up and realized there was smoke rising above the tree-line in the direction of Cappy Town. Something had happened there! There might be trouble.

By instinct, his wings flared out as he prepared for flight. However, a surge of pain in his left wing reminded him why he had walked all the way out here.

He scowled. Flight was certainly out of the question, so he was going to have to run. He hoped that he wouldn't be too late.

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It was all out chaos in the town square. No one could have seen it coming. Everyone had been waiting patiently for their turn to collect a sample, when, out of the blue, the creature had attacked!

It was something out of a nightmare! Claws and tail-spikes crackled with electricity as it swiped out at anyone unfortunate enough to be to close. Everyone scattered far and wide, eager to avoid the monstrous creature. Kirby, with several of the kids, had taken sanctuary in a nearby tree, and his eyes scanned desperately for something to copy.

Before anyone else could respond, Dedede sprang out, hammer ready. "Y'all better stay back!" he called out. "I'll deal with the beast!" With that, he sprang at the monster, smacking it hard with his hammer.

That was where it was supposed to end. It was supposed to fall down with one hit, and then all would see how great their king was. There was only one problem. It didn't go down.

It had been thrown backwards, but instead of going limp, it sprang back onto its feet. It gave a screeching roar and charged at the Pengu, who could only just avoid a slash from the creature's claws.

"What's going on over there?" Dedede hissed into a hidden walkie-talkie. "That thing was supposed to go down! What are you doing over there?"

"It's not our fault!" Magolor called back. "Something's gone wrong, and we've lost control. I'm afraid you're on your own!"

"What!" the Pengu cried out, horror in his voice. He had no idea how to handle this thing.

The monster took advantage of his distraction and swung its tail at him. This succeeded in throwing him back into a shop wall, where he was knocked unconscious.

The monster stalked for a moment towards the unconscious Pengu, but then something else caught its attention. Far more interesting prey was hiding nearby. It raised its head, sniffing until it came upon an overturned fruit stand.

Underneath, Adeleine was hiding, clutching Sammy and the little blue baby close. She prayed that they wouldn't be noticed by the monster. However, the cover being thrown back violently told them it was too late.

However, before she could respond to stop them, the two babies sprang from her arms to deal with the monster, delivering swift kicks.

This had no effect, and the monster swiped them away with a knock of its tail. The duo were knocked into a glass window of a near window, which they bounced off of. They came to a stop, resting at the feet of the beast.

Seeing his little siblings in trouble, Kirby dashed out of his cover, copy ability or no. Marty followed closely behind him.

Mikey was also eager to spring into the fight. As he prepared to follow behind his twin, however, one of the broad leaves of the tree they had been in smacked him in the face. He looked in frustration at it for moment before getting an idea. He quickly inhaled the leaf to see if it would give him an ability.

A bright flash of light happened and as soon as it passed, the little white baby had transformed into Leaf Mikey! A crown of bright green leaves with an emerald in the center rested on his head. Now armed, he charged after his brothers into combat.

However, despite the intentions of the trio, they were too far away from the blue and brown babies to be of any help. The monster prepared to land the killing stroke, when its claws clanged noisily against steel.

The babies looked up to see what had saved them. Much to their surprise, it was Bandana Dee, who was holding the monstrous creature back with his spear!

He attacked the creature hard, but it was just too strong for him. It swung at him with its tail, which he was able to avoid. Unfortunately, this put him right in the path of its claws. It succeeded in catching his arm, causing him to drop his spear. The beast then swung again with its tail, and this time was successful in knocking him back into the damaged restaurant. The creature turned to its fallen foe, and prepared to strike.

With the monster temporarily distracted, the blue baby moved quickly, inhaling the fallen spear. In a flash, she gained the spear ability. In her hand rested the spear, though it now had a lavender ribbon bound around it, and on her head was a lavender headband with a golden crest resting on her forehead.

In a heartbeat, the blue baby charged the creature and landed a few skilled hits with the spear. The monster turned, but before it could respond to her, it was hit in the face by a full stream of leaves. It gave a cry and began tearing at the befuddling foliage, unable to respond to the multiple attacks the little Puffals unleashed on it.

Kawasaki and Nago were quick to pull the injured Bandana Dee away from the battle scene. "You alright there, little buddy?" the chef asked as Nago hurried to get the first aid kit.

"Got my arm. I think it's bleeding." The Waddle Dee grimaced. "Are they alright?"

"They're fine," Nago answered as he began pulling out bandages. "Kirby got to them. They've got their hands full, but they're not helpless."

"I've got to do something to help." Kawasaki gritted his teeth. He then spotted something that would do some good.

"Hey, Kirby!" the chef called out over the small barrier. "Catch!" With that, he tossed out his frying pan, hoping that the young Star Warrior could do something with it.

However, his aim was bad, and the pan landed nowhere close enough for the pink Puffal to get a hold of it. However, it was near enough for Marty to take notice. Hurriedly, the little green baby inhaled the utensil, and in a flash he transformed into Chef Marty. A white chef's hat rested on the young one's head and he brandished a large frying pan.

Now that three of the babies each had a copy ability, the fight wasn't quite so one sided. However, the little ones, though extremely skilled with their weapons, weren't enough to bring the monster down, and there was little any of the onlookers could do to help.

However, from her hiding place, Tiff noticed something of interest. One of the little spear baby's thrusts had caused a nick in one of the tail spikes. It wasn't deep, but it gave the young Dreamlander an idea.

"Hey, guys!" She called out to the fighters. "Aim for the spikes! See if you can't break them off!"

The Puffals nodded, signaling that they had heard the plan of action. Mikey continued distracting the beast with a barrage of leaves while the little spear baby started focusing her strikes on the spikes, whittling through them until she got one to break off. This she tossed to Sammy, who gave it a swift kick, knocking it over to Mikey. He batted it with his frying pan so that the crackling spine sailed over to Kirby, who quickly inhaled it.

In a flash, the young Star Warrior transformed. Resting atop his head was a gold circlet with a peridot stone resting in the center, and from the circlet long bolts of green lightning shot out. "Spa'k Kaabii!" Kirby declared.

The creature, roared and charged at the young warrior, who responded by unleashing a heavy bolt of electricity. This stunned the creature, which allowed Marty and his sister to land one more blow each. Then Kirby sent out one last mighty bolt of electricity, which finally felled the creature.

The danger now passed, the people of Cappy Town began to creep from their hiding places. Realizing their victory, a rush of excitement came through Kirby that he couldn't contain. He began a little celebratory dance, which his siblings soon joined in on.

A large crowd gathered around where the monster had fallen. Much to their surprise, it no longer resembled the monster that had been attacking a few moments ago. Instead, a pile of ruined scrap metal, only vaguely resembling the creature, lay in a ruined sparking heap.

"This is what was attacking?" Hana Len asked, a look of confusion on her face.

"It's just a piece of junk!" Her friend, Buttercup Bookem, agreed. "How could that be what was attacking us?"

"I'm not sure, but it was pretty effective," Bandana Dee added as he came out of his hiding place. His arm was bandaged, but a trace of blood could be seen through the white cloth.

The little spear baby, spotting her rescuer, immediately ran up and began hugging him. "Poyo!" she cooed happily.

The Waddle Dee, who wasn't much of a hugger, stiffened but didn't push the little Puffal away. "Huggy little guy, aren't you?" he commented, trying to do his best not to look uncomfortable.

"Actually, that one is a girl," a voice from behind added in. Everyone turned to see Meta Knight approaching the group. Eager to see their mentor, the little Puffals ran up to him to greet him.

"You can tell by the markings on her cheeks," the knight continued. "They are a light violet instead of pink. This marks her as a lady." He calmly surveyed the damage. "Now, what happened here?"

The kids hurried to explain everything that had occurred. "But we have no idea where it came from." Tiff said, finishing the explanation.

The knight surveyed the wreckage before speaking, though doing so quietly so that only a select few could hear him. "It was Dedede," he explained. "This was a plan of his to set up a moment of heroics of his own."

"It was Dedede!" Tiff crossed her arms. "I should've guessed. It's just like him to set up something like this for his own glorification."

"However, there is something else," Meta Knight added after a few moments. "This contraption, when it was first made, resembled the pile of scrap you see now. However, what you described from the young one's fight does not match either what we see here or what was first invented. I fear other forces are now at play."

Nearby, the little blue baby went back to following Bandana Dee around. He was flattered but a little unnerved by the attention. "You're welcome, but I have to get King Dedede home before he wakes up" he said, trying to get the little Puffal to leave him alone. "So go on home…um…" he looked up after a moment. "What is her name?"

"Actually," Ado answered, "she's the only one we don't have a name for yet. Since she likes you so much, why don't you name her?"

"Well, alright then," Bandana Dee stuttered. "How about Kirsti?"

"Like a female Kirby," Tiff said, a tone of disapproval in her voice. "It's not very creative."

However, little Kirsti seemed to disagree. "Kaastii! Poyo Kaastii!" she squealed happily.

"Well, I guess if you like it, that's what it is," Tiff said, giving a small smile.

"What is this I hear of names?" Meta Knight asked. They couldn't see it, but he was pleased to find that the little one had joined the group so easily.

Adeleine explained. "We didn't think that the babies should go nameless so we came up with names for them today. So the brown one is Sammy, the red one is Andy, the green one is Marty, the white one is Mikey, the purple one is Charlie, the yellow one is Toby, and the blue one, now, is Kirsti. I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all," the knight responded. "Those are fine names."

While this talk went on, Tiff picked up several of the discarded claws from the pile of rubble. She slipped them into her bag so she could examine them later.

"Children."

The young ones turned and realized that Meta Knight was speaking to them.

"I want to apologize for my behavior this afternoon," he said quietly. "I should not have responded with the harshness I did."

"It's alright," the Adeleine responded with a shrug.

"What was bad that freaked you out so much?" Lololo couldn't help but ask.

The Star Warrior closed his eyes momentarily, and when they opened, they were grass green. "I cannot give you a detailed response," he answered, "but be weary. If I am right, then there will be trouble coming very soon."

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From behind a corner, Marx grinned wickedly before rushing off towards the woods. Once within, he went up to an oddly bent tree. He touched a panel hidden in the bark, which caused a door to open up. The jester hurried into it, and closed the door behind him, cautious that no one saw him.

He then went up and activated a computer screen on the other side of the room. The face of a purple skinned humanoid filled the screen. "Marx!" the creature said, a tone of false excitement that was put on for all deals in his voice. "Glad to hear from you!"

"Hold the plaudits, Honest John," Marx scowled. He knew that the friendliness was a façade, and he had other business. "I have good news."

Honest John adjusted the thick sunglasses he always wore. "You do? What do you have to report?"

"Lord Nightmare's plan worked perfectly. Everything went just as planned. I was able to manipulate the idiot into getting his two morons to make a frame. It was pretty weak and flimsy, but the monster-making device made up for that." The jester grinned evilly. "It caused a lot of trouble for that pathetic town. In the end, Project Night-Terror was able to defeat it, but there's no surprise there. We're going to need a lot more firepower than just one monster to bring him down."

"This is good news," the NME crony said. "I shall be sure to tell the master as soon as possible. All hail the Nightmare."

"May his reign of terror last forever," Marx finished, before shutting off the communication.

Honest John turned around once the meeting had ended. "I assume you heard the good news, sir," he said to the dark cloaked figure behind him.

Nightmare gave a toothy grin. "Yes. Our time is coming fast. We now have a new way of creating monsters. All we need is a frame, and the possibilities are endless."

"And I think I know just the witch to make those frames," the lackey added. "I'll go to her soon and offer her a deal."

Nightmare's eyes flashed in wicked delight. He picked up the small chess figurine of Meta Knight. The Star Warrior would certainly begin to suspect something, but that was no matter. His student was nowhere near prepared for what was coming, and, skilled though he was, the knight was not strong enough to handle everything that was coming himself. Soon, this hated foe would fall, and then the reign of terror would start in earnest.

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That night, as she was preparing for bed, frustrated thoughts ran through Tiff's mind. Once again, they had been useless in helping Kirby. Thankfully, the littler Puffals were able to aid in defeating the creature, but everyone else had to run and hide.

She closed her eyes frustrated before tossing her bag on her bed. She was surprised by a clanking sound that came out of it. She opened her bag, finding several of the "creature's" spikes, which she had brought back to study, along with a pair of golden gauntlets.

 _That's right_ , she thought as she picked up the gloves. Kirby had given those to her earlier, and she had forgotten all about them. She lifted the bright gold hand armor up to examine them. There wasn't a speck of rust or damage on them. There were holes between each knuckle, as if made for someone who had claws which were to be fought with.

That gave her an idea. Quickly, the Dreamlander girl grabbed one of the claws. She tied a cord around it and pulled the cord through a spring. This she threaded into one of the openings of the gauntlet. She then pulled back and released.

The claw shot through, embedding itself into her bedroom wall. Tiff grinned to herself. She was certain that Meta Knight was right and that trouble would be coming soon. However, if this worked as planned, then next time a monster attacks, she would be able to help Kirby defend against the monsters.

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Like Tiff, Adeleine was also having trouble sleeping. She was pouring over the leather-bound journal that they had found in the ship. It was heavily locked, and she could figure out no way to get it opened.

"Hey, 'Leine, you coming up soon?" Ado asked. She had been leaving the hall light on, but she could only wait for so long.

"I'll be up in a while," her twin responded. "I'm just trying to figure out how to get this book opened."

"Really, that's all?" Ado asked. "I've got just the way."

"How?" Adeleine asked, hopeful but skeptical.

"We paint ourselves a skeleton key, of course," Ado responded with a laugh. She withdrew her pad and did just as she described.

"Thanks," her sister responded. "I guess I'm just too tired to think straight." Adeleine tested the key. It worked, and the heavy lock fell away.

The two artists looked inside to see what was written. In a simple but dignified hand were the words "The journal of Sir Heavy Knight, Officer in the Galactic Star Army, of the Order of Star Warriors."

"Whoa! A Star Warrior's journal!" Adeleine whispered, handing the book over to Ado to look at. "This is big! We'll have to tell the others about this."

"Uh," her twin responded after a few moments. "I think this is bigger." She handed Adeleine back the book, which she had opened to a particular page.

The artist's eyes practically popped out of her head when she saw what was drawn and the description beneath it. "Oh. My. Gosh," was all she could choke out.

To be continued…


	8. Little Miracle, Part One

Peaceful dawn broke over Dreamland, bathing it in the bright glow of morning. Most of the countries inhabitants were still in bed at this early hour, enjoying the slow, easy pace at which the county typically ran.

Normally, Kirby would have been one such person in this group. His daily pattern of eat, sleep, and play was the very picture of the peaceful world that Dreamland offered. There was very little deviation from this schedule.

Though he was a Star Warrior, the little one knew very little of true war. He battled with the odd creatures that caused trouble every now and then, but these incidents as of late had been few and far between. Even the monster attack that happened the other day, though it had been scary, had been finished rather quickly. Thus, the easy pattern of his Dreamland life began again.

This morning, however, was somewhat different. Kirby had still not fully gotten used to the new sleeping arrangements. The biggest problem had been the window, which always allowed the light of the rising sun to penetrate into the boys' bedroom.

Kirby peered over his hammock's edge. Somehow, Tuff, Andy, Charlie, and Toby, with whom the young warrior shared a room, were able to sleep through the rising dawn. The little Puffal moved as quietly as he could to avoid waking up his roommates as he crept out of the bedroom.

Outside, the rest of the household told the same picture. Mikey, Marty, Sammy, and Kirsti lay asleep in the foldout bed in the living room. Tiff and her parents were probably still asleep as well, as the doors to their rooms remained shut.

Kirby stepped out onto the balcony and stared out into the bright morning. From the palace, all of Cappy Town and a good chunk of the countryside could be viewed with ease. All was completely quiet and peaceful.

The little one gave a small smile. He enjoyed the peace and quiet of his home, but right now, he wished there was something to do. Or, at the very least, someone else who was awake so that he wouldn't be all alone.

Just then, he spotted something off in the distance. Three dark shapes were moving off towards the forest. Kirby grinned brightly when he spotted the figures. Of course! Sir Meta Knight and his knaves always woke earlier than any of the other palace residents. They had to be heading out to the grove to train.

Eagerly, the young one puffed up and floated down to the ground before running to catch up to his mentor. He could have flown, but his flight was rather awkward and clumsy, so running was more convenient right now. If he hurried, Meta Knight might be willing to do some sparring, which would be much more fun than just staring at the horizon.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

"Ribbon!" The little fairy shot up at the sound of someone calling beneath her tree house. "Ribbon! Are you awake?"

She opened up her window to see what all the commotion was about. Directly beneath her house stood Ado and Adeleine. The artist twins looked as if neither of them had slept very well, with both of their hair unbrushed and Ado's beret about to fall off her head.

Ribbon rubbed her eyes, just barely awake herself. "Good morning, Adeleine. Good morning, Ado. What can I do for you?"

"How fast can you get the others," Adeleine asked. She was clutching something close to herself and had a tone of excitement in her voice.

"It depends on what others you mean." Ribbon calmly began tying in her namesake as she talked. "I can get to the palace pretty quickly, and Honey, Hohhe, and Iroo's houses are one the way. It'll take me a little while to find Rick, though, and I'm afraid I'll have a difficult time with Chuchu. Who do you want me to get?"

"Everyone you can," was Ado's quick response. "We have major news! We know where Kirby came from!"

The last bit of information knocked the fairy for a loop. No one knew where Kirby came from or why he came here. All that was known was that he was a young Star Warrior, and nothing really else. Sometimes, Ribbon suspected that Meta Knight knew more about the subject, but if he did, he was in no rush to share the information.

She flew out of her window and alighted next to the other girls. "What do you mean?" she asked, now too excited by the news. "Where did you find the info?"

The twins hurriedly explained what had happened the other day. Recalling about the ship, the scattered debris, the downloaded information, Meta Knight's odd reaction to said information, and the trouble with the monster flowed out nearly too fast for the listener to keep up. After a few moments, they finally came to their point.

"In all the chaos," Adeleine finished, "I had totally forgotten I had the journal still in my bag. When we got home, however, I started trying to get it open. Once we got it unlocked, however, Ado found this page!" She hurriedly flipped the journal open to an early page and showed it to Ribbon.

It had a sketched drawing of an infant Puffal, who seemed to be staring at the artist intently. Underneath, a caption highlighted the picture. _Miracle is growing quickly, though he is still quite small for his age. It is hard to believe that his christening is not that far away, and he'll bear a new name soon. After this day, he will truly be a member of the Star Warriors._

"See!" Ado exclaimed excitedly. "What little Puffals do we know who are Star Warriors?"

"You're right," Ribbon agreed. "I get the others together quickly. Where will we meet?"

"Let's meet at Rick's," Adeleine said after a moment of thought. "It's a good distance off and we won't be bothered by _certain people._ " The way she said "certain people" made it clear she meant Dedede.

"Got it. See you soon!" With that, the fairy zipped off, excited to fulfill her role.

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Kirby rushed off as fast as his feet would carry him. He was still at the hilltop, so he could see the trio moving towards the forest. However, they were very close to their goal, and as soon as they entered the woods, he would lose sight of them.

"Medikni!" the toddler called out in desperation. "Swowed! Bwade! Wai' up!" He was too far away for them to hear, but he tried anyway.

Sadly, his attempts were not good enough. Within a few moments, the trio disappeared into the thick trees that marked the entrance to Whispy Woods.

The little Puffal sat glumly down on the grass. He'd lost them! He couldn't follow them if he couldn't see them. What was he going to do?

After a few moments of thought, he pushed himself up. He'd meet them in the practicing grove, that's what he'd do. They were probably headed there anyways, so all he would have to do is meet them there. Kirby grinned to himself. Meta Knight would be so surprised to see he had made it there without any help.

The little one hurried out into the woods and began trekking to where the thought the grove was located. However, after a few moments, he realized he had forgotten something. He had left the palace without any sort of breakfast! He had been in such a rush to catch up with the others he had completely forgotten to eat.

Now, however, it was getting harder to think of anything else. Indeed, whereas a few moments ago he could focus on finding the markings and trees that he knew led to where the grove was, know he could only think of the varieties of foods one has for breakfast.

When he was certain he could take it no longer, he looked up into the tree line and noticed that, a distance off, there were apple trees. They were a good distance off of the path, and were closer to the areas of the woods that Kirby was not familiar with. For a moment, Kirby wondered if he should stay on the path or go for the apples.

It wasn't a hard decision for the little one to make. Eagerly, Kirby ran off in the direction of the fruit trees. He could continue his quest after he had eaten several apples.

He reached the first of the apple trees in no time. He fell on the apple fervently, choosing the brightest, juiciest looking apples he could find, and swallowing them whole. They weren't quite as good as watermelons, but they were very delicious.

As he began settling down on the apples, he noticed something else nearby. The trees just beyond the apple trees were cherry trees! Why, he loved cherries as much as he did apples. Deciding that his breakfast could go on for a little longer, he rushed into the cherry trees as well.

Much to the little one's delight, this area seemed to be a plethora of various fruit trees. Jumping enthusiastically from one set of trees to another, the little one enjoyed a feast of fruit for his breakfast. However, he didn't notice as his movements caused him to get farther and farther away from the path.

It wasn't until he looked up from the branches of a lime tree he had been in when he realized he didn't recognize anything around him. He was lost!

This wasn't about to defeat the little warrior, however. He jumped out of the tree and began wandering around. Kirby was certain that he'd find something familiar around here if he looked hard enough. All he had to do was keep moving.

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Tiff focused closely on the small adjustments she had made with the gauntlet. It had already been designed with the idea of claws in mind, so at the very least she didn't have to adjust it for that purpose. However, it was likely that this had never been intended to launch the claws at the enemy, so it was a bit difficult to make sure that the projectiles went straight in the direction that they were supposed to instead of every which way.

She had set up several tunnel-like systems within the gauntlet for the projectiles to travel through as well as a wire system to launch and draw back the weapons once they were fired, but it was difficult to make these two structures work together properly instead of wrecking each other.

She was so focused on these adjustments that she jumped when a knock on her door sounded. "Tiffany, are you alright?" her mother asked. There was a questioning tone in her voice. "It's breakfast time."

Tiff hurried to push the gauntlet prototypes into her drawer and grabbed her scrunchy before opening the door. "Yeah, I'm fine, Mom," she answered as she worked to pull her hair into a ponytail. "I was just looking over a few things before coming down."

"Alright then." Lady Like gave a small quizzical smile, but didn't bother to question. Her daughter's technical hobbies usually had such complicated explanations that it wasn't worthwhile to ask about them. "You might want to hurry. The little Puffals are starting to wake up as well, and if Kirby is any indication, you're going to have to move fast."

As the girl rushed down to the table, she found that her mother's words were rather prophetic. Sure enough, the little ones were piling around the table, eagerly setting small mountains of fruit, toast, bagels, and a variety of other foods for themselves.

It was little Kirsti who first noticed the newcomer. "Poy poyo, Tiff," she said, waving cheerfully. She held up an orange to the Dreamlander girl. "Poyo?"

"Thanks." Tiff took the fruit and started to peel it. As she did so, something stood out to her. "Hey, where's Kirby? It's not like him to be late to a meal."

Tuff, who had gotten to the table earlier, paused with his spoon halfway to his mouth. "Now that you mention it, I don't remember seeing him when I woke up. He must have headed out early."

Tiff finished the orange and grabbed several pieces of fruit. "I'd better go see if I can find him. I'll eat as I go." With that, see turned to go out.

"Hey! We're coming too!" Tuff declared as he rushed to chase after his sister. The babies chattered in agreement as they ran out.

Tiff chuckled. She was not surprised to find herself followed by the younger children. "Alright then," she said as she grabbed her bag before heading out. "We'd better hurry, though. Kirby might be anywhere."

"You know," Sir Ebrum called from the table. "Sir Meta Knight always goes out to practice early in the morning. It's more than likely that Kirby went to join him."

"That's a good idea," Tiff responded. "We'll check with him first." With that, the children hurried out to find their friend.

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Ribbon rushed out as fast as she could. She had visited Rick first to make sure he was alright with his house being the meeting place. The friendly hamster assured her that that was perfectly fine, and that they were all welcome to come. Now that they had an assured meeting place, she went to gathering the other children together.

Honey and Iroo had both been at Hohhe's house, which made things a little easier. Likewise, she had found Lololo and Lalala running an errand. They had all eagerly agreed to the meeting place and said they were meet there.

She had been unable find Poppy, but she supposed he might be running a delivery for his father's store. He would have to be caught up with later.

Finally, the last stop would be the palace. There would be no doubt that the Ebrum children would want to know. Kirby would be there as well, and if anyone deserved to know what they were about discuss it would be him.

When she reached the palace, however, she found that the Ebrum sibling and Puffalings were already leaving. Furthermore, Kirby was not with them.

Toby excitedly waved his arms when he spotted the fairy. "Poy! Wib'in!" he called out as loudly as he could. "Poyo poy poyo poyo!"

Ribbon alighted down on the grass. "Good morning, everyone," she greeted between pants. She suddenly noticed how anxious the small group seemed. "Is everything alright?"

"Kirby didn't come to breakfast this morning," Tiff answered, "So we're going to look for him. You haven't seen him, have you?"

"No, I haven't," the fairy responded. "I'll help you look." Suddenly, she remembered why she had come. "Where do you suppose he-"

"What's a bird gotta do to get a little quiet!?" a rude voice called out, interrupting Ribbon as she spoke. The kids looked up to see Tokkori. He scowled at the kids. "Get a move on it already! Nobody want to hear you ramble on outside when it so early in the morning!"

"Uncle Tokkori!" another voice scolded. "Mind your manners!" Pitch hopped out, clear disapproval stamped on the younger bird's features. "They're just concerned about their missing friend. Have a little empathy."

Tokkori grumbled as he reentered his nest.

Pitch took the opportunity to fly down, joining the children on the ground. "My apologies for my uncle's bad manners."

"Don't worry about it," Tiff responded, shaking her head. "We're already well aware of what Tokkori is like. By the way, this is our friend, Ribbon. Ribbon, this is Pitch, Tokkori's nephew."

"Pleased to meet you," Ribbon said as she shook Pitch's wing.

"Likewise, I'm sure," the young bird responded. "You're looking for Kirby, right?" When the affirmative was answered, he continued. "I saw him this morning. He left out for the woods, about fifteen minutes after Sir Meta Knight and those two fellows who follow him went out to the same area. I called out good morning, but he seemed to be focusing on catching up, so I didn't bother him further. If you would like, I can fly out to that area and make certain that he caught up."

"Would you?" Tiff could have hugged Pitch right then and there. "Oh, thank you. We'll follow close behind, so just call us if you spot him."

Pitch threw a quick salute. "Yes, ma'am." With that, he took to the air. Once he was airborne, the kids took off running after him.

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Kirby wandered around the forest, looking for anything to signal to him where the practice grove, or at least an exit, might be. However, he had been wandering around for so long that by now, he was fully and thoroughly lost.

The little warrior was growing more and more distressed with every passing moment. He was lost, and had no idea how he was going to get home. That's when the idea struck him. Of course! He could fly. That way, at the very least, he could try to get a bird's eye view of the territory.

He took a deep breath and began ascending. His flight was rather clumsy and limited, but at least he could move up and down rather smoothly.

Or at least, it was rather smooth when he wasn't bumping into others. Kirby had been focusing so much on searching for a path out of the woods that he hadn't noticed that he had accidentally floated right into the path of a bird, who collided with the little Puffal.

This startled Kirby into releasing his breath and tumbling to the ground. "Poyo," he mumbled quietly as he pushed himself back up. He looked up to see what had hit him.

Much to his surprise, it was his friend, Coo the owl. Coo, who was a good deal larger than the young one, had not been knocked askew too badly. He circled back to make sure that Kirby was alright. He landed near where the Puffal had fallen and helped him back up. "Are you alright? No injuries?"

"No," Kirby responded, smiling brightly. He was just relieved to see a familiar face. "Kaabii 'kay!"

Coo smiled, pleased that his young friend was alright. "Well, that's very good to hear. Now, aren't you far away from home? I don't believe I have ever seen you this far out into Whispy Woods. Is everything alright?"

Kirby nodded. "I's goin' wi' Medikni, Swowed, an' Bwade, then they los'," Kirby explained. "Coo know whe' Medikni is?"

The owl chuckled at the child's simplistic explanation. "No, I haven't personally seen him this morning, but if he and his knaves are in Whispy Woods, then I have a good idea where they'll be." He extended his wing, motioning to Kirby to climb on. "It's easier to get to the grove by air. Climb on, I'll fly you there."

The young Star Warrior smiled as he climbed on. "Thank yoo," he squeaked. "I twy ta fwy, but not goo' eno' yet."

"Don't worry about that," Coo responded. "You are still young. Flying will become easier as you grow. Now, hold tight." With that, the owl took to the sky.

Kirby held his breath as the two soared over the woods. "Ahh!" The squire couldn't restrain a coo of delight and amazement. He loved flying, especially when he was with an experience flyer. Dreamland was so beautiful from the sky, and seeing it all dash underneath him as they flew along was astonishing.

Soon, the duo reached the parts of Whispy Woods that Kirby could recognize, even from above. Familiar trees, streams, and flowers replaced the thick woods of the last few acres of woods. The little one eagerly waved when he spotted the ruler and namesake of the forest. Though they had fought once or twice before, the tree had been quick to make amends when the situation was cleared up. Whispy returned the wave as Coo and Kirby passed by.

It wasn't much longer before they reached the grove that was their destination. Sure enough, Meta Knight and his two servants were practicing there. Or, more accurately, Sword and Blade were practicing. Meta Knight stood nearby, over-viewing their work.

Coo settled down near where the veteran stood. Meta Knight started slightly, as if he had been shaken from deep thought, before turning to the owl.

"Ah, Coo. It is good to see you my friend," he greeted, genuinely happy. "What is to thank for this visit?"

"A delivery," Coo answered. He extended a wing to allow Kirby to crawl on to the ground. "Little fellow attempted to follow you this morning. Afraid he wandered off the path and ended up in one of the denser parts of the woods. Thought I'd bring him over here and make sure he got to you safely."

Kirby was now enthusiastically ran up to Meta Knight. "I wen' in t'e fo'st ta fin' ya, bu' I got hung'y an' got some fwuit, but then I got los' an' Coo foun' me an' we fwew he'e!" he chattered excitedly.

The elder Puffal smiled at his student's animated explanation. He tried to mask his amusement as he addressed the youngster. "You shouldn't have wandered off on your own," he said in a calm voice. "If something had happened to you, there wouldn't be anyone to aid you." Kirby looked crestfallen for a moment, but the knight went on. "Just remember that for the future. I suppose there was no harm done, so don't worry about today. Right now, go join Sword and Blade. I'll be with you in a moment."

Kirby smiled brightly. "Poyo-kay!" He dashed over to where the two older students were already practice sparring.

As so as he was gone, Coo placed a wing on the older warrior's shoulder. "There's something else you should know." His tone was much graver than it had been a few moments ago.

Meta Knight picked up on the change in attitude. "What is it, my friend? What is wrong?"

The owl looked around a bit before answering. "Something's happening in the denser wooded area. You are aware that _The Excalibur_ has unearthed itself, am I right?" When the affirmative was given, he continued. "I know I don't have to tell you what that means. Furthermore, I think whatever he has sent has set up in the Woods."

The knight's eyes turned bright green. "How could that be? Would Whispy not have noticed if something that had been touched by Nightmare's taint had come into his forest?"

"Not if the taint is not very strong." Coo touched the bottom of his beak thoughtfully. "If somehow Nightmare figured out a way to send in a servant of his with as little of his power as possible, it is likely that that servant could work discretely and without notice. I suspect that, if my theory is correct, than they would also be responsible for yesterday's monster problem."

Meta Knight turned for a moment. "This is grave news indeed. I will be certain to keep watch in the palace and towns."

"As I will in the forest," the Coo responded, giving the knight a rather formal bow. "Good luck, and I hope all turns out well with young Kirby."

"Thank you for bringing him here." The Star Warrior responded, returning the bow. "I will inform you as soon as more information arises. _Donec tenebras perit_."

" _Donec tenebras perit_ ," the owl returned before flying off.

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Pitch chuckled at the sight of little Kirby attempting to wield Blade's basket-hilt broadsword without inhaling it. The weapon was several times longer than the Puffal was tall, so his attempts at using it to spar, rather than the short sword that he gained with his sword ability, were rather comical.

The young bird then wheeled around to find his ground-bound companions. "It's alright!" He called down when he had found them. "He's made it to Meta Knight and is training right now."

A shudder of relief seemed to pass through the small group, especially with Tiff and Ribbon. "Thank you for your help," Ribbon said, flying up to the bird.

"Glad to be of assistance," he responded. "Is there anything else I can help with?"

"Not at the moment, thanks," Tiff answered.

"Well, then, I have some errands to do myself." He waved quickly before flying off. "Have a nice day!"

"Thanks, you too!" Ribbon turned back. "So what shall we do now?"

"Well, it's probably best to just leave things be," Tiff answered after a few moments. "Kirby tends to get distracted from his training when there are viewers."

The mention of training reminded Ribbon of why she had been going to find her friends in the first play. "Oh!" She declared when it came back to her. "I had almost completely forgot!"

"Poyo poy?" Charlie asked, tilting his head questioningly.

"I have major news. Yesterday, Ado and Adeleine had found some sort of journal in the Star Warrior ship. When they got it opened, they found out there was picture of Kirby inside!"

"Of Kirby?" Tuff asked. "That thing was ancient! How could it give information about Kirby?"

"It would explain why the ship reacted to Kirby when it wouldn't do anything for anyone else," Tiff said, thinking through the odd situation. "Did they discover anything else?"

"The hand writing is rather old," Ribbon explained. "They've spent most of the time trying to reconstruct the language to the best of their ability. Thankfully it's written in the common language rather than the odd one we found the other day, so we can read what's been reconstructed. I was coming to tell you that we were going to examine it further at Rick's place."

"What are we waiting for then?" Tuff asked. "Let's head there right now!" He threw a grin to the little yellow baby. "Hey Toby, race ya!"

Toby returned the cocky grin. "Poyo poy poyo, Tuff!" he declared, before tearing off.

Rick's den, a comfortable little cave set up not unalike a little cottage, was rather cramped at the moment. Along with the friends Ribbon had gathered together, Rick, as soon as he knew about the situation, had gathered together several of their other friends.

"I hope they'll be here soon," Adeleine said, looking out the window intently.

"I wouldn't worry about it," their friend, Kine the Sunfish, said in his usual laid-back fashion. He poked his head over the rim of the bowl he and Chuchu currently occupied. "Tiff and Tuff wouldn't miss this for the world." His words soon rang true as the sound of the front door opening and closing signaled the arrival of the last members of the group.

"We're here!" Ribbon called out as she, the Ebrums, and the clutch of Puffal pups ran in. "You haven't started yet, have you?"

"Not yet," Adeleine responded. "Ado's just restoring several more pages. They're really old, so we might have to restore as we read."

"I'm coming!" Ado rushed back with the book, her inking pen still in hand. "Let's get started!" With this, Adeleine, who was the best public reader set to begin reading. Nearby, Ado prepared her pen so that she could restore the text when need be.

Adeleine cleared her throat and began reading. "'Star date 1679, Journal entry number one. Things have suddenly taken a very interesting turn. It started when Sir Arthur asked me to make what I thought was just going to be a routine supply mission.'"

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_Sir Heavy Knight looked out the front window of the small scouting ship to the planet below. Popopo. The infamy of the planet's wildlife was well known around the universe. The sapient inhabitants were not much better. Though not hostile, par say, Inhaler Puffals lived such dangerous lives that they were extremely cautious and suspicious of outsiders. As a result, it was best for those Star Warriors who did go to the planet to do their best to avoid populated areas._

_As luck would have it, the Boxin's mission did not require him to approach any populated territories. The mess stores were currently low on Pep Berries, so he was going out to gather some. These fruit, which were extremely high in nutrition, were vital in the preparation of Pep Brew, a practical staple of the Star Warrior's rations. While he was out there, he would also keep a close eye out for Spear Grass, which was good for making arrows._

_For the most part, the mission went by uneventfully. There was the occasional arrival of a Bugzzy or Scarfy, but those were easily dealt with. Indeed, it appeared that there would be no incident on this outing whatsoever._

_He had gathered the berries first, as they were closer, and had then gone to collect the spear grass. It took a little longer to gather this, because the sharp points and edges of the plant made wearing armor necessary. When he had nearly finished with that task, a flash of color caught his eye._

_It was a small orb, which Heavy Knight took to be a berry. It was a color he had not seen around before, but he didn't think twice before adding to the bag of other berries. With that, he straightened up and headed back to the ship._

_When he had almost arrived, however, a creature attacked him. It was a long, sleek black creature. It had ambushed him from above, throwing itself heavily against him. This was bigger than most of the creatures that he typically faced on Popopo were, so the struggle was a little longer. However, he succeeded in killing the beast, and for the first time got a good look at the creature._

_It was a creature who's name Heavy Knight couldn't pronounce, but he knew that the name translated to "egg thief." Egg thieves were valuable for their pelts, but were difficult to find, and never attacked to kill because their diet consisted mostly of the eggs of other creatures. It was odd that this one had been so aggressive._

_When he had gotten back to the main ship of the Star Warrior fleet, Heavy Knight discussed this with his friend, Sir Galahad._

_Galahad was a Puffal as well, but not an Inhaler. He, like all of the Puffals that included themselves in the ranks of the Star Warriors, was of a sub-branch known as Star-Jumpers, who did not have the ability to inhale or copy. Star-Jumpers had been the group that founded the Star Warriors, and they were typically much friendlier than Inhaler Puffals._

_Galahad, in particular, had an interest in other species, and had done a lot of study into the behavior of the wildlife on various planets. "That is a strange story," he said as the duo walked from the armory, where the spear grass had been left, to the mess hall. "Egg thieves tend to stay away from all adult creatures whenever possible. Even to Inhaler Puffals, they are only really dangerous to eggs and recently hatched pups. They have been known to get vindictive, however, and tend to obsess over a single target of prey that has been alluding them. You didn't happen to notice any Inhaler nests nearby, did you?"_

_"_ _Heavens, no," Heavy Knight laughed. "I'd rather not end up having to face a tribe of aggressive parents who have copied who knows what." He took off his helmet, revealing a face that vaguely resembled a grey pit bull. "Rosalyn wouldn't forgive me if she had to mend my armor so soon after the mud-pot incident."_

_The Puffal laughed in response. "Yes, that did get rather out of hand, didn't it? I had hoped that we would have been able to get a closer look at the heat-loving creatures."_

_"_ _I know I got a closer look than I ever wanted, or will ever want again." The Boxin playfully pushed his friend. "Next time you go sample collecting, ask someone else to help."_

_By now, the duo had reached the mess hall. A young female Puffal who stood at the supply stand greeted them. "Good afternoon, Sir Heavy Knight. Sir Galahad. Do you have anything for the supply room?" Heavy Knight handed her the bag and then proceeded to head back. However, before they had left, she called them back. "Uh, sir," she called, respectful but rather nervous, "I can't take this."_

_"_ _Why not?" the Boxin asked before taking back the bag. As he looked into it, he realized the problem. By mistake, he had brought the bag of spear grass. That meant that the Pep Berries must still be back at the armory._

_Sir Galahad had somewhere else to be, so the two of them said goodbye and parted ways. Heavy Knight continued into the armory and quickly took back the bag containing the Pep Berries and leaving the one with the spear grass. However, the berry bag was far too light, almost as if there was nothing in it._

_He opened it up and discovered that, indeed, there was next to nothing in it. There were no berries, anyway. All that the simple canvas bag contained was what appeared to be pieces of eggshell. Something had hatched, and now, whatever had hatched was loose in the armory._

_The Boxin prepared himself for what he would face. A good deal of the wildlife of Popopo was dangerous from birth, so he had to be prepared for anything. For all he knew, the creature that was loose would attack, be it with teeth or claws or some other attack. He thanked his lucky stars that it wouldn't be a Wolfwrath. Those were killer from day one, even to experienced fighters. He was not, however, prepared for what he saw._

_The newborn lay, cuddled close to a mannequin in the shape of a Puffal, which would be used to design the armor for the Puffal warriors. It was Puffal pup, a newly hatched male. Furthermore, it was clear, that this was an Inhaler pup._

_Heavy Knight picked up the sleeping infant as gently as he could. He'd have to tell Sir Arthur about the little one right away._

To be continued…


	9. Little Miracle, Part Two

"You are doing well, but you must keep a close watch on both your opponents," Meta Knight called. "It is a difficult feat, but one that must be mastered if one is going to be facing opponents who have no honor."

Kirby was currently doing sparring practice; facing Sword and Blade at once. All three were wielding simple wooden swords for the practice. Meta Knight was watching from the side, observing his students' techniques and making certain that enthusiasm didn't take things too far.

"Poyo!" Kirby exclaimed excitedly. He charged forwards and to the side, dodging a thrust by Sword. Blade took the young one's distraction as an opportunity to attempt to catch him from the side. The little one caught his blow, and after deftly knocking it aside responded in kind. However, this gave Sword an opening, and the soldier landed a quick but light blow to the young Puffal's side. That signaled that the match was over.

Kirby looked down as he approached his teacher. He bowed respectfully. "I was'n wooking, so I loss," he said simply. He tried to sound emotionless as he gave the report on his progress, but the disappointment was clear in his voice.

Meta Knight gave his apprentice a small smile, before comfortingly patting him on the head. "You did well, especially considering you were doing so without using your copy ability. As I said earlier, keeping track of two opponents at once is an incredibly difficult task. The fact that you could hold your own, even for a comparatively short amount of time, shows great progress in your abilities. This will come easier with practice. Well done."

The child looked up, surprised but delighted by the praise. He practiced as hard as he could to be able to handle his opponents through multiple situations. The most difficult ones were the ones where he couldn't use his copy ability, but those were also the ones that he was the proudest of. Even though he didn't win every match, even the simple praise that he was progressing well was enough to bolster the youngster's spirits.

Meta Knight looked up, observing the now brighter sky. "It is getting to be almost noontime now," he said after a few moments. "We had best begin to head back to the palace. Sword, Blade, please, make certain that all the equipment is put away properly. Once you are finished, we will begin our trip back."

"Yes, sir." Both soldier saluted and began their work.

"Kaabii help!" the youngster added before joining the elder students in their work.

The knight smiled, amused by the young one's actions. The child was always eager to please and learn which made training him rather easy. Indeed, the only problem with training that Kirby had posed was how to keep him focused and in one place for an extended period of time. This was especially bad in the summer, when the butterflies that Kirby so loved offered a plethora of distractions.

The work was finished rather quickly and the four progress through the forest on their way back to the castle. Meta Knight kept a wary eye out on their surroundings, as Coo's words were still clear in his mind. _Whatever he has sent has set up in the woods._ That would make things more difficult. He kept Galaxia close at hand. Certainly, if they were in any danger, the ancient sword would be needed.

They were arriving at the baseline of the forest when a clear voice called out. "Hey, Kirby! There you are!" The small group looked to see Phan-Phan approaching quickly.

The young elephant-like creature caught up to them by the woods. "There you are, Kirby!" he said. "I was worried that everyone just left and forgot about me."

"Poyo, w'at mean?" the young one asked his friend.

"I mean, I went to see if anyone wanted to come out to play, and nobody was at any of their homes. I checked the palace, and the dig site, and the kickball field, and nothing! It's like everyone just vanished. You wouldn't happen to know where they are, would you?"

Kirby thought for a moment before sadly shaking his head. "Don' know. Sowwy."

"You may wish to check with Rick," Meta Knight added. "Sometimes when there is something that cannot be discussed in the presence of Dedede, the others will go to Rick's home to discuss in private. You are welcome to check there."

"I hadn't thought of that," Phan-Phan said when the knight had finished. "I'll go check there next. You want to come, Kirby?"

Kirby looked over at his mentor for approval. Meta Knight nodded. "Yes, you may go. Your lessons are finished for today. Just be certain not to wander away again."

"Yes, sah!" Kirby declared happily before jumping onto Phan-Phan's head. "I be ce'tin!" With that, the two youngsters headed off after their friends.

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_A small group of warriors stood around the little incubation chamber. Within, the little pup lay, sleeping peacefully. Indeed, it would have been a rather idyllic scene, if it weren't for all the mysteries surrounding the little one's appearance._

_"_ _You are quite certain that you were nowhere near a colony establishment?" Sir Arthur asked once more. "That at least might mean he has a pack to go back to."_

_Sir Galahad spoke first. "It doesn't matter. Inhalers are incredibly pack-oriented and protective of eggs. If the child still had a family, then Heavy Knight would not have been able to take his egg for the sheer amount of Inhalers scouring the area. There is no doubt this child is an orphan, and the odds are that he is a pack-less orphan."_

_Rosalyn, Heavy Knight's wife and a famed Star Warrior in her own right, reached into the little chamber and stroked the baby's cheek. "Poor little thing. Lost your family before you were even born and then hatched among strangers. You've had a rough life, haven't you?"_

_"_ _Indeed," Sir Percival, one of Sir Arthur's primary advisers, added. "It seems that this little boy's survival is in and of itself a miracle."_

_"_ _The question still remains," another council member, Sir Lancelot, continued, "what is to be done with him? Just leaving him is certainly out of the question. He is far too young to fend for himself."_

_"_ _That is true," Heavy Knight commented. "It is also unlikely that we will find a separate pack who will be willing to take him. They are suspicious of any outside intervention, and probably won't take kindly to being told to take an infant. There is also the risk of giving him to a slaving pack if we would attempt that route."_

_"_ _Then there seems to be just one option." Rosalyn opened the chamber and took the sleeping infant into her arms. "He'll have to stay here, and he'll come with us."_

_Arthur smiled and several of the others chuckled. It was common knowledge that Rosalyn and Heavy Knight had been trying for a child. The sudden appearance of an orphan would definitely be a Godsend._

_"_ _Poyo?" The baby, awakened by the movement, shot up at the sound of strange voices. Light blue eyes scanned his surroundings. Suddenly, with a cry of "Poyo!" he squirmed free of the Boxin lady's arms and dashed out of the room, much to the surprise of the adults._

_The adults ran after him, shocked by the little one's speed. When they had caught up, the child had already made it to the armory and was clinging tightly to the mannequin he had been found by. He looked up briefly before pressing his face into the stuffed dummy. "Poyo," he squeaked once more._

_"_ _Fascinating," Galahad murmured. "It appears that young Inhalers imprint just after hatching. He genuinely thinks that model is his mother."_

_"_ _Well then," Heavy Knight laughed as he and Rosalyn each took a side of the mannequin, "I suppose we'll be taking this as well."_

_It had taken a while for the couple to make certain that the little one would be happy in his new home, but once he was certain that his "mother" wouldn't be taken away, the baby had settled down to sleep._

_Heavy Knight chuckled. "Funny little one, isn't he? We'll have to come up with a name for him soon."_

_His wife smiled calmly. She had taken the sleeping infant up in her arms, and was rocking him gently. "His christening is a good ways off. Until that day, he will be our Miracle."_

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A knocking at the door startled the group out of the story. "Hello!" a voice called in. "Is anyone home?"

"Heh-whoa!" another voice, clearly Kirby's, chimed in. "Come ta pway?"

Rick opened the door, and Kirby eagerly rushed in. Outside, Phan-Phan, who was rather too large to make it through the smaller door frame leaned in. "Hi, Rick," the young elephant-like creature greeted. "Kirby and I are going out to the beach to play. Would you like to come and join us?"

Rick was about to answer when an overexcited Kirby rushed back. "Kaabii find t'em, poyo! T'ey all back in da odder 'oom." He pointed a little pink paw back at the doorway he had ran through.

Rick turned a confused look to Phan-Phan, who explained. "We were having some trouble finding some of the others. We had also hoped that you might know where everyone had gotten to."

"T'ey all hew!" the pink Puffal, repeated clearly proud of himself. "Now we go ta beach!"

"Poyo," a voice peeped through the door. Peering through the doorway was Charlie, with several of the other little ones behind him. As he recognized his elder brother, the little purple Puffaling grew excited. "Poyo, Kaabii! Hi, Kaabii!" Excitedly, the little ones rushed out to greet their brother.

Kirby beamed, happily returning the greeting. "Hi! Go'na go ta beach! Wan'na come?"

The younger Puffals happily chattered before rushing out the open door. Honestly, they had grown bored with the story, so the sudden excitement of a trip to the beach was a welcome opportunity.

"Well, it looks like the little tykes will head out with you," Rick answered once he was finally able to get a word in, "but the rest of us are reading something that looks like it could be important. Would you like to join us? I can set up something by the window.

Phan-Phan looked in at the already rather cramped setting. "That's okay. You can tell me about it later."

"Sorry about that, mate," Rick said with a shrug. "Perhaps next time?"

"Alright then," Phan-Phan said. He turned to go, moving slowly so as not to step on the multiple dancing puffers. "Maybe next time. See you later." This was followed by a chorus of "bye" as the group headed off.

Once they waved goodbye, the group headed out in the direction of the beach. Kirby couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that there weren't more who decided to come. After all, these outings were always more fun when everyone came. Oh, well. At least the babies decided to come. Being brand new to Dreamland, they had never been to the shoreline before. There would be so much for him to show and teach them about.

Eagerly, he rushed off, followed closely by several of his little brothers. Trailing behind was Phan-Phan, who was carrying Kirsti, Charlie, and Mikey. "H'wee, kwick!" the little Puffal called to his companions. "We a'mos' dere, Poyo!"

He reached the tide line first, dashing into the ocean spray. Kirby enjoyed the feeling of the waves lapping around his feet. "Com'n!" he called, excitement in his voice. "Watta fun!"

Toby was the first to catch up, as usual. He jumped into the water with an overjoyed "Poyo!" The other Puffals followed close and soon were splashing about, exited by the new experience. Phan-Phan caught up soon afterwards and let out a spray of water. The little sibling squealed in delight, thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Yes, this was looking to be a very good day.

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Now that the readers were on their own again, Rick settled back down in his place. It was a little more comfortable now that the variety of antsy baby Puffals were no longer a part of the issue. "So, where did we leave off again?" the hamster asked once everyone was ready."

"We just found out about the adoption," Chuchu answered. "What happens next, 'Leine?"

Ado responded for her twin. "This book's pretty damaged, and some of the entries were beyond restoration. It looks like the next passage we can read takes place a while after the last passage, though I'm not quite certain how long."

"Let's start and see where it goes," Lololo said. "It probably won't be too long after the last one."

"That sounds about right," Adeleine laughed. She adjusted the large book so she could read comfortably while Ado restored. "Oh, boy, this one looks good. 'Journal entry number 25. We joined the others on Pop Star today. I-'"

"This must be when that ship arrived!" Tuff cried out all of a sudden.

"Actually, this journal goes on for a while after this entry," Ado said.

"Please don't interrupt, Tuff," Tiff said, embarrassed by her brother's outburst. "It's incredibly rude."

The boy shrugged. "Sorry."

Adeleine picked back up where she left off. "'I am always amazed how the inhabitants of this world never notice our little visits. I guess that's what happens when you don't pay any attention to what is happening beyond your world.

"'In other news, it looks like young Miracle has a new friend.'"

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_Miracle clung closely to Rosalyn. Ever since his imprinting had worn off, he had been somewhat clingy, especially in new circumstance. So it was not unexpected that he would hold close to his mother when they were going to a new world entirely._

_This was Miracle's first experience off of the main ship in the Star Warrior fleet. The little one was excited by the energetic atmosphere that always accompanied a landing party. However, as they grew nearer and nearer to the planet's surface, he grew uncomfortable with the strange new atmosphere. Now that they were on the ground, he had no intention of stepping foot on the weird green stuff that was everywhere. This, of course, meant that he was immediately set down as they exited._

_"_ _Poyo!" he cried out, following his parents close behind. He had no plans to be left behind in this bizarre place, so he was careful to keep close._

_Heavy Knight was already talking with Galahad and Percival. The Star Jumpers had been on the world a little longer, observing everything that had happened. Nothing much of interest had, other than the forming of a small village by several Cappy farmers. Nothing much really happened on Pop Star, though a watch was kept on it, just in case something happened._

_Miracle clung to Rosalyn's hand while the grown-ups talked. They were discussing the village formation and a little small talk. This sort of thing bored the Puffal, so he instead he stared with a nervous but amazed energy at the surroundings. This place was a wooded area, selected because the Dreamland natives weren't fond of entering it. Large trees clustered around, giving the area a kind of spooky feel. Nothing inclined the little one to want to explore the planet further._

_However, something did catch his attention. "Ribbet." Miracle jumped at the sound. Something had croaked at him! He was certain of it. He looked around, searching for the creature who had made the sound._

_It didn't take long. There, five feet away and sitting on the stump of a fallen tree, was a big green frog. The frog looked on with a complete lack of interest. "Ribbet," it croaked again._

_This interested the baby Puffal. He immediately let go of his mother's hand and dashed over to get a closer look at the strange thing. He stared at the frog intently. "Poyo," he said, trying to get a response._

_The frog took the bait. "Ribbet."_

_"_ _Poyo."_

_"_ _Ribbet."_

_"_ _Poyo."_

_"_ _Ribbet."_

_"_ _Poyo."_

_"_ _Ribbet."_

_"_ _Hi!"_

_"_ _Poyo!" Miracle cried out. That last cry had startled both him and the frog, which hurriedly hopped away. The baby Puffal reached out for the creature, but it was already gone by now. Instead, he turned angrily to the creature that had scared them._

_It was a young mouse, seated casually on the stump, who looked to be a little older than Miracle. He had a big grin plastered on his face. "Hi! My name's Gonfflen. What's your name?"_

_"_ _Poyo!" Miracle cried out, annoyed with his new companion. "Poyo, poy poyo poyo!"_

_"_ _That all you can say, huh?" the mouse asked, tilting his head. "Alright then, I'll call you Poyo. Are you being a good baby, Poyo?"_

_Miracle was rather annoyed by the mouse, and was prepared to tell him so. However, they were interrupted. "Gonfflen! There you are, you little rogue."_

_Both youngsters looked up to see that the adults were approaching them. It had been Sir Galahad who had spoken._

_The mouse jumped off threw a quick salute. "Ready and waiting, sir!"_

_Galahad nodded, smiling at the enthusiastic child. "At ease. I see you met young Miracle. Once you are both christened you will trained together. These are his parents, Sir Heavy Knight and Lady Rosalyn."_

_Gonfflen pulled a clumsy bow. "Pleased to meet you, Sir, Lady."_

_"_ _As are we," Heavy Knight responded as he and his wife returned the greeting._

_The Star Jumper nodded to the young one. "Well done. Now, why don't you show Miracle around? Just be certain to come back before afternoon drills._

_The child grinned brightly and threw a small salute. "Yes, sir!" He then turned and grabbed Miracle by the paw. "Come on, Poyo, there's a lot to see!"_

_The baby Puffal started, surprised by his rather unrestrained companion. "Poyo? Poyo!"_

_When the children had gone off, Galahad turned back to the two Boxins. "That little fellow is my new apprentice. Found him a few weeks ago while on patrol in Mustellus. Young one almost succeeded in catching me off guard."_

_"_ _An impressive feat," Rosalyn laughed. He face grew serious after this comment. "I suppose he is an orphan, then."_

_The Puffal warrior nodded. "Gonfflen doesn't talk about his past, but that much I do know. This isn't the only incident either. Many planets seem to be getting high amounts of trouble. Something bad is going on. I'm certain of it. We'll just need to stay observant."_

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It was well past three o'clock when the revelers decided to end their play. Soaking wet and still laughing, the young one sat out in the grass to dry off. A slight breeze mixed with the warm sunlight made the young ones rather drowsy. Phan-Phan dozed off first, and was soon followed by most of the Puffals. In a few moment, only Sammy sat awake, staring up into the clouds.

He soon was shaking Kirby awake, however. The elder Puffal blinked in confusion for a few moments. "Poyo, Saami?" he asked. "Poyo, w'at wong?"

The little brown Puffal held out his paw, clearly in a sort of panic. He shook it, as if trying to get something off of it. It took Kirby a moment to calm his younger brother down enough to get a look at what he was panicking about. When he could see, however, the young warrior laughed.

Resting on the little one's paw was a bright red lady bug. It was moving about lazily, as if it was completely unaware of the fact that its host had no desire for its presence.

Kirby carefully took the lady bug and held it himself. "T'is wady bug," he said, holding his own paw so that Sammy could get a good look at it without having to touch it. "It no hu't, see?"

Sammy stared in amazement as the tiny creature crawled up and down his elder brother's paw. It moved slowly and lazily, examining as it went. Finally, as if it had grown bored with the duo, it popped out its wings and flew off.

"Bye-bye, wady bug," Kirby said as it flew away. He then turned back to the littler one. "See, no got hu't. Wady bug nice!"

Intrigued by the last lesson, Sammy looked around the little field for something else to examine. Kirby leaned back against Phan-Phan and kept an eye on the little Puffal. It was rather exciting to be the older child and do the explaining for once.

Sammy returned a moment later, cupping something in his paws. He was handling differently, however, as if he was having a difficult time holding on to this catch. Once he reached Kirby, he held his paws up questioningly, as if asking what this was.

Inside the cupped paws was a little black ant. It scurried around in a panicked frenzy, doing its best to get away from its captor.

Kirby grinned when his saw his brother's catch. "T'at an ant!" he said. "T'ey very ha'd to catch an' hold."

As if it had been waiting for that phrase as a cue, the little insect finally succeeded at getting out of the Puffaling's paws and scurried away.

After it had escaped, Sammy tried to catch it again. However, it was too late and the ant had already dashed away into the grass.

Kirby smiled and patted his brother's back. "Don' wowwy. He jus' goin' home. We find 'notha one latah, poyo."

Sammy looked up at his brother and smiled. He then turned to examine grass for another ant but was soon distracted by something else overhead.

By now, Andy and Toby had also awoken from their midday nap. They looked curiously over at what Kirby and Sammy were doing before going over to join them. Andy tugged on his elder brother's paw. "Poyo?" he asked, staring intently at the squire.

Kirby grinned, eager to bring more of his siblings in to the lesson. "Us is lookin' fo' bugs. You wan'na help?"

"Poyo!" both younger ones exclaimed.

The pink Puffal beamed. He was thoroughly excited about this time spent with his younger siblings. He turned to call out for Sammy to join them when he saw the younger Puffal trying to catch a bee.

"No, Saami!" he called out. "T'at a bee! T'ey sting!"

The brown Puffaling looked up, confused by his brother's outcry. He looked back and tilted his head inquisitively.

Kirby walked over, Andy and Toby close behind, and took his little brother's paw. He poked Sammy's arm lightly before repeating, "T'ey sting! Stings hu't!"

The three little ones stared up at him, not exactly understanding but willing to listen. Kirby looked around for something safe to call attention to. Suddenly, the perfect distraction appeared.

"Look!" he called out delightedly. "Buddafwies!" Immediately, he and his brothers took off after the winged fascinations.

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_Miracle was doing his best to keep up with Gonfflen as the young mouse half guided half dragged the little Puffal after him. He wasn't very happy with being pulled around a strange world by this over enthusiastic companion._

_Gonfflen, on the other hand, was very excited. He had been a street urchin before he had been taken in by Sir Galahad. While he was grateful that the warrior had taken him from the dangers that were all too plentiful in the streets of Mustellus, he missed being just able to run around. There was a lot of training in being a Star Warrior apprentice, and there weren't any other apprentices on Pop Star. He was determined to show Miracle a good time._

_Finally, the little Puffal had had enough. He succeeded in yanking his arm out of Gonfflen's hand. "Poyo!" he declared the annoyance clear in his tone. "Poyo poy poyo poyo poy poyo!" He pointed a little nub hand back in the direction of the base._

_The young mouse threw his arm around the Puffal's shoulders. "Aw, c'mon, Poyo," he said, "you can't tell me you came all this way to a new planet and you're not the least bit curious about what's out there." He motioned to the vast fields ahead of them. "This is all so neat! There's no way you can want to spend all your time in a stuffy old ship when there's all this to explore."_

_Miracle, however, was not interested in the strange planet, with who knows what lurking who knows where. Once again, he pointed in the direction of the Star Warrior ship. "Poyo," he stated seriously._

_Gonfflen sighed before throwing up his hands. "All right, all right, we'll go back. But first, I promised a friend I'd meet her. We'll go back right afterwards. Wanna come?"_

_The little Puffal sighed. He wanted to return right now and convince his parents that it was time to go home. However, he realized he wasn't going to be able to shake the overly enthusiastic mouse. "Poy poyo," he finally answered, shrugging his shoulders._

_The mouse grinned. "Great! We'll move fast, I promise." With that, he grabbed Miracle's hand and took off running again._

_Back at the station, the adults were still talking when a knave rushed up. "Sir Galahad! Sir Percival! Sir Heavy Knight! Lady Rosalyn! We have some trouble!"_

_Galahad was the first to respond to the youngster. "What is it, Nicolin?"_

_The knave panted as he spoke. "We were out on patrol when a great bird landed on us. There was a great fuss and the bird attacked us before falling over. I was told to get you, so I came as fast as I could, sir!"_

_"_ _You did well," Percival said, placing a friendly hand on the boy's shoulder. "You rest." He turned to his companions. "Come with me to see what all the trouble is about?"_

_"_ _Wouldn't miss it," Heavy Knight laughed as he and his wife replaced their helmets._

_The warriors ran out to see what was going on. There, lying flat on the ground was the largest bird they had ever seen. Its body and wings were mostly red, though bright rainbow colored feathers covered its wings in band. Its underbelly was white, and its head was also red but had a yellow crest. It had a deep head wound, and was clearly close to death._

_"_ _Oh, my," Galahad breathed in amazement. He went over to the great bird and began examining the wound. The bird gave a cry and struggled. "There, there, girl. It's okay. No one here's going to hurt you."_

_The two Boxin stared in shock. "What is it?" Rosalyn asked, examining the huge bird from a distance. She had no eagerness to get close to those razor sharp talons._

_"_ _It's a Dynablade," Percival answered. "One of the rarest and most amazing creature of Pop Star. Something's wrong, though. This one's a mature female. They're never seen alone, as they usually have at least one chick in tow. This one's alone and has been wounded by some sort of laser weapon."_

_"_ _That would mean there are poachers in Dreamland," Heavy Knight said, not taking long to put the pieces together._

_Galahad nodded. "We had best call the little ones in. There's bound to be trouble soon."_

_"_ _We're almost there!" Gonfflen called back to Miracle as the duo raced up a hill. "She'll be waiting for us up ahead."_

_"_ _Poyo!" Miracle called back. He was severely out of breath. He was considering going back when he spotted something at the top of the hill. Standing there, looking down at them was a bright yellow baby bird._

_Gonfflen eagerly ran up to the bird. "Hey!" he called out, waving. "I hope you didn't wait too long!"_

_The bird happily cooed before nuzzling the young mouse. She then turned to Miracle, examining the young Puffal as curiously as he did her._

_"_ _Poyo," Gonfflen said, motioning to the bird, "this is Dynachick. She's been my friend ever since I came to Pop Star. Her mom's the Dynablade!"_

_"_ _Poyo!" Miracle laughed as the baby bird nuzzled him. Whatever else he thought of Dreamland, he liked Dynachick._

_Suddenly, Gonfflen's ears shot up. "Guys!" he yelled out. "Run!" He dashed over and pushed the bird and Puffal away from where they had been standing. He wasn't a moment too soon, either, for as soon as he did so, a net shot out and just missed the children. They fell in a small pile._

_A strange man stepped out from where the net had been shot. "Well, well, what have we here?" he said, examining the little pile of children. "Some trouble making brats, huh? You might come in handy." With that, he aimed his net gun at the trio._

To be continued…


	10. Little Miracle, Part Three

The sun had started to lower in the sky, though the little Puffals, now all awake, were at a loss of that knowledge. They were eagerly rushing around, chasing after the butterflies, which flitted in and out of reach, as if playfully taunting their pursuers. Nearby, Phan-Phan, still asleep, was completely unaware of the little ones' newfound activity.

Kirsti in particular was getting into the chase. Her object of fascination, a bright yellow flutterer, had alighted on a flower. The little blue Puffal ducked down as quietly as she could, doing her best not to frighten the creature away. She then crept forwards, trying to come up slowly and quietly on the butterfly.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

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Add a great big smile,

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And Presto! It's Kirby!

However, the idea of slowly and quietly got thrown out of the picture by the arrival of Mikey. He too had targeted that butterfly in particular. Unlike his sister, however, he had a bit of a rougher approach to the hunt. He ran as fast as he could and practically tackled the flower.

Unsurprisingly, the butterfly did not just sit there. As soon as the white Puffal had rushed in, it took to the air, not wanting to be trampled by the overly enthusiastic baby.

Kirsti did not take this too well. "Miikii!" she cried out after he had frightened off her target. "Poyo poyo poyo poy poyo poyo poyo!"

Mikey got up and rubbed the back of his head apologetically. He had been completely unaware that someone else had any interest in that butterfly. "Poyo poy poyo. Poyo poyo, Kaastii."

She huffed in a frustrated manner and appeared to want to continue the conversation when something distracted her. Sitting up in one of the trees that the little ones were standing near was a bright red bird, which was preening its feathers.

The little girl saw her opportunity to try a sneak attack again. She signaled for Mikey to stay completely quiet and began to move around to the other side of the tree. From there, she began floating up at a steady pace until she had reached a branch on the same level of the bird's branch. When she had succeeded at reaching the level, she leaped.

The bird let out a cry of shock. It was a good deal larger than the puffer, but she held on with all the strength in her little body. It took to the air as quickly as it could, trying to shake its surprise passenger. Kirsti, who was for her part fully enjoying the ride, squealed in delight as she zipped through the air.

Mikey, who had been watching the whole incident with a wide eyed interest, now turned around and called to the others. "Poyo!" he called out. "Poyo poyo Kaastii poy poyo wheee!"

The rider looked down when she heard her brother give out the call. This distraction was just the opportunity that the bird needed. It gave a quick swoop, flipping upside down and flying close to the ground. This finally shook Kirsti from her perch, leaving her giggling on the ground.

The other Puffals rushed over to where she lay in a pile of red feathers. The littler boys eager, cheered and began looking for opportunities for similar experimentation. Kirby, on the other hand, was a different story.

"Kaastii, t'at no nice," he said, disapprovingly. "Need 'ta ask fi'st, o' else t'ey not like it."

"Poyo poyo, Kaabii," she sighed. The little one then pointed up at the wide blue sky. "Poy poyo poy, whee."

Kirby understood exactly what she was saying. She had wanted to see what it was like to fly. Not just float, but actually take flight over the wide fields. The pink Puffal thought for a moment. Then he spotted what was on the ground. This gave him an idea.

He picked up one of the feathers and motioned for the others to follow his lead. "G'ab a fettah," he said. "Kaabii show fwy!"

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_The little ones didn't dare to move as they stared down the barrel of the weapon pointed at them. The shock of the sudden attack had just about paralyzed the trio in terror._

_The stranger grinned. He had a good idea of how he was affecting the children, and had absolutely no problem with what was happening. "Now, there's no need for anyone to be hurt," he continued, keeping the net launcher leveled at the youngsters. "We just want the bird. You other two keep quiet, and you can go back to your parents as soon as possible."_

_That seemed to snap Gonfflen out of his stunned stupor. "You stay away from Dynachick, you big bully! Poyo and I are Star Warriors, and we're not about to let you hurt her!"_

_Miracle nodded in agreement, admiring his companion and inspired by his courage. He puffed himself up to make himself look bigger and let out a defiant "Poyo!"_

_The man laughed at that comment. "Star Warriors? I doubt you two together would make one warrior. Now stay out of our way, and you won't get hurt."_

_"_ _You don't scare us!" Gonfflen called out. "We're not gonna back down, and if you hurt us, you'll bring down the whole GSA on you!" With that, the young mouse charged at their attacker._

_Despite his small size, the mouse did a rather good job of keeping their attacker at bay. As he charged, he turned back to the other two. "Poyo, go hide Dynachick. There are lots and lots of cave systems around here and she knows them well. Try to get her to them and she can take it from there. After that, go back to the base and get help!"_

_Miracle nodded. He took Dynachick by the wing and took off running. "Poyo poy poyo poyo," he explained, pointing out the path to safety. The thick woods would be difficult to navigate, particularly for one so young on his first trip there, but he'd have to do his best. Beside, hopefully, it would hide and protect them from their pursuers._

_The poacher took aim at the fleeing duo, but thanks to the small mouse currently attacking at his heels, he missed his shot. It was only a moment before the bird and Puffal vanished from sight._

_"_ _You little brat!" he scowled at the young mouse. "You made me miss my shot!" He struck the youngster, throwing him backwards into a tree. The young mouse was hit hard and was knocked unconscious by the blow._

_The man grabbed the prone Gonfflen, tossing him in a burlap sack. "I'll deal with you later. Pon, Con! Get here now!"_

_At his call, a raccoon dog and fox rushed up and saluted. "Yes, sir, Spynum." The duo waited for their boss to give their orders._

_Spynum scowled. "We've located our prey, but several brats got in our way. I've got one of them here, but the other one, a creampuff kid, got away with the bird. I want you to catch them and bring them back to the ship."_

_The duo of mooks saluted. "Got it, sir!" With that, they turned around, off to pursue the fleeing Miracle._

_Their boss called back one more set of instructions. "You'd better hurry up and find them! Our buyer won't wait forever! Don't let them reach that Star Warrior ship!"_

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Kirby excitedly lead his siblings on a flight over the bright territories of Dreamland. It had taken a few minutes to wake Phan-Phan up and tell him what they were doing. The good natured creature said that it sounded like fun, but that he had probably best head home. They said their goodbyes before the little Puffal turned back to his teaching.

As this was the first time any of the Puffalings had used the wing ability, he decided to start out lower so as not to risk any of the littler ones getting hurt.

However, his caution, while commendable, had not been complete necessary. The youngsters took to the new abilities like a fish takes to water. Before long, anyone who happened to glance up could see a trail of eight Puffals, decked out in feathered headdresses, gliding happily along with the clouds.

It was the times like this that the young star warrior lived for. Here he was, showing his young siblings the simple delights there were in just being alive. This beautiful land, which they called home, was so bright and free and open, and there was nothing like seeing it from the skies. It was a shame that he needed the wing ability, which was often rather difficult to get, to see it like this. Meta Knight was lucky to have wings all the time.

He glanced back to make certain that everyone was with him. Sure enough, close behind him each of the little ones flew, amazed at the beautiful sight below. They were only about a week and a half old, and had spent the majority of that short life in an exotic but confining enclosure. The odd, bright nature of their surroundings astonished and amazed them.

Every couple of minutes, one of the little ones would call out in delight and point out one of Dreamland's amazing landmarks. Kirby would happily explain what it was as they flew over. It was rather difficult to resist the temptation to fly down and land at every single one of these amazing destinations. However, it would not be very good to get lost, so they remained in the sky as they worked their way to the palace.

The little ones touched down on one of the spires that jutted out from Castle Dedede when the time for their flight had ended. Kirby had gotten hungry over the course of their little adventure, and he knew that this time, in the middle of the afternoon, was the perfect time to sneak into the kitchen's to get a snack.

After discarding the wing ability, the Puffalings crept close behind him as they went down the halls of the Castle. Other than the odd Waddle Dee, there was no one to be seen. Dedede was probably taking one of his midafternoon naps, and everyone else had some duty or other to attend to. That meant that the kitchens would be ripe for the taking.

Sure enough, when they got there, there was no one present. Not even the few Waddle Dees who typically worked on the meals were there. They'd be taking a break before they returned to begin preparing dinner. This left the refrigerator wide open.

Eagerly the young Puffals fell upon the receptacle with gusto. Just about any fruit found was quickly grabbed and consumed. Kirby made certain that anything wrapped or sealed was left alone, as it was likely for dinner later, but anything left in the open was free game.

The young ones had been enjoying their snack time so much that it came as a shock when a voice piped up. "What a mess!" Lady Like cried as she entered the kitchen. "Kirby, did you do this?"

Kirby rubbed the back of his head. "Sowwy, poyo. We go' hung'y."

The Dreamlander lady sighed and shook her head. "Kirby, you need to ask before you do something like this, especially when you bring the little ones with you. Look at them. They'll need a bath now." She pointed out the younger Puffals, who certainly had found a way to coat themselves in fruit juice. "I'll give them a bath now, but you should help to clean this mess." She then guided the babies back to the apartment.

Several Waddle Dees came up and started to clean. Kirby helped some, but the diligent creatures were swift with the work. Soon, everything was put back in order and the little Puffal was left on his own again.

Kirby sat for a moment. Once again, he was on his own and had nothing to do. That's when it dawned on him. Why, Dedede would be awake by now. Certainly he would have something to do!

The young Star Warrior left to seek out the Pengu.

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_Miracle fled as fast as his feet would take him. Close behind, Dynachick panted, desperate to keep close to him. He tried to remember what Gonfflen had told him. There was a cave system somewhere close, but where? He glanced all around him. There was nothing to see for miles around. Oh, where were they and what were they going to do now?_

_The little Puffal sat down, uncertain of what to do. They had gotten away from that strange bad man, but he got Gonfflen. He might not have liked the mouse's over-enthusiasm, but Miracle didn't want him to get hurt. If only there was something he could do!_

_He began crying as the pressure got to him. He pressed his paws to his eyes to hide this fact, but it was clear what he was doing._

_Dynachick gently nuzzled the Puffal, trying to get him to calm down. It distressed her to see her new friend upset, so she did her best to comfort him._

_Miracle appreciated the gesture. "Poyo poyo poy poyo," he said, wrapping his little arms around the bird._

_Suddenly, a new voice spoke up. "Aww, well isn't that sweet?" The duo shot up at the sound of the voice. Coming out of the forest at the two youngsters was a strange fox and raccoon dog. They both were clutching sacks in their hands, and Miracle got the idea that they were working with their previous attacker._

_The baby Puffal boldly stood between the newcomers and Dynachick. "Poyo poyo poyo!" he called out boldly. He held up his paws in a fighting stance, making it clear that he wasn't just going to run away._

_This made the newcomers laugh. "Ah, so we have a hero here, do we?" the fox snorted. "Well, Puffy, I wouldn't recommend getting in our way. Just hand over the bird and no one gets hurt."_

_"_ _Poy poyo!" Miracle yelled, before throwing himself on their aggressors. The child, as was typical for Inhaler Puffals, had very hard feet and a nasty kick. Even though he was small, he dealt out near debilitating blows on their attackers' shins._

_As their pursuers clutched at their injured legs, the little ones took off running again. They had to make it back to the base and get the adults help, and soon!_

_The duo of crooks recovered a few minutes after the attack. They were now determined to catch the duo, and make that little runt pay for that!_

_Now Miracle was panting, desperate to keep ahead of the crooks but keeping Dynachick near. His little body tired out quickly, but now there would be no opportunity for rest. If those bad guys caught up, they'd be captured. The young Puffal didn't want to think about what would happen to them if that happened._

_After a few moments, though, hope sprang anew. There, just beyond the tree line, was the ship! They'd be safe as soon as they reached the great metal haven._

_With a renewed vigor, Miracle began racing faster. It was within his sight. Soon, they'd be safe. Soon, they'd have nothing to worry about._

_Then he felt something on the ground. It slid up the baby's foot, tripping him up and sending both him and Dynachick headfirst into a net. The net was then hauled up into a tree, leaving the two little ones struggling in the fibers of their prison._

_Underneath, their pursuers caught up, a look of cruel mirth in their eyes. "Well, well," the fox said, grinning up at the frightened tykes, "looks like the traps work. We'll bring these two back to Spynum in a while. First, the creampuff pays."_

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King Dedede was in a bad mood. How could he not be in a bad mood? Everything that had happened yesterday had been a disaster. Those two idiots lost control of the monster, so instead of defeating it and becoming the hero of the hour, he had been knocked unconscious by it and had to be rescued. Even worse, when he came to, he found out that the monster had been stopped by Kirby! Why, that little pink runt stole his spotlight again! Oh, how Dedede wanted to complain about everything to someone.

However, there was no one around. As difficult as it was to believe, the Pengu had yet to run into a single talking soul within the whole palace. It was as if everyone was purposefully avoiding him. He tried complaining to the odd Waddle Dee that he would see every couple of minutes, but they'd only nod and continue on their way. So now the Pengu was wandering around, trying to find anyone who he could take his bad mood out on.

"Hey, Marx!" he yelled out. "Bandana Dee! Sir Ebrum! Yo, Meta Knight! Where is everybody?" He was quickly losing his temper. "Isn't anyone in this palace!?"

He got his answer sooner than he expected.

"Poyo!" Kirby called out, happy to have found Dedede. He eagerly ran up to the Pengu. "Poyo, Dedededededededede, hi! Ev'y t'ing is cween now, poyo, so wan'na pway wiv Kaabii?" the little warrior asked.

Dedede scowled. He's rather be on his own than have to play babysitter to the very baby that humiliated him. "Get lost, Pinky. Don't you have someone else to annoy?"

Kirby tapped the side of his head, thinking of an answer to the question. "T'e babies are havin' baff, and Phan-Phan go home. Ot'er kids ah busy, an' Medikni go somewhe'e wit' Swowd and Bwade an' Kaabii don' know whe'e. So, no." He grinned brightly. "Dededededededede wan'na pway wiv Kaabii?"

Dedede was about to tell Kirby to scram again when a mean idea came to him. He looked around the empty hallway until he found a small, heavy ornament. He picked it up and held it aloft. "So you want to play a game?" he asked the child. "Because I know of a really good game."

Kirby grinned, his bright blue eyes beaming in innocent delight. "Yah! Yah! Kaabii wan'na pway weally goo' game!"

Dedede smirked. "See this statue?" he asked. He practically pressed the small item into Kirby's face.

The tot nodded excitedly. "Yah! Kaabii see it! Now wha'?"

Dedede casually walked over to a window that overlooked the river that passed alongside Castle Dedede. He calmly opened in the window, and flung the little statue out of the window and into the river. He then turned back to the young Puffal. "Now," he continued, pointing in the direction that the statue had flown, "you go find it, and you don't come back inside until you've found it. You win when you bring it back. Got it?"

Kirby looked out of the window at the river. It seemed like an odd game to him. I mean, wasn't a game supposed to involve two or more people? Oh, well. If that was what Dedede wanted to play, then Kirby was willing to play it, even if it did confuse him a bit.

After a few moments of thought, he smiled and turned back to Dedede. "Kay!" he said, every cheerful. "Kaabii go fin' it, so Kaabii win!" With that, the little one dashed out to complete his quest.

When he had gone, Dedede couldn't help but laugh at his own cleverness. That puny puffball would never find such a small trinket. Kirby wouldn't be coming back to bother him any time soon.

That did, however, bring him back to his previous problem. There was nobody around to complement him on his ingenuity. He was on his own once more.

"Bandana Dee!" he called out in frustration. "Where the heck is everyone?!"

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_Miracle looked down in fright. Their enemies had caught up with them, and there was no chance for escape. They weren't going to be able to escape now. Tears began to cloud in Miracle's eyes. Now he wasn't going to see Mama or Papa again. These bad men were going to take him, and Gonfflen, and Dynachick away forever. The small hole which was the opening in the net seemed to mock the young Puffal._

_However, the opening gave him an idea. He glanced over at Dynachick. He knew of his inhale ability. It was something instinctual for an Inhaler Puffal. And if he did this right, he might not be able to escape, but Dynachick would._

_Con laughed as they lowered the net. "They boss'll be happy to see what we caught," he sniggered. "That bird'll fetch us a small fortune."_

_"_ _The two Star Warrior brats are rather valuable as well," Pon added. "Knowing that band of goody-two shoes, they'd do anything to keep their precious fledglings safe. These two will make certain that none of the warriors bothers us."_

_Con opened up the net, prepared to dump the duo into a bag that had been brought with. However, the moment that the small hole that was the opening of the net was widened, a bright gold star shot out of it. It zipped past, landing a good distance off, nearer to the Star Warrior base._

_Within the net, Miracle began the struggle again. He was frantic to escape, and did as much as he could to wiggle free._

_"_ _Close it, you moron!" Pon yelled. He snatched the net away from Con. "Here, I'll deal with the creampuff brat. I'd bet my whiskers the bird was in that star. You'd better go find it, or else the boss'll have your tail."_

_"_ _And what are you going to do?" Con asked, frustrated that he had been volunteered for search duty._

_Pon slung the still struggling Miracle over his shoulder. "Get this back to the boss. Better one certain captive than two lost ones." With that, he turned back, leaving the fox to find the missing chick._

_Meanwhile, the adult warriors raced through the forest, looking for the little ones. Trouble like this had never happened in Dreamland before, so there had never been a problem in allowing the youngsters the time to roam. However, the farther from the base they got the more frantic the adults were feeling._

_They had soon traveled from the edge of the forest and back in their search for the children's location. "This is strange," Galahad said as they neared the base once more. "Gonfflen has been through this forest many times before, and has never gotten lost or wandered too far. I can't think of where they might have gotten to."_

_Rosalyn was desperate. "Miracle!" she cried out, on the off-hand chance that her son would hear her cry. "Where are you? Please respond!"_

_Heavy Knight laid a hand on his wife's shoulders. "We'll find them soon," he said, trying to be reassuring. "The boys will be alright."_

_"_ _I hope your right," she sighed. "Wait, what's that?"_

_Heavy Knight could hear it too, and while Galahad and Percival couldn't, they were aware of the Boxin race's keen sense of hearing and followed their friend to the location of the mysterious sound. There, laying in a small pile of leaves and surrounded by bright yellow shards, was little Dynachick. The little bird sat, confused and crying, and did not notice as the newcomers approached her._

_"_ _I'll be!" Galahad declared. "It's the Dynablade chick!" He did his best to keep his voice low as he approached the frightened little bird. "Now, now, come here, little one," he said in a hushed voice. "We aren't going to harm you. We only want to take you back to your mother."_

_While he was coaxing the little bird from her hiding space, the others examined the area. Percival picked up one of the multiple shards that surrounded the area. "What are these?" he asked. He handed the small item over to Heavy Knight. "They seem to be all over the place."_

_"_ _I've seen these before," the Boxin said, turning the golden piece over in his hands. "On Popopo, I believe."_

_"_ _I should hope so," Galahad responded. He had succeeded in coaxing Dynachick out of her hiding place and had joined the others in examining the area. "It's the fragments of an Inhaler's golden star. I suspect young Miracle probably had a hand in whatever happened here."_

_"_ _But he's so young," Rosalyn said, a tone of doubt in her voice. She adjusted her weapon, a large Pole-axe, over her shoulder. "Beside, he's never inhaled anything before, and he hasn't seen anyone who can."_

_Galahad shook his head. "Doesn't matter. He might not know about his copy ability yet, but inhaling is something that is inborn in them. When in dangerous situations, they will inhale by sheer instinct."_

_The tone grew extremely dark, and none of them wanted to voice what concern filled them all. If Miracle had been frightened enough to use his inhale for the first time, what sort of dangers had the young ones run into?_

_The tense quiet was broken by the sound of a muttering voice. "Stupid kids. This was supposed to be the easy haul. We come in, grab the bird, and get out. No run ins with Star Warriors, and no Star Warrior brats to mess things up. But no, not only does that young rat interfere, but once we actually catch the bird, that creampuff kid ruins that and now I have to go find it. I guess the boss will be dealing with him now-hey!"_

_The grumbler was cut off as Rosalyn hauled him roughly out of the bushes. It was Con, who had been scrounging for a sign of the missing Dynachick. The Boxin lady pushed the fox against a tree and smashed the blade of her Pole-axe by his head. "Where is my son!?" she roared, making it clear that she was not going to be lied to._

_Con froze at this happening. He hadn't expected anything like this, and was not quite certain how to respond in a way that would not result in the loss of his head. "Yo-your son? I can't say I know what you're talking about. I w-was just-"_

_"_ _Do not lie to me, scum!" Rosalyn growled. "You mentioned my son. Now where is he?"_

_"_ _I r-really don't know what you mean." Con was now certain he was going to die. "There haven't been any Boxin children here."_

_Heavy Knight glared at the fox. He spoke next, though he did not come between his wife and the focus of her anger. "The children we are looking for are a young Puffal and mouse. We have heard, from your own admittance, that you mean two youngsters fitting that description harm. I would recommend you tell us where the children have been taken immediately."_

_Con looked up at the four Star Warriors. Each of the men was wielding a large sword, and Lady Rosalyn still had her Pole-axe dangerously close to his head. It was totally obvious that these were all well-trained warriors who had faced and defeated things far more dangerous than a couple of thieves and poachers. He didn't want to risk any of the clearly hostile warriors attacking him, so he spilled the whole story._

_Once the story had been given, Galahad straightened up. "Alright," the purple Puffal stated. "Percival, please get this chick back to the base and with her mother. That'll be the best place for them at this time. Heavy Knight, Rosalyn, and I will go retrieve the children. I have no doubt that the three of us are enough to deal with a few bandits."_

_Percival nodded and picked up the little chick. "Got it. See you when you return." With that, he turned and headed back to the base._

_"_ _Now," Galahad picked up the fox. "You are going to lead us to where the children were taken. Make no mistake; you will not lead us astray. If you do, then the good lady here will be allowed to finish what she started."_

_Con glanced over at the still enraged Rosalyn. He gulped anxiously. "Y-yes sir. Whatever you say, sir."_

_Spynum glared at the young mouse that was now tied up in the corner. Gonfflen had awoken shortly after being brought back to the base, and had proved to be just as difficult to restrain as before. It had taken a good fifteen minutes for the poacher to keep the youngster down, and even then he had not escaped without being bitten several times._

_In return, the child glared right back without any problem. Gonfflen made no bones about it that he did not fear his captors, and that they were going to be in for it when rescue came._

_The sound of someone coming up pulled Spynum away from the rather heated stare-off. It was Pon, who was carrying a madly struggling bag behind him. "The bird got away, boss," the raccoon dog said as he slung the sack down, "but we got the other kid. Con went to catch the getaway while I brought this one back."_

_"_ _Good. At the very least, there won't be any Star Warrior trouble." Spynum then turned to the sack. "Now about you." He opened the package and pulled a wildly struggling Miracle up by the skin on the back of his head._

_This was too much for the baby Puffal. He had been dragged around, chased, trapped, and frightened for a good portion of the day. He had had enough of this nonsense. "Poyo!" he declared emphatically. "Poy poyo poyo poyo p'yo poyo!" He emphasized the anger in the last part by spitting at Spynum's feet._

_The poacher responded by throwing the little one back in the bag. He went over and grabbed Gonfflen as well, and flung the two of them in a chest, which he then locked. Those two were troublemakers and would need to be dealt with. Not that it would matter much. Once they caught the bird and got off this rinky-dink planet, there would be plenty of slave markets who would be willing to take the duo off his hands._

_He turned when the sound of footsteps sounded nearby. "Ah, Con, you're back." Spynum got up, eager to get a good look at their loot. "You'd better have that bird with you. I want to put as much distance between us and this place as possible."_

_The fox stumbled forwards, as if he had been flung into the tent. It soon became clear that that was exactly what had happened._

_Rosalyn charged forwards first, catching the stunned Spynum by his neck. "What have you done with my son?" she snarled as the other Star Warriors followed her into the makeshift lair._

_"_ _Son?" Spynum stuttered, not eager to meet the eyes of the enraged Star Lady. "I have no idea what you're talking about."_

_"_ _Don't lie to her, boss," Con called over from where he and Pon were being restrained by Heavy Knight and Galahad. "She's crazy and will skin us alive!"_

_Spynum's mouth went dry and his mind raced desperately for something to say. However, someone else spoke up first._

_"_ _Mama!" Miracle squeaked from inside the chest he was imprisoned in._

_In a heartbeat, Rosalyn broke open the lock to the chest, freeing the captive boys within. Her expression changed to extremely soft and maternal the moment she had found the little Puffal. "It's alright, Miracle," she whispered, pulling the little one up into her arms._

_Gonfflen, once released, rushed over to Galahad to explain his and Miracle's parts of the story. Spynum, now released from the chokehold, tried to take the moment to slip out, but was caught by his collar by Heavy Knight._

_"_ _You aren't going anywhere," the Boxin warrior growled. "We already know your little scheme to capture the Dynablade. Now, who was this buyer of yours?"_

_"_ _I don't really know," Spynum said, covering his head. "He only spoke through a representative. The spokesman called himself Jack or Jake or something, but the buyer himself was never named. The spokesman also supplied all our weapons. Honest! Please don't hurt me!"_

_Heavy Knight nodded and cuffed the poacher. "You won't be hurt, but you and your companions are under arrest on the charges of kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment, as well as poaching."_

_The group headed back, prisoners in tow. That was the last time that any young ones were allowed to wander on their own on any planet. They were unaware, however, of what this small adventure portended to._

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"'It has taken a while for Miracle to warm up to Gonfflen, but it seems that they have become good friends,'" Adeleine read aloud as she finished the passage. "'Adventures seem to have that effect on people. Perhaps we are seeing the founding of a new team going on.'"

Ribbon chuckled. "So Kirby's been fighting bad guys long before he came to Pop Star? That makes sense."

"That would be our Kirby for certain," Chuchu added.

Ado had been looking for another passage to restore while the others spoke. She soon came on a very short excerpt and began inking it in, but froze when she finished it. "What!?" she finally declared when he understood what she had just written.

"What is it?" Tiff asked. "What did you find?"

The artist pointed to the passage she had just inked, slack-jawed with shock. Adeleine picked the journal up and read what was written. "The christening day has finally come and gone. Today, our young ones have received their badges and names. The excitement can be felt everywhere, but it seems as if no one is quite as excited as Rosalyn and I are. Today, our young Miracle had taken his first steps to becoming Meta Knight.'"

The whole room became extremely quiet. After what seemed like forever, Lololo spoke. "So that was Meta Knight, not Kirby?"

"I guess everyone had to have a childhood," Lalala said. "Even people like Meta Knight."

"Yeah, but who would have thought he was so different back then," Tuff added.

There was another period of silence, which was only broken by the sound of knocking on the door. Rick jumped up to answer it, and found Meta Knight himself standing outside.

"I have just come to tell the children that it is growing late," the warrior said, as quick and to the point as usual. "I would recommend that they be heading home soon. They don't want their parents to worry, after all."

"Ah, yes, of course," Rick said quickly. "We're just finishing something up here and then I'll make sure their on their way. Thanks for reminding us, Mir-Meta Knight."

The knight looked in curiously for a moment, before turning to go. "Very well. Good evening to you."

Ado sighed as she placed the journal back into her bag. "That was a close one. We'll have to keep this to ourselves. Even Kirby can't find out."

"Why not?" Ribbon asked.

"Remember what Meta Knight did yesterday with that holodeck?" Tuff answered. "If he found out about this, he might burn it or something."

"Tuff's right," Tiff agreed. "This might be our only way of figuring out what's going on, so we'd better keep quiet on this. Kirby can't find out because he can't keep a secret."

Adeleine nodded. "Ado and I will keep restoring, and we'll keep you up to date on the important parts. Until then, this is between us." The group all nodded, and then each turned to head home.

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The dark passage of the dungeon was lit only by a few torches that glowed from the walls. The grim hallways were abandoned by all except the vermin that inhabited the dark region. As such, there were no witnesses to the dark man who strode down it.

Honest John continued his trek down to the lowest realms in the Nightmare Empire. This was where items that would be of value to Nightmare one day were held, ready for use when the time came. Weapons, fossils from strange horrors, and other bizarre things were housed down here, but the crony walked right past them, up to his true intent.

It was a portrait of a Paintrian witch, garbed in a patchwork of blues, purples, and yellows. Her long blue hair flowed out from under the purple witch's hat she wore. A pink scarf was held in place over her face with two golden clasps. A pair of fierce gold eyes peered out from between the hat and scarf.

Honest John stood directly in front of the portrait and brought out a paint brush. In a quick motion, he rammed the brush against the painting. "Drawcia," he called as the brush dissolved into the frame, "come on out."

The painting rippled and flowed in response. After a few moments of the effect, the witch herself emerged from the painting, becoming as real and solid as everything else in the room. "At last!" she declared. "I am free! Free to wreak my revenge!"

She prepared to fly out, but was interrupted by Honest John. "I wouldn't be leaving quite so soon," he said calmly.

Drawcia turned to look at him and laughed. "And who are you who thinks he can tell the great Paintrian Sorceress what she can and cannot do?"

He flashed a slick grin as he held out his hand. "My name is Honest John. I am a representative of Nightmare, the Emperor of Terrors. And," he added quickly, "your new master."

The witch laughed once more at this comment. "I have no master," she declared. "You can tell this Nightmare that I am not some slave who will come at his every beck and call."

The crony just shrugged. "As you wish. Nightmare is in control of this portrait, so I guess you'll just have to finish out your sentence for the Calligra issue. How long were you supposed to spend in there? Oh, that's right." He gave a cruel grin. "Eternity."

That caught Drawcia's attention. She was well aware that whoever controlled that portrait could imprison her at will. She had no desire to be pulled back into her canvas prison. "Fine," she said after a few moments. "What does Lord Nightmare want with me?"

Immediately, the representative switched back into business mode. "I'm so glad you asked. As it is, there is a little pest that has been bothering the master, and he has come up with a way to rid himself of this pest once and for all." He quickly handed the witch a set of papers with multiple formulas written on them. "So, what do you think?"

Drawcia raised an eyebrow. "I can do this, but not alone. It will require a lot of paint magic, and that's even if Nightmare plans on aiding in the spell."

"Already handled!" Honest John added. "We have agents of ours searching for your sister as we speak. Once she is found, then the great plan can be put into action. Until then, we have another job for you to handle. Do you think you could use your special abilities to make these?"

He handed her another sheet, and she frowned at what was portrayed. "You insult me," she stated curtly. "I could make these in my sleep."

"Good. Just do as the master orders, and all will be well." He turned to go, but quickly turned around. "Oh, I nearly forgot. To insure loyalty, Lord Nightmare has included one promise to sweeten the deal."

Drawcia scowled. "What could he have that would be of any interest to me?"

"Oh, nothing that he has now, but he knows where what you desire most is."

The witch jumped up in surprise. "What! They were destroyed before I ended up in that accursed painting!"

"Quite the contrary," the middleman said. "The only problem is, they currently are in the possession of some of the allies of this particular pest. So, the deal is, help Nightmare with his creampuff problem, and what you want is all yours. So, do we have a deal?" He held out his hand.

Drawcia gave a sly grin. "Your master drives a hard bargain, but I accept." She took the crony's hand and shook.

Nightmare immediately saw it when the deal was made, as a new black chess piece in the shape of Drawcia materialized on his chess board. He grinned darkly, knowing he had gained a powerful servant that he could use against his enemies. That wretched Puffal would not have an easy time escaping the wrath of NME.

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Meta Knight stood by the river that flowed by the forest, deep in his own thought. He was considering everything that had gone on over the last few days, and was trying to come up with some solution to the problems that were arising. As he was deep in thought, something popped up, startling the warrior from his contemplations.

"Kaabii found it!" Kirby happily declared as he bounced out of the water. "Kaabii win!"

Meta Knight steadied himself, as he had been shocked by his apprentice's sudden appearance. "Kirby! What on Pop Star were you doing in there!?"

The little one had been unaware of his mentor's presence until that moment. However, the sudden revelation did not shake the excited youngster, who happily brandished the small ornament. "Kaabii found it, so Kaabii win game!" he repeated happily.

The older warrior sighed as he began drying the little one off. "Kirby, you are aware you are not supposed to go near the river alone. What do you think you were doing?"

"Dedededededede said goo' game," Kirby answered. "He say Kaabii go get thing, then Kaabii win."

So this was Dedede's fault. He should have expected this. Once more, Meta Knight sighed. "Kirby, in the future, if Dedede tells you to do something, you come and ask me first, alright?"

The pink Puffal nodded. "A'ight. Kaabii ask Medikni fi'st, poyo."

The Star Warrior shook his head in dismay. He was going to have to have a word with that Pengu when they got back. "Alright, let's go home now." With that, the two headed on their way.

To be continued...


	11. Enter, From the Shadows, Part One

Bright sunlight illuminated the streets of Cappy Town. All around, a bustling but unhurried feeling pervaded over the little town. It had been about a week and a half since the odd monster's attack, and there had yet to be any other sort of disturbance to shake up the peaceful life of the inhabitants.

At shop stands, Cappies chatted on in small talk about the happenings of town and its surrounding areas. The uncovered Star Warrior ship still held some interest, but there really wasn't much information that was forthcoming; as a result, this was usually only glanced over. A little over a week ago, Dedede had really gotten into trouble with Meta Knight about some mean prank the Pengu had played on Kirby. This brought a laugh to the townsfolk, who were always amused to hear that the bigheaded Dedede got a cut to his ego.

All this simple chatter held no interest to Kirby. The little Puffal, following closely behind his friends, glanced around at the vibrant but relaxed scenes of his home town. The small collection of children was headed to the mail office, as Tiff was expecting a package sometime soon. Kirby liked the place well enough, but the good weather and bright skies called out more for the young one to go play out in the fields near the woods, not stand in line in the post office waiting for a delivery. Furthermore, Kirby wasn't the only one feeling the call of the fields.

"Come on, guys," Ribbon called out. "We have to check the post office for a package for Tiff. This'll be the last stop, and then we'll be able to go out and play."

"Do you know what she ordered," Lololo asked. Truth be told, the collection of items that the children had been searching for seemed rather odd, even for them. They hadn't mentioned it before, but the curiosity was growing.

Ribbon shrugged. "Just something that has to do with a project she's working on. She didn't seem to want to talk about it, so I thought it would be impolite to ask."

While they had been talking, the line had moved forwards so that the kids were now standing in front of the mail counter. Mr. Melman, the local mail man, greeted the children brightly as they approached. "Well, good morning, kids. Is there anything I can do for you?"

"I was just wondering if you have a package for us," Ribbon answered.

"Let me take a look." The old Cappy wandered to the back shelves, examining the multiple parcels and envelopes that cluttered its surface. "Well, I don't see anything that is meant for you kids, but there is something here for the palace." He walked out, carrying a crudely wrapped bundle. It was an orb covered in layer after layer of brown paper and tape, as if it had been wrapped by a hyperactive toddler. On it was a tag labeled "To Wadaldee, at teh place" in messy scrawl.

"I couldn't figure out for the life of me what this meant at first because of the handwriting," Melman said as he set the package on the counter, "but I assume it is meant to go to a Waddle Dee at the Palace."

"That must be Bandana Dee," Lalala said as she picked up the odd delivery. "He's the only Waddle Dee that I can think of who would order anything. The rest don't seem to do anything other than take orders. We'll be certain to get it to him."

"I thank you kindly," the old mailman said. "Goodbye, and have a nice day."

The children returned the wish and headed out.

As soon as they were outside, the twins eagerly rushed ahead. "Alright, now we can go play! Let's go to the brook!" Lololo called out excitedly, his sister close behind.

"Poyo, wai' up!" Kirby called out. He sprinted to catch up to the duo.

Ribbon shook her head as she watched the others run off. She would move a bit slower. The others would still be there when she made it, and they would likely be worn out by time she arrived, anyway.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

_The darkness that surrounded the area was so thick you could almost feel it. Meta Knight was at an advantage in that his blue eyes gave off a bright glow that he could follow. His four companions, however, required something more to pierce through the inky atmosphere._

_"_ _Well, you have to admit," Daroach said, adjusting the brown cloak he wore to allow for more arm movement, "if old Nightmare's going to be choosing a place to hang around, this would seem to be it." The mouse was directly behind Meta Knight, and the Puffal could hear in his voice that he was trying to lighten the tension. "I wonder how he found this location. 'Better Homes and Dungeons,' perhaps?"_

_"_ _Will you be quiet!?" Yamikage snapped from the front. He was leading the Four Forces through the darkened maze. "We are coming up on a meeting between Nightmare and a collection of his most trusted lieutenants and yet you are still cracking jokes. Do you ever shut up?"_

_"_ _You don't know Daroach," Jecra laughed. "If he was caught in heart of the Nightmare Empire, he'd make an attempt at a heckling contest with his captors."_

_"_ _I'd win, too." The mouse lifted the Triple Star a little higher to allow the light to shine a little farther ahead. "Those monsters that old horn-head employs have no creativity whatsoever."_

_Garlude, who had been right behind Yamikage, smirked. "Yes, because it is so disappointing when the creature about to claw your head off can't match you in wits."_

_Meta Knight laughed quietly before adding, "I know I would prefer to be destroyed by a witty creature than by an idiot."_

_"_ _Will any of you take this seriously?" the ninja snapped. "This is a life or death situation!"_

_"_ _Believe it or not, we are taking this seriously," Garlude said calmly. "Everyone has their own way of hyping themselves up for a face off. You're just seeing ours."_

_Yamikage shook his head. "How the four of you got to be respected Star Warriors I'll never understand. Come, we are almost there."_

_The five came out into a wide, open area. Everything was still shrouded in the inky darkness. However, everything was empty. There wasn't a sign of the enemy anywhere._

_"_ _What's going on," Jecra asked, turning to the ninja. "I thought you said there was something big about to go down here."_

_"_ _Oh, but there is," a cold, dark voice said from behind. The warriors spun around, but it was already too late. Nightmare materialized, as if from thin air and snatched up Jecra and Garlude. The two warriors fought valiantly, but the Emperor of Darkness was using his most effective attack. No warrior was ever known to have survived an Extinguishing. In a moment, the couple was dead._

_Meta Knight and Daroach had initially been stunned by the shock of the appearance. However, the sight of the bodies of their friends snapped them out of it immediately. They rushed forwards, charging at Nightmare, but where blocked by a swarm of monsters that just seemed to appear out of nowhere. The Puffal and mouse fought fiercely, but they were sorely outnumbered._

_"_ _Yamikage, we're struggling here!" Meta Knight called out. "Do something!"_

_"_ _Oh, I am," the ninja said quietly. He pulled out a small device of his own and flung it full force at the turned back of Meta Knight._

_Daroach saw what was happening first, however. "Meta, watch out!" he called out, before rushing forwards to help his friend. As a result, the device hit him full in the forehead, piecing his mask through, instead of its intended target._

_"_ _No!" The Puffal warrior spun around, cutting down several monsters with Galaxia in the process, before arriving at the mouse's side. It had only been a stunning device, but it was known to have multiple side effects, especially when it hit the head. Meta Knight quickly tore it and his friend's mask off and began shaking his team mate. "Come on, Daroach! Speak to me!"_

_The mouse's eyes shot open and he staggered to his feet. However, before either could say anything, they were attacked again. Meta Knight was forced to deal with a large armadillo-like creature while a mechanical monstrosity pulled Daroach within itself. The last thing the Puffal saw of his friend was him brandishing the Triple Star, before the creature exploded, with the mouse still in it._

_Everything became a blur as Nightmare's cruel laughter echoed over everything…_

"Sir Meta Knight! Sir, are you alright?" Meta Knight's eyes flashed open when he heard the call. He was sitting in a chair in his room, and Sword and Blade were standing nearby. It would have been invisible to anyone else, but the warrior knew his knaves well enough to see the clear concern they had.

"We were passing by when we heard you call out," Sword continued. "Are you alright, Sir?"

The veteran sighed. He'd been having another flashback. "I am fine. I was just…remembering. That is all."

The two knaves looked at each other, still worried. They knew their master had suffered much in the previous war, but they also knew there would be no way they would be able to get him to talk about it. All they would be able to do was take his word for it that he was alright, though they wished there was more they could do to help.

The Puffal shook his head, dispelling the few vapors of the memory that still clung to him. He had no desire to discuss what had happened, and quickly changed the subject. "Have you two done as I asked?"

Sword saluted quickly, remembering what he and his companion had been doing. "We entered the wreck of the _Excalibur_ and erased all of the files within. Nothing remains, sir. Just as you asked."

"Good. Well done," the knight said, nodding in approval. "The information that was housed in that ship was classified at the highest level. Had it fallen into the wrong hands, lives could have been put in danger. However, now the computers will be useless to anyone who might be poking around for the wrong reasons."

The duo nodded respectfully. Quite frankly, they had no idea of what was going on. They certainly didn't know what information had been on the ship that Meta Knight had been so eager to keep quiet. However, they trusted their leader with their lives, and if he said it was in the greater good that the info remains a secret, even from them, than it would remain a secret.

Meta Knight smiled, glad that his servants had followed his orders without any question. "I have no duty for you to perform at this moment. You are free to spend your time as you wish, but be prepared in case something arises."

"Yes, sir." The two saluted one last time before turning to go. As they left, Blade whispered to Sword, "He seemed much panicked by what he was 'remembering.' I hope he's alright."

"Lord Meta Knight can take care of himself," Sword said, trying to do his best to quell his brother's anxiety. However, he had to add, "I do hope he does, though. Sometimes I have to wonder if he's concerned about himself at all."

Despite their attempts at keeping their voices down, Meta Knight had overheard the quick conversation. He knew he worried his followers with his work habits, and wished that he could do something to get them to relax about his well-being. However, he knew that ultimately his own wants, and even needs, came after what was needed to protect the innocent. In the great scheme of things, he came last. He hoped that one day his followers would realize this.

However, right now, there was no urgent issue calling the knight into action. As such, it would probably be best for him to find some sort of relaxing activity. He walked out of his room and headed down to a small storage room near the training grounds. This was a small make-shift library that housed his collection of books, which were mostly novels, but also held a few history books and some on ancient lore. After quietly shutting the door behind himself, he selected a book, a collection of just-so stories from Ripple Star, and leaned back against the wall. Hopefully, he would actually be able to rest on his time off now.

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"Good morning, Ribbon." The little fairy, hearing her name called out, turned around to see who had called out to her. It was Shiro, Nago's wife, standing outside her house, waving for the young one to come over.

The fairy flew over and set the package down nearby before landing. Once she had done so, she promptly curtsied. "Good morning, Mrs. Shiro. How are you doing today?"

The cat lady smiled. "Very well, thank you. Would you like to come in?" Unlike her husband, Shiro was a very outgoing and friendly person, and meetings like this one were very common with her. It was considered a mystery on how two so very different people ended up married, but she and Nago were, and somehow happily so.

"No, thank you, ma'am," Ribbon said. "I was just going to join Kirby, Lololo, and Lalala at the brook. If I take too long, then they'll wonder where I am. Thank you for the invitation, though."

"Well, if you can't stay, at least bring this." Shiro leaned out and handed a box to Ribbon. Within it lay a Strawberry Shortcake. "I made some earlier this morning, and I know how much you kids enjoy it. Especially young Kirby. Be certain to split it evenly among yourselves."

Ribbon giggled, thinking of the delighted look the little pink puffball always got when the treat was offered to him. "Thank you, Mrs. Shiro. We'll be certain to." She placed the odd package on top of the cake box before turning to wave. "Goodbye, and have a nice day."

"You too, young lady," Shiro said, before turning to go back into the house.

The brook was not too far away, and it didn't take long to get there. Just as she expected, Kirby and the twins were resting on the bankside, worn out from the mad dash they had made to get to the waterside. It was on a hilltop near the town, and from it the castle was viewable.

Lalala was the first to notice her arrival. "Hey, Ribbon, we're over here!" she called out, motioning to the other girl.

They fairy flew over and settled down between Kirby and Lalala. "Hey, guys. What are you doing?"

"Nothing much," Lololo answered. "Just watching the fish. Kirby tried to catch some a couple of times, but they always got away."

"Poyo," Kirby said with a shrug. He then noticed the extra box that Ribbon had brought with her. "'Notha box?" he asked curiously. "Got Tiff's thing?"

"No, Mrs. Shiro gave this to us," she responded. "It's a Strawberry Shortcake. I thought we could have it as a snack before we head back to the palace."

Kirby's eyes went wide with delight when he heard the words Strawberry Shortcake. This was one of his many favorite treats, and he couldn't wait to dig in. No less than four times that day he was caught poking around the tantalizing box. No less than four times was he calmly asked to wait and that the time for cake would come if he was just be patient.

Finally, the time came. The quartet, now ready to finish up and head back, settled down to enjoy their treat. However, much to their dismay, they were interrupted.

"Hey, Lololo, Lalala, there you two are." The kids looked up to see Waddle Doo, the captain of the Waddle Dees, running up the hill. "King Dedede requires your presence."

"King Dedede?" Lololo murmured. "I wonder what he wants." He turned apologetically to Ribbon and Kirby as he and his sister got up to respond. "Sorry guys. We'll move as fast as we can and get back soon."

"Alright then," the fairy said. "Good luck."

"With Dedede, we're going to need it," Lalala laughed.

"Bye!" Kirby called out to the duo as they left. Once they were gone, he turned back to the cake. However, before he could touch it, it was quickly snatched away.

"Kirby!" Ribbon scolded. "I'm surprised at you. We're going to wait for them to get back, and then we'll have cake."

The Puffal slumped over. "Sowwy," he said quietly. He was remorseful, but also frustrated. He had waited for so long for a piece of cake, and now they were going to have to wait even longer. All this waiting was making him hungry.

Seeing her friend's frustration, Ribbon patted him on the head. "Don't worry. They'll get back soon, and then we'll all have some," she said comfortingly. "Beside, wouldn't you want them to wait for you if you had to go somewhere?"

Kirby sighed but nodded. "Poyo, yes." He rolled over so that he was laying on his back, looking up at the clouds. He enjoyed cloud gazing a lot, and usually it helped to get his mind off his problems. However, right now, all it was doing was reminding him of whipped cream.

Suddenly, all thoughts of anything was cut off as a loud beeping came from nearby. Kirby and Ribbon turned to the source of the noise, which proved to be the package addressed to the Waddle Dee.

"What the heck," the fairy mumbled as she and her companion crept forwards to examine the beeping parcel. They had gotten very close when began growing. It had started out about half the size of Kirby, but when it had finally burst from its paper, it was about twice his size.

Now freed from its wrapping, the package stopped beeping. It was still a large orb, composed of rather dingy metal. A screen popped out of it, and the duo was greeted by the face of cat-like creature wearing a black outfit.

"Is this thing on?" the cat asked, looking away from the camera.

"It's on, and we're recording," someone off the screen answered.

"We are? Oh, cool," the cat said, and he turned back to the camera. "Welcome, you lucky Waddle Dee. My name is Tac, and I am here to inform you that you have been selected to join my band, the infamous Devious Order of Felons United Sinisterly! We have sent you this orb to let you know of you acceptance into this very prestigious band, and to let you know that we will be seeing you very soon!"

Kirby and Ribbon looked at each other with confused glances, unable to truly process what they had just seen. However, the strange orb was not finished. It opened up, and shot out a net. The net shot between the two friends and hooked up the Strawberry Shortcake, which it then pulled inside the orb and locked up tight.

This was too much for poor little Kirby. He had waited patiently for his cake, and he was not about to allow some weird cat-guy to just steal it away. He lunged at the orb and began kicking it wildly and climbing on it to try to kick it open. "Poyo p'yo bad thingy!" he yelled out angrily. "Poyo give t'e cake back now, poyo!"

While he was pummeling the orb, something else flew up. Ribbon looked up and realized it was a blue jet-like creature with a jetpack. He shot out a magnet, which was aimed directly at the orb.

Quickly, the fairy realized its purpose. "Kirby, quick," she called out. "You need to get off!"

However, she was too late. The magnet had caught its target, and had pinned the little Puffal beneath its arch. Once it was hooked, the jet started to fly off with it, Kirby and all.

"Just hang on!" she called out, desperately hoping her friend could hear her. "I'll go get help!" She quickly gathered the remains of the paper that the orb had been wrapped in and flew as fast as she could, hoping she could get help in time.

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Kirby had heard what had been called out to him, but he was too frightened to respond. He struggled against the constricting object, but it held him firm against the metal container. Additionally, as the jet-creature pulled the cargo up into the air, it became far too high for Kirby to be able to get off without falling himself. Unable to do anything else, the little one closed his eyes tight and desperately wished for this misadventure to end soon.

Unfortunately for him, the jet-creature seemed to have no intent on landing any time soon. Minutes turned to hours, and felt like days for the unintentional captive, and still they were in the air. Every now and then, the squire would venture to look to see where they were. However, every time, the only answer that meant anything to him was high up, so he would squeeze his eyes closed once more.

Finally, after what seemed to the little one to be nearly weeks' worth of flying, he realized they were coming closer to the ground. He submitted to curiosity one last time and was amazed by what he saw. The entire scene was easy to seen, even though it was twilight, and at first he couldn't place what it might be. After a while, it hit him. It was a large city, something he had heard of but had never seen.

This amazed the young boy. He had lived in Cappy Town, which despite the castle was a rather small village, for as long as he could remember. He supposed he lived somewhere similar before then, even though he couldn't remember exactly where. Despite having had some adventures off of the planet, Kirby couldn't remember a time when he had been anywhere else in Dreamland other than the little town and its surrounding areas. As such this city was new and amazing.

Large buildings, some big enough to even dwarf the castle, stood everywhere. Bright lights had recently been turned on to illuminate everything in the area. Creatures moved here and there all over the place, going about business even in the twilight hours of the day. There were a couple of creatures here and there that Kirby could recognize, like a few Cappies finishing their shopping , but they were mostly beings that were as new and interesting as the city itself. Indeed, it was almost too overwhelming for the youngster, who for a few moments forgot the terrifying circumstances that had brought him there.

He snapped out of his amazed viewing when he realized that they were coming in for a landing. They flew past the brighter parts of the city, instead coming in nearer and nearer to a barely lit sector. This part of the city seemed not to be as well kept as the shinier area that the little one had seen on coming in. The buildings here, while still large, were more or less falling into disarray. Several street lamps provided the only sources of illumination, and none of the building let off light enough to see any more than dim figures within.

It was to one such building, an old warehouse, where they descended. A hatch in the top of the building opened, allowing the jet-creature to lower the package and its unwilling passenger inside. Once everything was inside, the hatch shut, and the little light offered by the setting sun was immediately cut off.

Kirby stayed utterly quiet, waiting for the creature to do something with him. However, much to the little one's surprise, his captor didn't even seem to acknowledge his presence. Instead, it dragged the orb, still stuck to the magnet, behind him into a different room. This meant that the young Puffal was in the annoying predicament that he was facing away from where they were going and could only guess what awaited him. He didn't have to wait long however.

"It's about time you got back, J2," a rather shrill voice said in a scolding tone. "We've all been waiting ages for the new recruit, and you know how the boss gets when he's kept waiting."

"Well, excuse me, Smirror," the jet responded, clearly annoyed with the first speaker. "Next time someone has to go all the way to some back-water little town to retrieve Tac's latest pet project, I'd like to see you volunteer for the job."

Another speaker, this time a man with a rather over-the-top accent spoke up. "Come, yon two," he said, as if trying and failing to sound dramatic and inspiring. "Let us not squabble over small differences! Certainly a few moment of waiting will be worth it for the appointing of a new member who will certainly advance our order into being one of the most feared bands in all of Tiramisu City!"

"It's just a Waddle Dee, Sir Kibble," a new voice muttered quietly. "If what I heard is right, these guys aren't worth their weight in scrap."

"You doubt our great leader's grand vision?" Sir Kibble responded, as if in shock. "Why, Biospark, you should recheck your allegiance! Besides, all great bands have included one of these creatures into their membership."

"Oh, really," Biospark responded. "How about the Red Thief Lord's band?"

This caught the other off-guard. "Well," he said, trying to regain his footing in the argument, " _most_ great bands, then. Certainly, if Tac's grand vision for things is true, than-"

"Oh, forget about it," Biospark snapped. He sounded annoyed and eager to finish this conversation.

Before anything else could be said, the sound of a door being thrown open signaled that others had come into the room. "Ah, the D. double-O. F. U. S. is all gathered together!" a voice, which Kirby recognized as the cat from the video, announced. "I am so pleased to see we all came together to witness to first step to our rise in greatness. Now let's-wait, what's that pink thing?"

Kirby knew now that he had been spotted, and felt as the magnet was released, causing him to fall from his previous prison. Once off the orb, he turned around and stood tall, facing his captors.

There were multiple creatures in the room. The cat, Tac, stood as if presiding over a meeting. Beside him was a broken looking robot with a yo-yo hanging limply off of its outstretched hand. Nearby, the blue jet-creature was standing between what looked like a red-clad witch and a golden-armored knight. In the corner, what appeared to be a ninja stood in the background, only visible because of the light coming off the fiery headdress of a blue creature standing near him, whispering something to someone in purple who was dressed similarly to the gold-armored creature.

The cat stared at the little Puffal in annoyance. "What!" he declared in frustration. "A Batamon! I didn't want a Batamon!"

"I not bat'mon," the young one said, trying to be polite. He didn't trust these people, but maybe if he was polite, they might at least let him go back home. "I Kaabii. Please give cake back."

The group, however, completely ignored his request. "I don't think that's a Batamon, sir," the creature in the headdress said. She walked over to examine Kirby, but still spoke like the little one wasn't there. "It's too big to be a Batamon, and the eyes are the wrong color."

"I don't care what it is!" Tac snapped. "I care that it's not a Waddle Dee! I wanted a Waddle Dee!"

"You haven't even looked inside the trap yet, sir," the ninja, who by the sound of his voice was Biospark, pointed out. "Don't you remember how the trap is supposed to work?"

"Of course I remember!" The cat looked rather flustered. "I'm just waiting for the right time, and it's not right now." He turned now to Kirby. "You, Tubby. What were you doing on there?"

The cat was starting to get on the young one's nerves, but he did his best to restrain it. "My name not Tubby," he corrected. "It Kaabii. I wa' on t'e t'ing dere 'cause it got t'e Stwa'bee S'ortcake. I can have cake back now, pwease?"

Once again, Tac completely ignored what Kirby had said in favor of turning to the others, much to the little Star Warrior's frustration. "It's impossible!" he declared. "It speaks some sort of indecipherable code!"

The golden armored person, who by voice was Sir Kibble, offered a solution. "Perhaps it does not understand the severity of the situation, sir. Mayhap it will cooperate with us if it understood who we were."

"If it couldn't understand us before, why would telling it who we are change anything," Biospark muttered under his breath, but nobody listened to him.

"That is a great idea," Tac stated. He held up a hand dramatically as he turned to the young one. "You are probably too ignorant to know about us, so I will tell you. I am Tac, the grand leader of this band. With me are my followers, Gim, Sir Kibble, Capsule J2, Smirror, Burning Lea, Lanzor, and Biospark. Together we form the Devious Order of Felons United Sinisterly, or the D. double-O.F.U.S., for short! We are one of the most feared bandit groups in this city, and you are currently being held captive by us. Now, answer my question from before or else we will have to take more extreme measures."

Kirby stared up, processing what he had just heard. He knew what the words "devious," "felons," and "sinister" meant. Putting the pieces together, he looked up in shock and anger. "Bad guys!" he declared after the thoughts formed his realization.

"Well, I guess if you're thinking from a standpoint of the law, we are-oof!" Tac started, but was cut off by a sharp kick to his stomach.

Now that he knew what he was dealing with, Kirby knew what he had to do. He rushed forwards, trying to escape to find a way back home. The little one dashed to the door, but found himself blocked by Lanzor and J2. Looking around for another opportunity, he spotted the yo-yo dangling off the robot's hand and quickly inhaled it.

In a flash, the youngster transformed. He now had a purple and yellow hat, which he wore backwards, and was armed with a bright red and yellow yo-yo. This he swung at Lanzor, who was quickly caught in its string. He then knocked J2 aside with Lanzor, freeing the door. Without a second thought, he fled out.

"Catch him!" Tac yelled, infuriated that he had been interrupted and kicked. "Catch that little thing right now! All of you!"

"Sir," Biospark said calmly, "it would be better if just one of us used a simple sack and-"

"No!" Tac sneered, continuing to point after the fleeing Kirby. "All of you after him now!"

He heard as the rest of the bandits rushed to capture him. Every now and then, the bandits would get close enough to almost catch him, but were greeted only by a hard blow to the face with the plastic toy. None of them were good enough fighters to face the Star Warrior squire when he had a copy ability, and occasionally ended up helping him by getting in each other's way. The young Puffal couldn't help but laugh at their rather pitiful attempts at retaking him.

Finally, he spotted to door to the outside. He was almost there. Once he made it outside, he'd have the whole city to hide in, and he could start working on a way to get back home. He was almost free!

Suddenly, everything went dark. Kirby struggled, swinging his yo-yo desperately at what was holding him fast. After a few moments of futile attempts, he realized he was in a burlap sack, and that the yo-yo would be useless for escape. The cloth was thick and rough and had been tied off at the top. He was trapped.

"Well, what did I say?" Biospark said with a smug tone when the other bandits had finally caught up. "Just a simple sack and he's all ours."

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Ribbon's heart pounded as she raced from the meadow where the accidental abduction had occurred back to the palace. Her mind worked to try to figure out a way to explain just what had happened, but the problem was that she was not completely certain if she herself could figure it out. She was so concentrated on that problem that she almost didn't notice when she collided with someone else only a few feet away from the palace gate.

After a stunned moment, she looked up and realized that the other individual was Bandana Dee. "Oh," the Waddle Dee groaned as he got up. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to get in your way."

"Don't worry," she said hurriedly as she dusted off her dress and gathered up the paper once more. "I'm fine. Now, do you know where Meta Knight is? I'm afraid Kirby's in some trouble."

The Waddle leaned on a parasol he had taken to carrying until his arm was fully healed. "Can't say I have. You know Meta Knight, always tends to keep to himself. You never can tell-wait, did you say trouble?"

Ribbon nodded. "Yeah, and I need to get help as soon as possible. Thanks anyways!" With that, she dashed off, leaving a very confused Bandana in her wake.

She rushed through room after room of the large building, looking for anything that might point to where the knight was spending his afternoon. However, just as Bandana had pointed out, Meta Knight was extremely difficult to find, especially when he had specifically decided that he didn't want to be found.

After what seemed like hours of this (though it was closer to about ten minutes), Ribbon was at her wits end. She had looked in his room, in the Ebrums' living quarters, the throne room, and just about every other nook and cranny that she could think of. However, the knight was nowhere to be seen. Was in the training grounds, and much to her disappointment, he wasn't there either. She slumped to the ground, desperately trying to come up with any idea as to where the Star Warrior might be.

She was busy racking her brain when she heard someone call out to her. "Hey, Ribbon! What are you doing here? Where's Kirby?" The fairy looked up and realized that it was Lololo and Lalala. The twins were currently carrying several bags from Kawasaki's, obviously for Dedede.

"Is everything alright?" Lalala asked again, concern clear in her voice.

Ribbon hurried to explain everything that had gone down after the twins had left. "Oh, I feel so useless!" she said in frustration once she had finished her story. "I couldn't stop those people from taking Kirby, and now I can't even find any help."

"Hey, you did all you could," Lololo comforted after he set his bags down. "Meta Knight's got to be around here somewhere. Now Lalala and I can help you look for him."

"There is no need for that," a calm voice said behind them. "I heard everything." They all turned to see the Star Warrior himself, who seemed to have materialized out of thin air.

In reality, Meta Knight had still been in his library when he overheard the conversation happening right outside. Once he heard mention of the trouble that his young squire was in, he had slipped out, noiseless as usual.

"Now, Ribbon, do you have anything that was attached to the device?" he asked, continuing into the investigation. "A small part or a tag, perhaps?"

"Yes, I have the paper it was wrapped in right here," she said as she took the crumpled ball out of her pocket and handed it to him.

The knight took it and examined it for a moment. It wasn't much, just a scrap of dirty brown paper with a messily written tag hanging off of it.

However, the tag itself was the giveaway. It was a small business card with the address scrawled on the back. The card itself belonged to Market Corners, an old company that used to hold a lot business in the larger cities in Dreamland. However, it had recently closed down, and many of their factories and warehouses were abandoned. The nearest location of one of their centers was Tiramisu City.

"I believe I know where he is," the warrior said after a moment of quiet. "Sword, Blade, and I will go to bring Kirby back."

"Yes!" Lololo declared. "We're off to get Kirby back!"

"No, I am to get him back," Meta Knight said quietly. "The taking of Kirby might have been a mistake, but these people were attempting to kidnap a Waddle Dee. They might be dangerous, and thus only Sword and Blade will be accompanying me."

"But we just want to help in finding him," Ribbon said, but it didn't seem like her plea made any impact.

Meta Knight turned leave. "There is a transportation service nearby that we will be taking for the trip. Hopefully it can take us there and back before anyone notices we are missing. Please, do not tell anyone of what has happened," he said before his exit. "We will not require any more assistance at the moment, and I do not wish to worry anyone." The kids reluctantly promised they wouldn't, and the warrior turned to go find his followers.

Once they were alone again, Ribbon leaned against the wall. "There's still nothing we can do to help," the fairy sighed.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," Lololo said, motioning for the two girls to come closer.

"What do you mean?" Lalala asked. She knew her twin well enough to know he had something in mind.

"I've got an idea, but we're going to have to be quick about it." He detailed out his idea to the other two, who agreed to the plan. The three then rushed off to fulfill the idea.

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The group of bandits moved quickly as they could through the streets of Tiramisu City. "Well," Tac said, shrugging off the fact that his plan had failed completely, "we might not have gotten a Waddle Dee, but at least that cake was good."

Kirby, still trapped within the sack and now rolled up in an old carpet, struggled angrily from within his prison. How dare these thugs treat him this way! They had taken him from his home (albeit accidentally), thrown him in a sack, and now they admitted to eating the cake! "Poyo, le' me go!" he yelled out angrily, though his cries were muffled by the multiple layers of his prison. "Poy you poyo meanies!" He thrashed hard enough to make the carpet he was caught in to wiggle furiously.

"Quit squirming, you brat!" Lanzor scowled, prodding the bundle with his trident. "Boss, what are we going to do with this kid? He's trouble enough as it is."

"We're going to take him to the riverfront Labyrinth and leave him there," Tac said, moving the bundle to his other shoulder to accommodate for the youngster's struggling. The Labyrinth was an area of the city that was so full of factories and warehouses that all looked so much the same that it was really easy to get lost. "That place is so big and mixed up he won't be able to find his way out and we'll be free of the troublemaker."

Biospark looked around nervously at their surroundings. The buildings, while still rather poor looking, were no longer the dingy dilapidated structures they had been before. "Um, sir," he said after a moment's quiet, "you do realize where we are right?"

"What do you mean?" Tac asked, annoyed with the question.

"This is _their_ territory," the ninja answered.

"Oh, yes, I knew that," Tac said quickly. In reality, he hadn't noticed where they were until that very moment, but he did not desire to lose face in front of the others. "This is the fastest way to the Labyrinth. Besides, they're not likely to catch us here. You know how he prefers to be off treasure hunting."

"But what if he does, boss?" Burning Lea asked. She had been unnerved by Biospark's caution, and now was glancing at each shadow as if it held a hidden enemy. "You know how he acts when kids get involved."

"He's not going to find us," Tac snapped. "End of discussion."

"But, sir," Biospark argued again, "if they do find out, it could end very badly for us."

That was enough for Tac. "Look, he's not here, and saying his name is not going to summon him! Watch!" The cat began waving his arms furiously through the air. "Hey, Dorocche! Yeah, I'm out here, you rat! You and your little group of wannabe's want to come out and deal with me, huh, Dorocche?! 'Cause I'm right here! Come out, you hear!"

Tac crossed his arms, as if in victory. However, before he could speak, someone else cut him off. "There's no need to yell," a voice, smooth as silk and extremely calm, said with a slight tone of scolding. "I can hear you just fine."

The bandits all froze in shock as a single figure entered from the shadows. It was a tall, grey furred mouse. He was clothed in a red cape and hat. He limped forwards, leaning on gold cane with a red jewel on the top. His limp was caused by the fact that his right footpaw was rather deformed, though this didn't seem to hinder him in any way other than the limp. He smiled genteelly as faced the kidnappers. "Now, for what purpose have you called on me, my friends?"

To be continued…


	12. Enter, From the Shadows, Part Two

"Ah, Dorocche," Tac stuttered, realizing the position he had just put himself in. "Fancy meeting you here. Well, me and the guys were just taking an evening walk, so we'll just be on our way." The cat attempted to dash off, but was promptly blocked by two other mice, a yellow one in a red scarf and sunglasses and large grey one with an eye patch.

"Seems a bit late for a stroll, boss," the yellow one said, playfully tossing the end her scarf. "You don't think these folks would be lying to us, now would you?"

"I do hope not, Spinni," the first mouse responded. His smile never faded as he spoke. "It would be a real disappointment to find out they were."

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

"Ly-lying?" J2 put in, trying to help out his floundering leader. "Of course we're not lying. We were just going out to-uh-pawn off this rug! Yeah, that's it. Pawn off this rug. Nothing suspicious about taking a rug out to sell. Heh heh."

"He's right," Tac said quickly, shouldering the large roll of carpet. He was not eager to face the band of mice, especially when they were about to deal with a different troublemaker. His mind raced to find any pathway of escape. Unfortunately for the bandit, all paths seemed blocked, so he tried to worm his way out of the situation with his wits. "We were going to the pawn on the other side of the city, so we had better be on our way. You'll understand our rush." He started once again to attempt a move out, but was stopped as Dorocche caught him by the shoulder.

"Indeed," the mouse said, his tone of voice making it clear he wasn't buying it. "I know the very shop you speak of. The owner is a fine, upstanding man. He'll give you a good deal for this carpet. And what a fine, large mat it is!" He motioned, as if taking the time to admire the work. "It is certainly of excellent quality, but far too large and heavy for a single person to carry all the way to the pawn shop by himself. Storo, do be a gent and relieve our dear doofus here of his burden."

The big mouse with the eye patch grinned. "You got it, boss."

"Oh, there's no need for that," the cat laughed, trying to keep the makeshift prison out of reach. However, he was quickly cornered by the mouse in the scarf and the large package was snatched away by her big companion. Once he had snatched away the carpet, Storo proceeded in unrolling it so that its contents were dumped out in the middle of the street.

Dorocche gave a lock of mock injury. "My, my! So you were hiding something from me, Tac. Well, now my feelings are hurt." He shook his head as he casually picked the sack up and began opening it. "Well, now, I do hope you weren't attempting anything illegal, now. It would be a shame to find out such upstanding fellows such as yourselves had fallen to a life of crime."

The members of D.O.O.F.U.S. chuckled nervously. They had no desire to be around when the truth of their plan was discovered. However, between Dorocche and his two companions, any escape seemed impossible.

Said escaped was rendered impossible the moment that the bag was opened. For a brief moment, Dorocche's mocking, sarcastic smile faded. It was replaced a moment later by a more genuine, apologetic smile. "Easy there, young fellow," he said, as he aided a frustrated and disoriented Kirby out of his prison. "It's alright. You are among friends now."

"T'ank yew," the young one said, glad to at least have been found by someone who was not threatening him. The little Puffal wasn't quite certain how to react to this new situation. He had heard the new voices from within the sack, but it had been muffled enough that he couldn't understand what was going on. However, once he caught a glance of his former captors, he remembered everything clearly.

"Poyo, bad people!" he declared, pointing an accusatory paw at them. "T'ey taked Kaabii fa' fa' 'way, and t'en t'ew in a bag, poy poyo, an, an eat t'e cake! T'ey weally bad people!"

The atmosphere turned to ice. Truthfully, the mice hadn't understood much of what little Kirby had said, but they understood enough to get an idea of the severity of what had been happening.

"So," Dorocche began his tone deathly cold and lacking any of his previous playfulness, "you were proceeding in a kidnapping scheme."

"W-well, kidnapping is such a nasty word." Tac tried to sound relaxed, but the swift change of mood had made such a calm impossible. "It was an accident, really, and-and we were just trying to get the kid home, honest."

"Uh-uh," Kirby interrupted. "T'ey said t'ey wa gonna go ta Lab'winth an' leave Kaabii t'ere."

Upon receiving the further information, Dorocche narrowed his eyes. He caught Tac quickly by the collar and hauled him up. "You know how I feel about kidnappers, cat," he scowled darkly. "Understand that the only reason that I do not currently do as I desire is that your intended victim is a young child whose mind does not need to be scarred by the memory. However, if I every catch you doing anything like this again, I might not feel the same way twice. Do I make myself clear?"

Tac quickly nodded. "Yes, sir! Crystal clear, sir!"

"Good." The mouse tossed him away, and turned darkly to the other bandits. "Get back to your own territory. I would not recommend you come back." The thugs quickly nodded and rushed off, not wishing to continue.

Now, Kirby was alone with the three mice. The red clad leader quickly composed himself before turning to the Puffal. "So sorry about that, young fellow. Rogues and ruffians dwell all over, and must be dealt with severely if their antics are to be stopped.

"Now, we haven't been properly introduced." He swiftly took off his hat and bowed politely to the youngster. "My name is Dorocche, treasure hunter extraordinaire. I am also the leader of this band of merry mice, the Squeaks." Here he motioned to his two companions. "These are two of my cohorts, Spinni and Storo."

"Hi," Storo said, giving a friendly grin.

"How ya doing?" Spinni asked.

Kirby grinned brightly. At least these folks were being friendly. "Hiii!" he greeted brightly. "I Kaabii."

"Well, Kirby," Dorocche continued. "I welcome you to Tiramisu City. I hope the circumstance of your arrival does not affect how you view this fair town.

"Now, if I remember correctly, you had previously said that those ruffians took you from your home. My Squeaks and I will certainly do all that is in our power to aid in your return. Now, what town do you call home?"

The young Star Warrior smiled as he though brightly of his home. "I's from Cappy Town! T'ere used 'ta be a house whe'e I lived, but t'en a mean lady knocked it down, so now I live wi' Tiff and Tuff fam'ly. You help Kaabii go ta Cappy Town?" The youngster smiled hopefully.

"Oh, dear," Dorocche looked down, covering his mouth in thought.

"What wrong?" Kirby asked, confused by his new friend's reaction.

"I'm afraid the problem is," Spinni explained while her leader was still in thought, "we've never heard of a Cappy Town."

Kirby's face fell when he heard this. A wave of homesickness hit him hard, and the news that his hometown was unknown in this far off place was disconcerting.

However, Dorocche quickly patted the youngster on the head. "There now, chin up. Just because we haven't heard of Cappy Town before doesn't mean that we can't find it. We have a lot of very smart friends all over this city, and certainly at least one of them will be able to help us out. Until then, you will stay with us, and we will work on finding your home. What do you say?"

The little one wiped at his eyes and gave a bittersweet smile. "'Kay. Soun' goo'."

"We'll have you home before you know it," the mouse said comfortingly. "Now, we had best be getting in. It's quite late." With that, the four headed out.

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It was dark by the time that the small rescue party arrived at the correct neighborhood in Tiramisu city. The areas that held businesses typically were less populated, but they were also typically rather easy to access. It only took a few questioning to discover the particular location that the business card pointed to.

When they were right outside the neighborhood, Meta Knight pulled the vehicle to a stop before stepping out. Sword and Blade followed close in his wake. All three kept as quiet as they could.

Suddenly and without warning, the knight stopped and lifted is hand. He stayed this way for a moment before speaking, "I know you three are there. Please come out now, before we go any farther." There was a slight squeak of surprise and the sound of an attempted muffling of said squeak, but no one emerged. After another moment of waiting, he repeated himself. "You are not fooling anyone. Please come out now."

Hesitantly, Ribbon and the twins crept out of their hiding place. They had followed the trio of warriors from the start, doing their best to keep from anyone's view. They had thought they were doing a good job of keeping out of site, so their sudden reprimand was entirely unexpected.

The Star Warrior's golden eyes were stern and his tone disapproving. "I specifically told you that you weren't coming because this could be dangerous. Why did you not listen to me?"

"Well, sir," Ribbon started, doing her best to come up with a way to explain how they had felt, "we wanted to help find Kirby. He might be in trouble, and if there was anything we could to do to get him out of it, well, we wanted to be able to do it."

The knight sighed and pressed a hand to his forehead. The lack of self-preservation instinct in these young ones never ceased to frustrate him. "You were well intentioned, but not thinking very clearly. Right now, time is of the essence. We must move, and I cannot leave you three here unaided. Stay close and do what I tell you." The trio brightened up for a moment, but Meta Knight wasn't finished. "This conversation, however, is not over. We will discuss the matter further at a more opportune time." With that, he motioned for them to follow him.

They finally stopped when they came to a large, rather dingy old building. Over the main entrance there was a sign marking the building as belonging to Market Corners, Inc. However, all the windows were blacked out, and there wasn't any sign of anyone being inside. The door, however, had been left ajar. The group crept inside to see if any sign of Kirby was still present in the dilapidated place.

Within it was even darker than it had been outside. The building was in complete disarray, but there were markers that there had been people here at one point. "There has been a struggle here," Sword said, pointing out areas when furniture had been broken and the walls showed some damage. "These marks are too recent to be normal wear and tear. Something happened, and within the last couple of hours or so."

Ribbon flew farther into the building, and found a small hatch leading into a basement level room. Suddenly, she gasped. "Kirby was here!" cried out to the others in an urgent tone. "Come down and look!"

The others, hearing her cry, hurried down. She was hovering over an opened metal orb. "That was the thing that was in the package! Whoever took Kirby did bring him here."

Meta Knight nodded. "So our suspects did bring him here. However, he resisted them and they are not here now. We must wait here, for it is likely whoever is responsible for this will return."

He had no farther said this when the sound of a door opening signaled to them that they were no longer alone. He motioned for his companions to remain silent and hidden, before moving towards the opened door. He remained silent himself, wishing to hear whether or not the newcomers would be a threat before attempting a confrontation.

It was only three of the criminals. After their run in with the Squeaks, the members of Tac's little band had scattered for the moment. They had been humiliated and the cat was in no mood to discuss what had happened.

Unfortunately for him, one of his companions wouldn't shut up about it. "Ah! The wretched rogues caught us off guard!" Sir Kibble declared, determined to try to come up with a way to cast the mortifying meeting in a light that did not make it clear that they had been completely disgraced. "Had we been prepared for such a confrontation, why, no force on Pop Star could have stopped us! Nay! Not even the Star Warriors in their heyday would have dared to challenge the Devious Order of Felons United Sinisterly!"

"Give it a rest, tin-head," Simirror muttered. "The Squeaks own that part of the city. There really wasn't anything we could have done once Dorocche and his goons found us." She chuckled bitterly. "Would could have finished the job, too, if only someone had been paying attention to where we were going, Tac. And now on top of it, we have a ticked off Dorocche on our backs!

"I'm sorry, all right! Is that what you want to hear?" Tac snapped. "Fine then! I'm sorry that we walked right into red-zone territory! I'm sorry that I was wrong about the Squeaks being away at the moment! And I'm sorry that Dorocche found out about that kid!"

"What is this about a child?" Once again, the bandits were startled by a voice from behind them. They turned to see Meta Knight emerge from the opened doorway.

"Who the heck are you," Tac asked, displeased at the intrusion, "and what are you doing here?"

"My name is Meta Knight, though I doubt that will mean much to you," the warrior responded coldly. "All that matters is that you answer my question. You mentioned a child a few moments ago. Who was he, and where is he now?"

Tac laughed dryly. "A knight, huh? You don't seem like much of a knight to me? Maybe half of one, though. What make you think that you can make demands of me, huh, shorty?"

From within their hiding place, Sword and Blade fumed. They hated to hear their master insulted and were eager to go out and teach those thugs a lesson in respect. However, the Star Warrior had not given them the signal that it was time for them to reveal themselves, so they had to remain in waiting.

Meta Knight himself, however, seemed to pay no attention to the derogatory remarks. "It is of grave importance that you give an explanation of your comments about a child. One of my students had gone missing, and I have reason to believe that someone in this city is responsible for his disappearance. If you cooperate, I give my word that will be the end of our dealings. However, if you resist, I will be forced to take other matters in finding what I need to know."

Simirror and Sir Kibble joined Tac in laughing at this comment. "Here that, boss? Ol' metal-face here thinks he can threaten us!" the witch mocked. "Isn't that a hoot?"

"A real riot," Tac agreed. The cat was feeling confident against the warrior due to the latter's more diminutive stature and saw this as an opportunity to regain the dignity lost against Dorocche. "Listen here, puffy. This is my territory, see? You can't just come in here and make demands. I don't take too well to being told what to do." He pulled out a knife and pointed it in his opponent's direction. "I might have to teach you a bit of a lesson if you push me too far, ya see?"

"I did not mean any disrespect," Meta Knight explained calmly. His composure did not show it, but his patience with the bandit's cocky attitude was wearing thin. "As I said before, this is a matter of urgency, and full cooperation would be appreciated. I am not looking for a fight."

"Well that's too bad," the cat laughed. He pointed to Simirror and Sir Kibble, who had positioned themselves to either side of Tac, which cut off any route of escape. "'Cause you found one, and it's three on one match. Now, you can give us all you've got, and we might be willing to let you leave in one piece."

"I did not wish to do this, but I must." With that, Meta Knight withdrew Galaxia.

Still inside the basement, the two knaves and the children couldn't see what had happened, but they could hear everything that had been said. Upon hearing the threats made to their master, Sword and Blade attempted to rush up to his aid. Close behind, Ribbon and the Twins followed, not quite certain what they were going to do but wanting to find some way to help.

However, once they emerged from the basement room, they found Meta Knight holding Tac at sword point against one of the post holding the building up, with Smirror and Sir Kibble lying unconscious nearby. "Ah, my friends seem to have arrived," the Star Warrior commented casually once he noticed the newcomers. "It seems that the tables have turned in more than one way. Now, I hope you are feeling more communicative now."

"The kid? You want to know where the kid is, huh?" Tac asked quickly. He had just watched the Puffal quickly and singlehandedly deal with three at once, and he and no desire for further confrontation. "We had some kid once-he looked like you too, only pink. We were going to help him get home, honest we were! It's just that, on our way, we were jumped by this band of mouse thieves, led by this guy, Dorocche! We tried to protect the kid, really, but they got away with him before we could do anything!"

The warrior put very little stake in the details of the story, but he did not think that the cat would be changing too much with his skin on the line. "Who is this Dorocche and where is he?"

"He's the Red Thief Lord, got that title just about as soon as he got here," Tac stuttered out. "Don't know where he came from, but nobody does. As for where he is, I really don't know. One of my guys does, though, looks kinda like a soldier, goes by the name of Lanzor!"

"Where might I find this Lanzor?"

"He's probably in the bar, an old place called the Flighty Tooky! You can get all you want from him there! Please don't kill me!"

Meta Knight lowered Galaxia. "Very well. You have done as I asked." With a quick movement, he tied Tac to the post he was held against. "That should hold you well until the proper authorities arrive."

The cat stared in shock for a minute. The idea that such a fierce warrior would only leave him for the city authorities seemed to just come out of nowhere. "W-what?"

"You have already admitted to being a bandit and a kidnapper," the Star Warrior explained. "Furthermore, you and you band of thieves have been trespassing on this ground for quite a while. I can imagine that there are several warrants set out by the authorities for your capture."

He then turned to his companions. "We now have to find a lead on Kirby's whereabouts. Sword, Blade, you know what to do."

The duo grinned at each other. They knew exactly what to do, and this was going to be fun.

From the shadows, a single figure watched. So, Tac finally bit off more than he could chew, Biospark thought to himself. It was about time. Them ninja knew would be no problem with allowing the cat to cool his feet in a prison cell for a few days. After that, he'd break him and the others out. Until then, the ninja saw his opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

He smiled at the plan that he had crafted during his observation. Time to start the rumor down the grapevine.

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It was quite late by the time that the Squeaks and their young guest arrived back at their base. It was a comparatively small building located in one of the more residential parts of the city. Honestly, it was one of the last places one would think a secret hideout would be. Which meant it was perfect for that purpose.

Once they arrived, they were greeted by an elderly mouse in a contraption. "It's about time you three got back," he scolded. "The computers systems in the Zephyr have been running haywire ever since that incident with that temperamental swarm of UFO's. I've been waiting three hours for the parts you were going to retrieve!"

"Of course you were, Doc," Spinni laughed, tossing a wrapped up bundle over to the scientist. "We just got sidelined for a little bit."

Doc laughed dryly. "Sidelined? Distracted is more like it. What was it this time?"

"We had a bit of a run in with our old friends, the Doofuses," Dorocche answered. "They were giving our new friend Kirby a bit of a hard time. We decided to give him a hand."

While this conversation was going on, Kirby had taken the opportunity to explore his new surroundings. In fact, the hideout, which had looked so small from the outside, was a good deal larger within, as the little storage house was only the entrance. The true base, which lay beneath the street level, housed not only the living quarters of the Squeaks, but also a lab/landing bay. In the middle of the room they had just entered was a large dirigible, which was the team's mode of transportation when they traveled.

As the little Puffal was examining these sights, he felt something brush against his foot. He looked down and realized that a collection of smaller mouse-like creature had gathered and where looking up at him in fascination.

Kirby grinned brightly at the new creatures. "Hiii!" he greeted cheerfully, patting the nearest on the head.

The little creature seemed to like this and nuzzled closer to the young one. Storo chuckled when he saw this. "So you met the Squeakers, huh? They don't talk, but they help us with our missions, especially when we have to get something from a place where none of us can fit." He smiled and picked up one of the little creatures himself. "Not to mention, they're really affectionate."

The little warrior grinned, enjoying the attention from the little creatures, but was startled when his stomach growled.

The older mouse noticed this too. "Ya hungry, Kirby?" he asked.

He nodded slowly. With all the excitement that had gone on, the young one had forgotten, for the moment, that he hadn't eaten since that morning. The thought of his lost cake made that remembrance even bitterer.

Storo grinned. "That's okay. I'm kinda hungry, too. I'll show you where the kitchen is and then we can both have dinner!"

This cheered the youngster up a good deal. "Yay!" he squealed in delight as he followed close after his new friend.

Dorocche smiled as he watched the duo leave. He liked the pink Puffal. Something about him seemed to remind the mouse of something or someone pleasant from a long time ago. What it was, he couldn't say, as his past before the Squeaks was a mystery, even to him, due to some sort of injury he had endured before his arrival in the city.

He turned quickly back to Doc. "Now," he added, "there is one more job I need you to do. Have you ever heard of a village called Cappy Town?"

The scientist shook his head. "I'm afraid not. No surprise there, though. Cappies tend to gather into smaller communities where everybody knows everybody, and nobody really knows anything outside of their town. Why do you ask?"

"Our young friend here hales from a place called Cappy Town. I have given my word that we would find where it is so that he can return there as soon as possible."

Doc grinned. "Ah, I see. Well, I don't know where it is, but that doesn't mean I can't find it. I'll look it up as soon as I can and let you know what I find out."

Dorocche smiled. "Thank you, my friend. I bid you a good night." With that, he turned to go to his private quarters.

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Life had been rough. It had always been rough, as far as Lanzor could remember, for a thief to make a living. It was especially rough for an incompetent thief with no idea what to do next.

He was currently sitting at the Flighty Tooky, doing his best to forget the humiliation. It wasn't like this had never happened before. Quite the contrary, humiliation like this was a regular occurrence for the small bandit's guild. They'd do something that would either result in them getting into a confrontation with the Squeaks, or the cops, or something like that, and they'd lose miserably. If they were lucky, they'd get away from the situation in one piece. Tac, however, would be in a foul mood and take it out on whoever and whatever was closest at hand.

As a result, most of the other members of the band would go elsewhere for the night. Somewhere where they would cool down and do whatever it was to cope with the embarrassment. Which is what Lanzor was doing at that very minute.

"Another rum," he groaned, lifting his hand out the bartender.

"Six copper," was the Cappy waiter's response.

Lanzor reached down for his wallet, though missed it a couple of times due to his tipsy state. Once he caught it, however, he realized that it was empty. He gave an awkward grin. "Just put it on my, tab."

"I'm afraid that I can't do that," was the Cappy's response. "Your tab's been cut off, as you never pay it out. Either pay up or get out!"

"Now, now, there no need for such hostilities," a new voice piped in. It was a newcomer, a rather tall creature who had his should-length hair tied back into a ponytail and several piercings on one ear. He and another person, a stocky fellow with an eye patch, approached the counter.

"This seems like a decent sort of fellow," the one with the ponytail said, "so I'll cover the costs. Just bring a couple of ales along with the rum, alright?" To back up his statement, he tossed a small bag of coins onto the counter at the same time. "Just keep the change."

The bartender took the bag, and once he had counted the money, nodded and went to go get the drinks.

Lanzor gave a dazed grin. "Thanks. I really needed that."

The newcomer laughed. "Don't think about it. By the way, you can call me Buck. Buck Thorne. My companion here is currently going by Patch Malone. We're new here in town."

"Pleased to meet ya, Buck. I'm always willing to meet new people. 'Specially when they cover the tab," the purple-clad creature greeted. "If there's anything ya need, just say it, just as long as it don't involve money." The drinks had been brought over, and he took a deep draught of the rum. "I currently am not in much possession of that commodity."

"Now that you mention it," Buck said, rubbing his chin, "there is something you can do for us, isn't that right?"

Patch nodded sagely. "Indeed there is. Our boss happens to be on the lookout for a fella, goes by the name of Dorocche. You wouldn't happen to know where he is, would you?"

Lazor grinned, the level of alcohol he'd consumed catching up to him. "Dorocche? Why does your boss wanna deal with him? - Hic! - My band just had some trouble with him, and trust me, you want to stay as far away as possible."

"Oh, really?" Buck asked, taking a sip of his ale. "And why would that be?"

"Him an' his band, the Squeaks, there nothing but trouble. Nobody really knows about him, really, 'cept that he appeared out of nowhere one day. Challenged the old Red Thief Lord for his position-Hic!-and just about wiped the floor with him. Since then, nobody anyone knows of has been able to land a hit on him!"

"Is he really that tough?" Patch inquired, tilting his head curiously.

"And then some. Then there's also his band. Hey, Patch, you gonna drink that?" When the ale was slid over to him, Lanzor continued. "They're all mice, but you'd think they were some sort of warriors from the way they fight. First there's Spinni, Dorocche's right hand. She's the only dame in the band, but don't ever call her that to her face. She hates it, and she'd almost as tough as Dorocche, especially if she's got those Squeakers with her. Next is Storo, the muscle. Huge guy, almost think he was a rat by his size. He not too bright, but he's hard to avoid. Finally, there's the old guy-Hic!-, what's his name? Oh, that's right. Doc. They call him Doc. He's not much of a fighter, but those gadgets of his pack a mean punch."

"My, my, they do sound quite formidable," Buck commented, before handing his ale over to Lanzor. "Thank you for the warning. We will want to avoid them. Now, where should we avoid?"

The bandit took it and drank deeply before continuing. "Don't know exactly, can never tell exactly with those bunch, but there's a neighborhood nearby where they always seem to be hanging out. It's pretty near the storage house for the main informational database, which located in the center of the city. Guess they like to go there to find out about those treasures their always hunting. They like taking the weirdest-Hic!-things. Like just this night, they took this kid we found. Don't know why they wanted him, but when you got a choice to ask or get out, you get out. Unless you particularly want to lose your skin. If that's the case, then by all means, ask away!" With that, Lanzor attempted to take one last sip, but passed out into a deep sleep.

"Oh, not again," the bartender grumbled.

"Don't worry," Buck said as he started to lift the passed out bandit up by one arm as Patch took the other. "We'll handle him."

As they headed out, Blade slipped a sly grin to his companion. "So, now we know what we're facing, huh, 'Buck'?"

"Quite right, 'Patch,'" Sword responded. "We'll just drop this fellow off at the proper authorities before we report back to Sir Meta Knight. I'm sure they'll know what to do with him what to do with him one he wakes up from his nap."

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That night, Kirby looked out the window of the room he had been given at the stars. It was funny, as the stars looked exactly the same here as they did at Cappy Town. The youngster sighed as homesickness weighed heavily on him. He missed the little village and all his friends there. However, he did have hope mingled in with the bittersweet sadness. He had made new friends, and they had promised to help him get home.

To be continued…


	13. Enter, From the Shadows, Part Three

Bright sunlight streamed over through window as morning broke over Tiramisu City. Kirby, who had been sleeping soundly until then, stirred as it crossed over the small bed in which he slept.

As he awoke, he looked over his surrounding with a confused expression. This didn't look like his room, or the boys' shared room at the palace. Where was he?

That was when the memories came back to him. He had been brought to that big city by those bad people. However, his new friends, the Squeaks, had helped him escape and were letting him stay with them until they found a way to get him back home.

He wandered over to the window to get a look at his new surroundings. If he had had any doubts that he was not in Cappy Town, this made them all about dissolve into thin air.

Tiramisu City, which had been amazing in and of itself in the evening, was just about overwhelming in the morning. Everywhere creatures were hustling and bustling to get to their destinations on time. Outside, those traveling on foot walked as fast as they could, passing by street vendors who called out enthusiastically for the passersby to get a look at their ware.

The room Kirby was in was underneath the street level and his window disguised as a storm drain. As a result, he could only see the passers' feet as they rushed by. However, this was enough to give the little one the idea that this new place would have very different pace than the slow, lazy pace that Cappy Town accommodated.

Rather overwhelmed by the new site, the little Puffal backed off from the window and headed out into the main living quarters of the base. It was empty at the moment, as most of the Squeaks slept through the early morning. The youngster didn't want to disturb his hosts, especially after they had been so nice to him, so he decided to just look and see if he could get himself some breakfast.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

He entered the kitchen and found that he wasn't as alone as he supposed. Dorocche was awake as well, and was at work preparing breakfast. He called out a cheerful greeting as the young one entered.

"Ah, good morning, Kirby," the mouse called out. "I didn't expect you to be awake already. I do hope you slept well." When the young warrior assured that he had, his host continued. "I suppose you just wake up early, then. I understand completely. Not sure why, but it is quite impossible to stay asleep for very long after sunrise. Oh, well."

He soon finished what he was cooking and sat down at the table. "As long as you are already awake, help yourself to some breakfast. I'm sure you'll find something you'll like."

The little one didn't need to be beckoned twice. Eagerly, he selected a two apples, an orange, three bananas, two pieces of toast, a bowl of cereal, two granola bars, and a glass of milk. He grinned broadly as he sat down. "T'ank yo'!" he said, genuinely grateful.

Dorocche smothered a laugh when he saw the youngster's portion. "My, you are hungry, aren't you? Well, you are young still." However, he seemed more distant when he said this.

This was because once again, young Kirby seemed to call up something in his memory that was fighting to be noticed. However, try as he might, the mouse could not recall what it was. All he knew was that the little one reminded him of something. He did his best to shake this feeling off, certain that whatever it was would either come in time or wasn't important enough to have to recall.

"Well, my young friend, today we begin the search for your home," he said as he began to clear away his own dishes. He quickly grabbed a notebook and pencil before sitting down again. "Now, I would like you to describe Cappy Town for me. Paint a picture. Any detail might be vital in a search for this place."

Kirby grinned brightly. "'Kay!" He thought for a moment, trying to come up with what to say. "Well, it not as big as hewe, but all Kaabii fwiends wiv dere. A'so, dere's a weally big pawace. T'at's whe'e lots of Kaabii fwiends wiv, poyo. Medikni's dere, and so's Swowed and Bwade, and Tiff and Tuff and t'eir Mommy and Daddy, and Dededededededede. Kaabii's bwotahs and sistah wiv dere, too, but gonna wiv in Kaabii house when it fixed. A'so, dere's wots and wots of Waddah Dee's! Bandana Dee weads t'em, but deres so many t'at eben he don' know how many!" The young one tapped the side of his head, trying to think of what else to say. "Poyo. Also, dere's t'e viwwige. Ado and Ad'leine wiv dere, with Mistah Cu'io. Wibbon have a twee house, t'ough it not inna fowest. Wick an' Coo wiv inna fowest, 'cause t'ey a hamstew an' ah ow'!"

"So there's a forest near the town, you say!" Dorocche nodded, marking the information down. This was good. A tiny village would be difficult to find, but a forest was another matter. "Does it have a name?"

The pink Puffal nodded quickly. "It ca'ed Whispy Wood, 'cause t'at also t'e name of t'e nice twee who wules it, poyo. Dedededededededede wules over t'e pawace, but not t'e viwwige. T'e Cappies don' wike him vewy much." The young one gave a small shrug. "He can be mean sometimes, but he still Kabbii's fwiend, poyo."

By now, Spinni had woken up and stumbled into the kitchen. She currently was not wearing her sunglasses or scarf, and had the look of one who had no desire to get out of bed in the morning. Without saying a word, she grabbed a mug, filled it with coffee from a pot sitting nearby, and sat down at one of the seats at the table.

"Hiii!" Kirby greeted cheerfully. He was surprised when his greeting was responded to with a quiet grunt. "You 'kay?" he asked, genuinely concerned.

Dorocche chuckled. "Do not worry. It's just that Spinni here is not one who can be called a morning person. Once she has had her coffee, all will be well."

While this conversation was going on, Storo entered the kitchen. "Just don't get between her and the coffee," he added. He had a look on his face that told that he had once made that mistake. "That doesn't turn out well."

"Darn right is doesn't," Spinni murmured, some of her consciousness regained.

Now that the information had been gathered, Dorocche quickly caught up the notebook. He'd have to look up this Whispy Woods in the city database. He was pretty certain that he had heard that name before. Doc would probably be in his lab, so the old researcher could be of help as well.

However, this would take a while, and it would be a shame for the young ones to have to stay cooped up the whole time. "Storo," he said as he turned to leave, "I have some work to do that will keep me busy for a while. Would you and Spinni give Kirby a tour of the city? I'm sure he would enjoy it."

Storo through a salute. "We're on it!"

"Thank you." Daroach nodded before turning to go back to the lab.

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Meta Knight kept a close eye out the window of the small room that had been rented the previous evening. It was early morning, and Sword and Blade had yet to return from their mission. He would have liked to be out seeking information about his missing student himself, but with the unexpected tag-alongs, he would have to make certain that they stayed out of harm's way.

He sighed deeply. For once, the children had almost gotten the slip on him. It was just that he wouldn't have expected this kind of hair-brained scheme from those three.

 _From Ribbon_ , he corrected himself in his thoughts. Lololo and Lalala were too much like their adoptive siblings for them not to come up with some sort of attempt to get into the adventure. Ribbon, on the other hand, was typically rather cautious. The knight would have thought, at the very least, that she would have taken his word that he was going to do everything in his power to get Kirby back, and trusted that he would do so.

 _Wouldn't you have done the same thing when you were young?_ He smothered a small smile as he thought. Had he been young, and it had been one of his own friends in danger, he would have rushed headlong to help without a second thought. However, he had long grown past the point of rash, rushed decisions. He had forgotten the utter panic that one enters into when you have no idea what you should do but want to do something. It had been a long time since his own youth, and his students, with the exception of Kirby, had grown into warriors in their own right.

 _Perhaps I should start training the others, as long as they keep rushing into danger._ He frowned at the thought. They did have potential. That much he could see. But he didn't want to get them involved in the dangers that came inherent to being a Star Warrior. With Kirby there was no option, but with the others, he'd rather just keep them out of trouble as long as possible. He glanced over to where the children were sleeping, and the difficulty of the task hit him hard. He sighed, realizing that he would have to bring this problem up to the children's' parents and caretakers soon. He would resolve to keep them out of danger for as long as he could, but knowing the dangers ahead, there was a good chance that it would come to that. Until then, it would be considered the last resort.

He then vaguely saw movement outside, so he shook himself from these thoughts. Indeed, Sword and Blade had returned, and from the looks of things, they had been successful.

"So, was what the cat said true?" he asked as soon as his knaves had entered.

Sword smiled as he began to put his armor back on. Their master was never one to beat around the bush. "Yes, sir. We found this Lanzor without too much trouble. Just in time, too. He was about to get tossed out of the bar for being a deadbeat." He chuckled as he remember the conversation from the last night. "Just had to get him several drinks and he just about spilled everything."

"Including that last ale," Blade laughed.

Meta Knight ignored the humorous mention. "What did he say about Kirby?" he inquired. "Do we know anything about his captors?"

Blade nodded solemnly. "Aye, and I'm afraid it doesn't sound like good news. This Dorocche's got himself a bit of a reputation."

"He runs a band of thieves known as the Squeaks," Sword said, continuing where his brother left off. "After we dropped our informant off with the authorities, we asked around a bit more. No one seems to know a lot about them, except that they're tough. Most of the other bands in this town seem rather eager to stay out of their way."

"The odd thing is," Blade added, "none of the authorities seem to have any idea of who they are. All the info we got came from other bands. Whatever crimes this group's committed, they've never been caught, or even seen."

"The only hint we have about their whereabouts is that they seem to favor the middle of the city." Sword adjusted his helmet as he explained. "No one has ever seen them come or go from their base, but it is widely acknowledged that they appear the most around that area. I'm afraid that was all we could find out, sir."

"Oh! We have to find them fast then!" another voice piped up. The three warriors turned and realized that the three children had already woken up. It had been Lalala who had made the outburst, as the children were eager to get their arguments in before they could be dismissed.

"We can't stay behind this time!" her twin added. "This sounds like it could get tough, so you'll need all the help you can get!"

"I can telepathically scan the area," Ribbon said, trying to think of some help they could be, "and Lololo and Lalala can fly a lot more quietly than you can. We can be of help here!"

Meta Knight sighed. As much as wanted to keep them from trouble, they did have a point. Besides, they were in a large, strange city at the moment and he didn't want to leave them alone. "Very well," he said. "You may come, on the condition that you stay close and do as I say. Am I clear?"

The three kids saluted. "Crystal!" Ribbon said, answering for the three of them.

The knight looked up again. He had a plan, but he doubted this would be easy. He did his best to shrug off this feeling. At least now they had an idea of what they had to do and who they were facing. He just prayed it wouldn't be too little, too late.

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Kirby excitedly raced through the broad streets. Everything was so new and different. Actually being in the flow of the crowd was so different from the other ways he had seen it before. As he was not alone now, the hurried atmosphere, which had been rather intimidating earlier, was invigorating and exciting now. The little Puffal was eager to see everything and meet everyone that he could.

Behind him, Spinni and Storo were racing to keep up with the excited tot. They were currently disguised as a set of community college students, so as not to call much attention to themselves. In these disguises, they were known but inconspicuous.

"Kirby!" Spinni called out, "slow down a bit!"

The little one, hearing her call, stopped in his tracks and waited for the two mice to catch up. By the time they were able to do so, they were both panting rather hard.

"You can't just run ahead like that," Storo explained between deep breaths. "It's really easy to get separated in a place like this, so we've got to be able to see you."

Kirby nodded as he listened. The thought that they might get separated had never really come to his mind. After all, at his home he could go just about any place that he wanted to, as long as someone else knew he was going there. Then again, it was never anywhere close to this busy at home. He had so much to learn about the city.

However, his attention was pulled away when something caught his eye. Without a second thought, he immediately rushed towards the novelty, completely forgetting his companions.

Much to their relief, however, his new distraction was not very far off. It was a bakery with a bright sign in its window advertising its wares. The pink puff stood outside, gazing longingly at the bright display of cakes and pastries for sale.

"You want to get a treat?" Storo asked, pointing to the objects of the child's attention.

Kirby turned when he heard the question. He had honestly not heard them coming up. He glanced quickly over at them before turning right back to the treats. "Uh-huh," he said, still clearly delighted by the sight of the delicacies.

"Alright then." Spinni directed him towards the entrance of the shop. "Let's go in. The lady here knows us pretty well, so we should be able to get a sample."

As the three of them entered, a short, older woman wearing a handkerchief on her head turned to them. "Ah, hello! I wasn't expecting to see you two today. Who is your friend?"

"Hey, Obachan," Spinni said, returning the greeting. "We decided to take a bit of a day off today. This is Kirby. He's new in town, so we're just taking him on a bit of site seeing."

Kirby leaned over the counter and waved excitedly. "Hiii! I Kaabii!" he happily chattered. "I fwom Cappy Town. I nevah seed a city a'foh, but Spinni and Sto'oh showin' me it, an' it's weally neat!"

Obachan smiled at this. "Well, aren't you a friendly little fellow? I'd bet a young un' like you would like a cookie."

At the mention of a treat, Kirby eagerly nodded. "Uh-huh! Kaabii like cookies!"

Spinni chuckled as she watched Kirby and Storo enjoying the confections. Obachan was an older lady who loved to have visitors drop by the store, especially children. The two young mice had known her since they were about the same age as their young guest, and she had always eagerly greeted them when they dropped by.

The girl was shaken from her trip down memory lane, however, when two Waddle Doos came up to her and one of them tapped her arm. "It that pink puff with you?" he asked.

"Yeah, he's with us," Spinni said, not paying the one eyed creature much heed.

"Well, I'd keep an eye on him then," the other one, a girl Doo, said. "I've heard he's in some sort of danger."

"Danger?" This caught Spinni's attention. "What do you mean?"

"You haven't heard?" the girl Doo asked. "Word on the street is that some sort of infamous crime boss from out of town is looking for him. Nobody knows why, but it can't be for anything good."

"Is there any information on who he is?" the Squeak asked, wanting to know what sort of threat she and her friends were up against.

"Only that he always wears a mask," the boy Doo responded. "He's already in town, too. Just last night, he took out three member of a local gang all by himself. I'd be cautious, if I were you."

Spinni said she would be and thanked the duo for their information. She then got up and went over to the boy. "I'm afraid we're going to have to cut the tour short," she said. "It's time we get back."

Both Kirby and Storo looked disappointed. "Why?" the mouse asked. "Things were just getting good!"

"Trouble, I'm afraid. It appears kiddo here has more enemies than we presumed. We'd better find out whether or not it's true."

Storo sighed, clearly disappointed, but agreed that they should find out the truth and alert the rest of the group to the danger if it was. With that, the trio headed out to get back to the base.

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Dorocche looked closely at a collection of maps that he kept on hand in his room. He and Doc, knowing it would be highly unlikely that they would find Cappy Town itself, had been searching various documents in the city's database for any mention of Whispy Woods. Much to their disappointment, the woods seemed only to be mentioned in the cases of folk lore, and the tales of its arboreal ruler almost made it impossible to believe that it was a real place.

Almost. His days of treasure hunting made the mouse more inclined to not to dismiss odd reports right off.

They had been almost been ready to give up the search when finally a clue was given. It had been an off-hand newspaper article from just over three and a half star decades ago. It mentioned the forming of a small farmer's town nearby a wood, and the town was comprised mostly of Cappies.

With that news gain, Dorocche set to finding any wooded area near that, though unmarked, might be able to support a farming community. Meanwhile, Doc had set to preparing the _Zephyr_ for their trip. With a little luck, young Kirby would be home before the evening was out.

However, his research was interrupted by the younger member's premature arrival back. "Hey, Doc!" he heard Spinni call out. "Where's the boss? We've got some important info!" The urgency in the girl's voice was very clear.

Dorocche quickly picked up his cane, which had been lying nearby, and went out to the main area. "I am here. Now what is wrong?"

The Squeaks looked up, unsurprised by his silent entrance. They knew him well enough to know that you wouldn't hear him coming unless he wanted you to. How he did so with his damaged foot, they never really knew. It was just something that they had grown used to.

Spinni had already replaced her disguise with the red scarf and sunglasses she wore on missions, and had armed herself with several throwing stars. "I'm afraid we've got bad news," She answered. "While we were out, we got a warning tip. It sounds like those doofuses were the least of Kirby's problems."

"What she means is," Doc explained, as he called up a web page to show the report, "there is someone coming after our young friend. We don't know where he came from or why he wants Kirby, but it appears he is in grave danger."

It was a web page set up by several of the local bounty hunters of the area. They always kept tabs on the more dangerous criminals that came around the city, giving opportunities and warnings whenever someone had moved into town. This one listed no name, but spoke of a slaver's band, led by a strange masked creature, who was known to be dangerous. It spoke of how he had singlehandedly taken down several members of a local gang. The informant site also spoke of how he and his troop were looking for a young pink puff-ball, and how he wouldn't stop until he had taken to youngster, by force if necessary.

Furthermore, the band had been sighted very recently. They were coming closer to the heart of the city, and an undisclosed individual assured that they knew where their quarry was and who they would have to deal with. This information told the gathered group that they had trouble on the way.

The Squeakers, so attuned to the group's emotions, had been to become agitated. Several had gathered around Spinni and Storo, as if waiting for some signal that they were to do something. Others had gathered around a terrified looking Kirby, who clutched the tiny creatures close, eager for the comfort.

The little one didn't understand what was going on, or why this stranger was hunting him. He hadn't had any run ins with a slaver before, and he didn't know how he was going to be able to take on someone to could beat up thirty people on his own. The child closed his eyes tight and wished that Meta Knight had been there. He would have known what to do.

Dorocche glanced over at the youngster and gently patted him on the head. "There now, chin up," the mouse said, keeping his voice mild. "You're not on your own. We're here to help."

"Yeah!" Storo added. "There's no way this thugs getting by us!"

"Indeed," Doc continued. "This base is entirely hidden and fortified. Even if they can find us, there is no way they are getting in without a fight."

"And if they do get in," Spinni laughed, "they're in for the fight of their life."

"You see?" Dorocche motioned towards the group. "All of us are here to help. You'll be safe and home in no time. Just allow us to deal with these menaces."

Kirby gave a small smile. He didn't like the fact that his new friends were being put in danger because of him, but he was genuinely grateful for their help. "T'ank yo'," he said quietly.

The head mouse nodded. "Now, you go hide. Spinni, Storo, go patrol around the entrances. Make certain that no one is snooping where they shouldn't be. Doc, go make certain that you weapons systems are online and ready to use. I will be back in a few moments." He turned, knowing full well that his orders were being obeyed. "I believe this is a situation where I will need my other cane."

Kirby watched as the others got ready. He wanted to help his friends, but understood that as he was unfamiliar to their fighting style he might get under foot. Inwardly, he made up his mind to do as he was told, but be prepared to help when he could.

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The small rescue party had broken up into two groups of three. Ribbon, who had been sent with Sword and Blade, looked nervously around the corner. She and her companions were at the southern end of the building. The fairy was supposed to be doing a low level telepathic search for anyone who knew about Kirby's whereabouts, but she was having difficulty concentrating. She was incredibly frightened for her friend, considering the kind of people they had been told had taken him. She just about jumped when she heard one of her partner's voices.

"Have you found anything?" Blade asked, speaking as quietly as he could.

Ribbon steadied herself before speaking. "Not yet. There are several voices here, but I can't get any details on what they're thinking without them hearing my thoughts, too. If these people have Kirby, they haven't thought of him yet."

Suddenly, her head shot up, and a look of fear was in her eyes. "They know we're here."

The two knaves had to move fast to avoid the throwing stars that appeared from behind them. They spun around to face their opponents.

Standing there, partially covered by the shadows, was two mice. The smaller of the two, a girl one, had been the one to toss the throwing stars. She brandished another two in anticipation. "So, you're the ones after the Puffal, are you?"

Sword held up his leather-bound Zweihander high. "You had better hand him over to us right now."

The male mouse, a hulking youth who held up a damaged wooden table, gave a mirthless grin. "Who gonna make us? You?"

Blade pointed his broadsword towards the speaker. "That's exactly who."

"Well then," the female said. "You'd better get to it, then." With that, she swung at Blade with her stars while her large companion charged Sword, using the table as a shield. Around their feet, a collection of Squeakers rushed forwards, trying to help the two mice any way they could.

Ribbon dashed towards the building. She didn't have much in the way of defense, but thankfully, the two mice were currently distracted by the knights-in-training. She would hurry inside and see if she couldn't find where Kirby was being kept.

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At the Northern end of the building, Meta Knight scanned the area for any opponents. This area of the building had an opening that looked to be a garage door, which appeared to be the only way in from this side. Wordlessly, he motioned for Lololo and Lalala to follow close as he crept up.

Once there, he tested the door. It opened without any resistance. He scowled under his mask. While this would mean that their entrance to the building proper might have been easier, it would also mean that the door had been left that way on purpose. They were expected.

He examined the side of the wall to find another point of entrance. He found it in a matter of moments. Up near the roof of the building, there were two small covered vents which allowed for the flow of air in and out of the building. They were too small for him to travel in or out of, but not for his companions.

A new plan quickly formulated in his mind. He pointed out the opening to the twins, who were quick to formulate his meaning. Hurriedly, they flew up and after uncovering the opening, rushed inside.

Now that the duo had a real opening, Meta Knight himself took the decoy. Someone would be waiting inside for someone to enter, and he might be able to keep them off the twins.

He began to open the door when the sounds of fighting came from the other side of the building. So they were expected. He hoped Sword and Blade could handle everything on that side. He'd deal with whatever was in here first and then go to join them.

With a quick movement, he threw open the garage door, and nearly as soon as he did he was almost struck with a thrown crate. Inside the building, an elderly mouse operating some sort of armored vehicle awaited. Once he had spotted his opponent, the vehicle operator responded quickly, grabbing another crate, which he threw as hard as he could.

Quickly, the Puffal warrior withdrew Galaxia, slicing the wooden box in half. Without a second thought, he charged at his opponent. Moving as quickly as he could, he dodged several more projectiles, and made it on top of the mechanical device and prepared to cut down on where he assumed the power source was.

However, before he could do so, he was struck in the side by a small gold star. The intensity if the blow was not enough to injure him severely, but it was enough to throw him backwards into a pile of crates. He recovered from the blast quickly, which allowed him jump out of the way of a blast of a freezing ray.

Once again on his feet, he turned to face his new opponent. This one was a grey furred mouse dressed in red. He had his cape wrapped around his body and his hat pulled down somewhat over his face, obscuring his features. He held something behind his back, probably from the recoil sent by the freeze blast.

"A two on one attack?" the knight commented. "Not a very honorable move. What are the odds of a single fighter in the face two attackers at once?" He wanted to get his opponents talking, as a chatting adversary is almost always a distracted adversary.

The elderly mouse was the one to take the bait. "You're one to speak of honor, slaver," he scowled. "We'll give you the odds you deserve!" With that, he tossed another set of crates while the red garbed mouse sent several stars in his direction.

By now, Lololo and Lalala had made it through the vent system. Spotting what was happening, the two rushed to the knight's aid. They pushed several of the crates off of the top of a pile, causing them to fall over onto the machine. "We're here to even up those odds!" Lalala called out as she and her brother moved to attack again.

Meta Knight had quickly used the dimensional cape to teleport to a ledge, out of the way of the projectiles. Once out of the way, he looked up to realize that the mouse in the machine was being kept occupied by the twins. He prepared to move in to help then when he was struck from behind. He was knocked off of his perch, but he reacted quickly, reducing his cape so that his wings could come free. They were still too weak for proper flight, but enough time had gone by so that he could glide down to a safer position.

He looked up and realized that the red clothed attacker somehow had teleported behind him. His weapon was now in clear site, and Meta Knight could not believe his eyes.

It was the Triple Star. Daroach's weapon.

However, he didn't have time to stare in shock, as his opponent turned and rushed down another corridor. Quickly, the Star Warrior teleported back up and took the chase.

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Inside the hallways of the building, Ribbon flew as fast as she could. The sounds of fighting had intensified, and she had briefly seen Meta Knight and the twins taking on two attackers in a larger room. She resisted the temptation to join in the fray, instead turning her mind to scanning for any sign of Kirby.

It didn't take long. She had only had to scan several of the rooms before she found one with the door closed and a mind within. She rushed to it, throwing it open. One she did, however, she was quickly tackled.

However, the attack was short lived, as the one who had pounced realized who she was. "Poyo, Wibbon!" Kirby cried out in delight, and his tackle turned into an excited hug. "Yo' founded me!"

"Kirby! You're alright!" she cried, responding in turn. "Thank goodness! We were so worried; we thought that those awful people must have done something bad to you!"

The little Puffal grinned brightly. "I's okay!" he said cheerfully. "T'e bad people not catched Kaabii. T'he Squeaks he'p Kaabii, poyo!"

The fairy, however, was confused by this. "What do you mean? Aren't the Squeaks the ones who kidnapped you?"

Kirby shook his head and quickly explained everything that had happened since he had joined up with the Squeaks. He also explained how they had received a warning of another group who were on the move, and how he had been sent to hide while his new friends dealt with the foe.

This news struck Ribbon hard. "That means we're fighting the wrong side!" she declared. "We've got to stop the fighting! Come on, Kirby!"

"Kaabii know ta way!" the youngster declared before taking off down the hallway to a street exit, his recently found friend close behind. Hopefully they'd get the message out in time.

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Outside, the two duels had waged on. The opponents were very closely matched in abilities, though one or the other did have an advantage

Spinni had done her best to stay out of Blade's reach, though he was good at deflecting her throwing stars. Occasionally she could get a good blow in up close by first sending some Squeakers in mess up his footing. However he recovered from that quickly and responded in turn with his sword, making her get back to a distance.

Meanwhile, Sword was taking the brunt of it in his face off against Storo. The type of weapon he used allowed for him to counter the table at close range, as he could jab and thrust as well as slash, but the sheer strength, both of the table and of its wielder, put him at a disadvantage. It wasn't long before the large mouse had him backed into a corner, and it was becoming difficult to maneuver.

In one swift movement on both sides, the duels were brought to a stop. On her end, Spinni finally tripped up, allowing Blade to corner her. This gave her no room to throw her stars and cut her off from the Squeakers. However, on the other end, it was Sword who came up short. With his movement constricted, it didn't take long for Storo to disarm him. Once that was done, the Knave was quickly grabbed, and lifted above the giant mouse's head. His adversary's superior strength stopped any thought of escaping.

For the moment, the two sets of dualist froze. Neither had any intention of giving up, but they also had no desire to lose their partners. The four were at a standstill, each waiting for the other to make a move. However, thankfully, they were cut off by a single cry.

"Wai'!" Kirby cried as loudly as he could. "Bot' fwiends!"

"Kirby! What are you doing out here?" Spinni asked, worry clear on her face. "Get back inside before they can hurt you!"

"What do you mean, 'hurt him'?" Blade said, point blank. "We're here to rescue him from you!"

"That's what we're trying to say," Ribbon called as she caught up. She and Kirby quickly explained the situation to the best of their abilities.

"You mean we're both on the same side?" Storo asked, still trying to process the new information.

"That's what it sounds like," Blade responded. It took a moment for the four to take all the new information in, but the tensions had been ended.

Blade lowered his sword, allowing Spinni to pass. "Sorry about that, miss," he said. "I really thought you were one of the bad guys there."

"Don't worry about it," she laughed. "You're quite the fighter. I don't think I've faced an opponent like you before." She then noticed that her partner had forgotten something. "Hey, Storo, you can put him down now."

A look of realization came to the giant. "Oh! Sorry, forgot I still had you," he said as he set Sword back on the ground. "There you go, little guy."

Sword did not quite appreciate being called "little guy," but he was glad enough to be back on his own two feet. "I'll be fine," he assured, taking his weapon back up.

The sound of a smashing crate signaled that their work was not quite done. Quickly, the six rushed in, and just in the nick of time were able to keep Doc and the Twins from continuing their game of toss the box. Thankfully, both parties were getting worn, and it was a relief to find that they were both on the same side.

"Okay, so that almost all of us," Ribbon said as she surveyed the now calmed-down group. All that's left are Meta Knight and Dorocche." A look of dread and realization filled her as she said the names.

The rest of the group froze with her. Only Kirby knew them both, but both sides were aware of the other's reputation.

"Well," Spinni sighed. "This isn't going to be fun."

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From the moment he had spotted the Triple Star, Meta Knight had been careful to keep a close watch on his opponent. His height was right, as was his fur color. He still kept his face covered, but a fighting style is just as distinct to a Star Warrior as facial features are. Everything was right for the theory. He fought, depending on misdirection and quick thinking, and though very swift and agile, moved in a way that favored his right foot, which was clearly deformed. Everything pointed in that favor.

However, several things seemed wrong in the Star Warrior's mind. He had seen Daroach die that day. When he had returned to the base, he had been assured that he had been the only survivor of the treachery. How could this happen now?

As well, why would Daroach have turned to thievery? He was a Star Warrior, and though he was a bit mischievous, he would never intentionally hurt anyone, especially children. This just didn't add up, and it affected the way that the Puffal was fighting.

However, his adversary did not share in his hesitation. Every attack was swiftly sent and responses were blocked equally fast. Meta Knight was almost caught off guard several times and was forced to directly block the attack with Galaxia. He responded in turn, but the blow was dodged in time. The Star Warrior noticed a slight sway in the dodge, and his theory was brought to mind again.

Only one explanation for this odd behavior could come to mind. The device that Yamikage had thrown at him had struck Daroach in the head. Among the side effects caused by the stunner was an acute case of amnesia, with most, if not all, of the victim's past being forgotten. If that had happened to Daroach, then it might have led to him believing himself to be this "Dorocche." He had only one way of testing that theory, but his opponent was too swift for him to do so.

His opportunity came sooner than he would have supposed. "Medikni! P'yo! D'wocche!" Kirby called out as he rushed into the room where the battle was taking place. "Stop! All fwiends!"

"Kirby, hide!" the mouse called, freezing for a moment to warn the youngster.

This was Meta Knight's chance. Moving quickly, he landed a blow to the mouse's head with the hilt of Galaxia. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it had occasionally helped with sufferers of that particular problem.

The mouse had gone down from the blow. His hat had been knocked aside, and his face was now fully showing. It was indeed Daroach.

The Puffal gently nudged his old friend's shoulder as Kirby rushed up to join them. "Daroach," he said, keeping his voice soft and low. "Can you hear me? Are you alright?"

"Daroach?" the mouse asked. "I don't know any…" Suddenly, a look of realization came into his eyes. "Poyo? Is that you?"

Meta Knight laughed and offered his hand. "I would have hoped you had forgotten that old nickname after all this time."

The mouse gave a grin as he accepted the help. "What, forget? How could I forget the name of my friend and companion? It is good to see you again, Meta."

Kirby looked confusedly, as the two who had recently been dueling now greeted each other as long lost friends. "Medikni? D'wocche? Poyo?"

Both turned to the youngster. Meta Knight's eyes flashed quickly to a bright peach, signaling relief. "Kirby! There you are. Are you alright?"

The youngster nodded, but was still confused. Likewise, the collection of people gathering in the room expressed similar emotions. "Wait a minute, boss," Storo said, voicing everyone's thoughts. "You know him?"

Daroach, as he now remembered was his proper name, nodded. "Indeed. We've known each other for quite some time, though I regret to say I could not properly remember that fact for a while." He smiled as he turned back to his old companion, reminded of his previous mission by the young ones arrival. "I hope it is not much to ask, but do you know where a place called Cappy Town is? I have made a promise that I have the full intention of keeping."

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"I must have had some recollection of who I was at first," Daroach said, finishing his story as he set out several cups of tea. "That would explain why my alias was so close to my true name. After a while however, everything just vanished." He settled down at the small table he and Meta Knight were seated at as the two chatted. They were now aboard the _Zephyr_ , on their way back to Cappy Town. Everyone had gathered in one of the more spacious rooms to interact, and the two warriors had taken some time to catch up.

"Quite by accident, I challenged the former Red Thief Lord, and by his defeat, gained his title." The mouse chuckled about this. "Honestly, I have never before stolen a single in my life that wasn't already stolen, except perhaps the cakes from the mess hall aboard the _Supernova_ , but the title just stuck. Personally, I prefer treasure hunting, but that does lead to meeting quite a few unsavory folk who make claims that I have snatched various treasure from their grasp. Now, how about you? How did you get away from Nightmare's clutches?"

"Not easily," the knight responded as he lifted his mask to drink his tea. His tone of voice made it clear he did not want to talk about it. "It was not a pleasant experience, and he left his mark."

Daroach nodded. He had noticed Meta Knight's eyes and could deduced that he was now blind, but had thought it wise not to mention it. "Well, I'm glad to hear at least that you did escape."

Nearby, Kirby excitedly looked out the window, cooing in amazement as the scenery passed beneath them. "And now you have a son as well," Daroach said, calling attention to the youngster. "He quite a young fellow, by the way."

Meta Knight smiled at the praise the little one. "Yes, Kirby is fine pupil. He is taking to his training very well. However, he is just my student, not my son." He said this clearly, though he had a tone in his voice, as if he wished he could claim Kirby's parentage. "I know we look highly alike, but I am not his father."

"I see," the mouse responded. He sensed there was more to the story than that. However, he and Meta Knight were like brothers. As such, he also knew that if the Puffal didn't want to say anything, he wouldn't.

The conversation, however, was interrupted by Doc on the intercom. "Doroc-I mean Daroach, it appears that we have reached our destination."

Sure enough, Cappy Town showed clearly in the coming twilight. "It is much smaller than I expected," Daroach said, surveying the scene, "but it looks comfortable enough. I can't imagine who would have built that gaudy castle, though."

"That would be Dedede," Meta Knight laughed as he put his mask back on. He had already mentioned the Pengu and how the Star Warrior was now serving on his guard. "Sure you don't want to offer him your services?" he asked with a laugh.

Daroach shook his head and chuckled. "No thank you. There is work still to be done in Tiramisu. You have my condolences, though." He held out his hand, and his smile became more serious. "It was good to see you again, Meta."

The warrior smiled and took his friend's hand. "It was the same for me, my friend. We will meet again. _Donec tenebras perit."_

The mouse flashed a smile and shook heartily, before finishing the motto with the portion that only Star Warriors knew. " _Et ad lumen, nunquam evanescere._ "

After saying their farewells to the Squeaks, the group disembarked and headed back to Cappy Town.

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Marx watched quietly from the shadows of the forest line as the returning group disembarked from the zeppelin and headed out for the castle. He kept in mind the owner of the vehicle before turning to go. Lord Nightmare would want to know about this.

He headed down to his hidden lair and got into connection with the base of the Nightmare Empire. "I have news," he said quickly, getting right to the point. "Our enemies have more allies, and one of them is a Star Warrior."

"A Star Warrior, you say?" Honest John cupped his chin in his hand, as if thinking this information over. "Are you quite sure of this? According to our records, all Star Warriors except for Meta Knight and those students of his are long dead."

"I'm sure of this one. The weapon he was holding had Star Warrior written all over it. It was a cane-like object, but had a large block on one end. The block had a Star Warrior emblem on each side."

"Well, I'll be certain to relay everything." The crony prepared to end the transmission when Marx stopped him.

"There's one last thing," he added. "The newcomer was a mouse."

Honest John was genuinely shocked by this, but his poker face was good enough that it didn't show. "A mouse, huh? Well, I'll keep that in mind." With that, he shut off the transmission.

Once no one could see, the middleman scowled. This was not good news and Nightmare was not going to be happy.

However, he still went down and alerted his master to the update.

"What!" Nightmare bellowed. "How did he escape!?"

"We aren't certain, sire, but we do know that he has come in contact with Meta Knight."

Nightmare fumed. The knowledge that one of the Star Warriors had survived was bad enough, but it just had to be another of those wretched Forces. If he had come in contact with Meta Knight, than there was the chance of the Star Warriors reforming. That could not be allowed.

The dark wizard collected himself before turning back to his minion. "Tell Drawcia to prepare the first frame. Our schedule has moved up."

Honest John bowed deeply. "As you command, my liege." With that, he turned to fulfill the order.

Once alone, Nightmare turned to a pile of broken chess pieces that had been thrown to one side. From it, he selected the figure of a masked mouse, which had a long crack running down the side. With a quick movement, the mouse's piece morphed, mending the crack and changing instead to one of mouse wearing a top hat and cape.

The warlock scowled at it before throwing it back on the board. Every surviving warrior had to be dealt with swiftly, for they often attracted new followers. However, Nightmare had caused a Downfall once before. He wasn't afraid of causing one again.

To be continued…


	14. DJ Breakdown, Part One

Dedede was bored. There was no other way of putting it. Quite frankly, this was to be expected. Cappy Town typically didn't have much going on. Had the Pengu known the slow tempo of the area when he had arrived, he might have chosen to have his castle built elsewhere.

As it was, the location couldn't be changed, so he made his mind up to change the situation. "Bandana Dee! Get in here right now!"

The Waddle Dee rushed in when he heard his name. His arm was nearly fully healed, so he had gone back to wielding his spear once more. He quickly skidded to a halt before saluting with his weapon. "You called me, sire?"

"I'm bored," was the brusque reply, forgoing any sort of greeting. "There's nothing to do around here! What's a guy got to do to get a little excitement in? Something big, and new!"

Bandana inwardly gulped. Time and again he had reminded Dedede that this town was too small for most event planners to take much notice. However, it never really mattered much to his boss. Of course, that wasn't much of a surprise. The Waddle Dee suspected he had a better chance of finding a hoard of Blipper living in the Fountain of Dreams than of getting listened to. "Well, sir, you could go out for a drive. It is beautiful day, after all."

The Pengu gave a dry laugh. "Yeah, and I can go out for tea and scones once I'm done with my lovely Sunday drive." He had said this mockingly, but he tapped his chin, as if in thought. "Ya know what, that doesn't sound like such a bad idea. Bandana Dee, go prep Mr. Mufflerkins. I'm gonna go out to get something to eat."

"Of course, sire," Bandana said, bowing. "I will come and get you when I'm done." With that, he turned and headed down to the stable area where the large Wheelie was kept.

First you draw a circle,

( )

Then you dot the eyes,

(0 0)

Add a great big smile,

(0u0)

And Presto! It's Kirby!

He remembered back to when the Grande Wheelie had been caught and brought in. Dedede had taken an interest in the creatures and ordered Meta Knight, who had only just joined the palace staff, to go catch one. Knowing the warrior now, it was kind of surprising that he just did as he was told, as if he was some sort of servant. Back then, however, the knight typically just did his orders, without making comment or criticism. That all changed with Kirby's arrival, as now the warrior was more focused on protecting and training his new protégé rather than taking orders. This was one of Dedede's complaints about the child.

Once the Wheelie had been caught, however, the task of caring for the creature had gone to Bandana, as Dedede had absolutely no idea how to take care of a mount. Honestly, it was one of the jobs that the Dee preferred doing, as it allowed him a few moments of peace and quiet. He had been afraid of the giant creature at first. Over time, however, he learned that Mufflerkins was a rather laid back creature who, as long as there was no trouble, had no problem being handled.

Bandana Dee smiled, recalling that there was one other thing he knew. It had come as a surprise, considering the name his boss had chosen for the creature, but Mr. Mufflerkins was female. In hindsight, it should have been obvious because female Wheelies tend to be larger than male ones, but often these things slip the mind until you are faced with them. He had tried to tell Dedede, but as usual, he hadn't been listened to. Oh well.

Upon reaching the stable yard, Bandana called out to the creature. "Mufflerkins, it's time for a ride."

Hearing his voice, the creature woke up from the nap she had been taking and eagerly revved up, moving over to where the Waddle Dee was waiting. She knew Bandana Dee well, and was always happy when he came to do the regular care. She was loyal to her master, but frankly, she preferred the company of his more relaxed servant.

He did a quick check to make sure everything was alright with the Wheelie before putting her ornamentation on. All in all, this took about twenty minutes. It could have been finished sooner, but frankly, neither Dee nor Wheelie were all too eager for it to end, so their time was taken.

Once his chore was finished, he went back up to the throne room to alert Dedede to his progress. However, before he could reach his destination, he heard someone call his name.

"Ah, Bandana Dee, there you are." The Waddle Dee turned to see who had spoken, and he wasn't too pleased with the results.

"Hi, Marx," he said rather nervously and he was already tugging on his bandana. For a reason that he couldn't full explain himself, something about Marx gave Bandana the creeps. Maybe it was the weird way he seemed to look at everyone. Or maybe it was that tone that always seemed to hide an insult, no matter what was actually said. Whatever the reason, he would do his best to stay out the jester's way.

However, right now, that was not possible.

"I'm glad I found you," Marx continued. "You are on your way to see our king now, are you not?"

"Uh, yeah, that's right." Bandana tried and failed to stop pulling at his headgear. "He just wanted me to prepare Mufflerkins for a ride. I was on my way to tell him I'm finished, so if you'd just excuse me…"

He attempted to walk around Marx without making it obvious that he was trying to escape, but was cut off. "I understand your hurry, but there is one thing I'd like you to do for me." The speaker pulled out a medium sized package with a tag marked with Dedede's name and thrust it into Bandana's arms. "I found this on the doorstep today. I suppose someone left it there. Do deliver this to our grand ruler, alright?"

Right now, the Waddle Dee would have agreed to almost anything just to get away. "Yeah, sure. I'll give it to him. Bye." Finally having the opportunity, the servant turned and rushed through the door.

Looking back at the fleeing Dee, Marx grinned to himself. This was all going just as planned.

Now away from the incredibly disconcerting influence of Marx, Bandana quickly closed the door behind himself. He had waited for a moment, as if to make certain that he hadn't been followed, before he turned to fulfill his mission. He hoped that Dedede had not overheard what had gone on outside the door, so that the jester would not be called in as well.

Thankfully, the Pengu seemed to be distracted at the time. He had been examining his reflection in a nearby mirror, clearly upset with the clear bulge in his midsection that his robes did not do a good job of covering. However, the moment the door was closed, he turned and noticed his servant. "'Bout time you made it in here," he grumbled. "I was startin' ta think that fainted after seein' a spider and was lyin' stiff as a board in some hallway again."

The Waddle Dee blushed at the embarrassing memory, but did his best just to ignore the comment. "Sire, your Wheelie is ready," he said, setting the package aside on a nearby table. "She seemed a bit tired today, so please try to take it easy on her, alright."

"I don't see why you say that every time I go out," the so called king mumbled. "Nothing ever goes too wrong." He was about to leave when he noticed the box that Bandana had set on the table. "What's that there thing?" he asked quickly, picking it up and examining it.

"It was something left for you on the doorstep," the servant answered quickly. "Marx found it and asked me to bring it in to you. However, I don't know who brought it, so I wouldn't recommend opening it quite yet."

Dedede, however, did not share his servant's caution. "Oh, you just afraid of everything," he said dismissively as he began to undo the wrapping. "I'm certain it's perfectly beneficent. I have a multitude of admirers who would be perfectly eager to give me presents." With that, he tore open the box.

Lying within was a thin headset with a microphone attached to it. Underneath it was a small robot who looked like and old-time microphone with a pair of feet. On the whole bundle was a note that read: "Congratulations, King Dedede! You have been selected to try out our new Walky system, all free! Just put on the headset unit, called "Chit-Chat," to activate! Direct an order to Chit-Chat and give the message, and watch it transmitted through the Walky drone to all the destinations you listed. Ask for a program and it will instantly play! Any music you like, it's on! This is all yours, perfectly free! The only thing we ask is that you tell no one of Chit-Chat. Do not worry about worry about wearing it; it is programed to hide itself while you are wearing it."

Dedede grinned broadly as he looked down at the device. "Now that's what I call interesting," he said, and he quickly put the headset on. As soon as he did so, the set vanished and the Walky jumped up and began wandering around. "Alright, Chit-Chat," he said, speaking into the invisible microphone, "I want you to send a message to Bandana Dee. Tell him that he needs to go get me a sandwich."

Upon getting the order, the Walky jumped up and ran over to the startled Dee. It opened its top, revealing a mouth-like opening. Out of it came Dedede's voice. "Go get me a sandwich!"

"Uh, I'm not quite sure I like this," Bandana said, clearly unnerved by the device. "Are you sure you want to be using this?"

Dedede laughed. "Are you kidding? This is great!" He picked up the Walky drone and tucked it into his robe. "I'll take this into to town to show it off. Perhaps some people there'll understand the genius of it." With that, he left the room, leaving an unnerved and dismayed Bandana Dee in his wake.

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"Adeliene, are you still asleep? It's time to get up!" The young artist looked up dazedly from her pillow. Nearby, Ado stood. Her twin was already wide awake and completely dressed.

She let her head fall back. "Come on, Ado," she moaned sleepily. "It's a Saturday. You know, the time to stay up late and sleep in."

"Well, you can sleep in if you want to," Ado responded quickly, "but I'm going back to the Star Warrior ship. I'm certain there's more there to find if we look close enough."

Adeliene turned back in her bed, knowing exactly what Ado was talking about. She and her twin had been up late every night for the past two weeks examining the journal. Thankfully, most of the journal entries after Meta Knight's christening had been in good enough shape to be restored. Unfortunately, however, they were typically of the most uninteresting type. Mentions of the treatments for diseases that they had never heard of, various business deals that had gone down between rulers of planets that were nowhere near the Gamble Galaxy, different policies that were being implemented to make certain that obscure rules were followed, ect.

As a result, Ado had gotten it in her mind that they might be better able to interpret what they were reading if they went back and got more material from the ship. In particular, she wanted to have a good look inside what had been Sir Heavy Knight's room to see if he had more information about Meta Knight's childhood.

Adeleine, however, was a bit more skeptical. They had already gone over that area with a fine toothed comb, and there was nothing to be found as to give a hint about what was in the journal.

In the end, though, Ado had won out. She had already gone and asked Mr. Curio if they could go and have a closer look at the uncovered ship. He had been slow to give permission at first because that weekend he was going over to the University of Green Greens to give a speech on the findings of ancient Cappy civilization. However, as his apprentices knew the dig site pretty well and promised to be careful, he agreed to allow them to camp out over the weekend to see what they could find.

She pulled the covers over her head. "Ado, it's too early," she groaned. "That old ship will still be there in the afternoon, and we can get a start then. If you want to go right now, than go. I'll catch up later."

Ado leaned against her sister's headboard. "Alright then," she sighed, shouldering her art bag. "I guess you can get there later. The most of the others will already have gotten together, so I guess you'll just have to miss out on the doughnuts I'm bringing to the campsite for breakfast. You know how Kirby and his siblings are when it comes to treats."

At the mention of the breakfast treat, Adeleine glared. "You wouldn't."

"I would."

The artist made a face as she got out of bed. "You can be mean sometimes, you know that?"

"Only when I have to be," Ado laughed as she started to head down the stairs. "See you in a few minutes!"

Adeleine got dressed quickly (though not as quickly as Ado would have liked), and the two of them rushed out to the camping area near the dig sight. Just as Ado had said, some of the other children had already arrived. Tiff, Poppy, and Ribbon were already setting things up. Kirby and several of his siblings were trying to help, though not that well. The only exception to this was Charlie, who was staring intently at an interesting but common fossil he had found. Nearby, Tuff, who seemed to have been dragged their like Adeleine had been, leaned against a tree, doing his best to stay awake.

As was typical, it was Kirby who spotted the newcomers first. "Poyo, hiii! Ado! Ad'liene! Ovah hewe! Hiii!" Hearing their brother's excited calls, the other Puffalings, even the usually distracted Charlie, eagerly took up the cry.

"Hey, guys," Ado greeted. "Sorry we're kinda late. It took me a while to get Adeleine out bed."

"People should not have to wake up this early on a Saturday," the other girl mumbled sleepily as she approached the group.

"I'm with you on that," Tuff agreed, rubbing his eyes and doing his best to stay awake. "What are we looking for here anyway? I thought we already looked through the old ship and there wasn't anything in it."

"Yeah," Poppy added. "Even the computers seem to be wiped clean of anything useful."

"That was before we knew what we were looking for," Ado answered simply. "Last time, we knew this was a Star Warrior ship, but nothing else really. Now that we know that, at the very least, Sir Meta Knight's father had been on board, there might be any number of useful artifacts in there."

"I suppose another look around could be pretty useful," Tiff said thoughtfully. "After all, that journal did shine some light on what was going on. Perhaps will find out more if we just look hard enough."

Ado nodded. "Exactly. That's also why I want to get a good head start on this project. If we start early in the morning and continue on through the weekend, we should be able to make good headway."

"Hey guys! You gotta come see this!" The kids looked up to see Iroo, Honey, and Hohhe running towards them.

"Hi," Tuff replied, though he was rather hard to hear over the little Puffals' rather cacophonous greeting. "What's so exciting?"

"You'd never suspect it," Iroo answered quickly, with the other two Cappy kids nodding in agreement, "but ol' Dedede's actually come up with something real neat! You guys gotta come see it!"

"Really?" Ribbon asked, her tone clearly skeptical. "Are you sure it was really that interesting?"

Honey nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah, it really is. He's giving a demonstration in the village square right now. Come on, see for yourself!"

Now interested in what was being spoken about, Kirby and a portion of the other kids started to head in the direction of town. Noticing that the movement was not unanimous, the little Puffal turned to the others. "Gon' go?" he asked.

"Oh, alright," Tiff sighed as she started to follow. "I suppose we can come and see, if only to make sure he isn't causing too much trouble."

"But what about the ship?" Ado asked, clearly not interested enough in this new development to drop the idea of her search.

"We'll just take a look and be back as soon as we can," Ribbon said, giving her friend a small smile. "Knowing Dedede, it's probably nothing, but it's a good idea to make certain."

"Don't worry, sis," Adeleine said, putting her arm around her sister's shoulder. "I'll stick around. The others will be plenty to make sure that the old Pengu isn't up to anything."

"I'll stay too," Poppy added. "From my experience, its better just to stay out of the faker's way."

Ado gave a small smile. "Thanks guys. This really means a lot." She turned to face the dig sight. "Well, let's get started!"

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In the middle of Cappy Town, Dedede was giving a demonstration of the Walky drone. It had taken a while for him to build up interest in the strange device, but now things were finally going the way that he wanted them to.

You see, Cappies typically do not take much interest in searching for new, novel ideas. Preferring the slow pace that a small town organization afforded, most of the population is content in living with comparatively more primitive technology rather than go out and look for the newest, most top of the line development.

However, such new technologies being brought to them was another matter entirely. Indeed, when something novel and unseen was brought to them, and intense interest in said idea or device was bound to follow. Typically, if the device had some practical use, it would be integrated into the lifestyle of the inhabitants. However, if it really had no purpose other than novelty, it had a fifteen minutes of fame before eventually being abandoned in favor of the more traditional pastimes.

Now was one of these times. When Dedede had arrived with the strange device left to him, most of the Cappy populace paid no attention at first. However, once he got around to using it for various actions, attention grew and a fascination with the device had taken full swing.

As such, a comparatively sizable crowed had already formed by the time that the children had arrived. The Puffalings had an easier time getting close to see what was being shown off, as they were smaller and could slip through the already assembled group. It took the older children a bit longer, but they too were surprised by what they saw.

Dedede was standing proudly at the center, happy to be the center of attention. In his hand was a strange looking device, like an old-timey microphone with a pair of feet on it. "And that's not all my new Walky can do. Take a look at this!" He set the strange machine down. "Walky, I wanna hear the latest release from Dia Fram and the Breezes!" He then set the strange object on the ground. After a moment, the top flipped open and started playing an easy-going pop song.

The Pengu smirked as the crowd oohed at the sight, clearly amazed by the sight. Interest in the little object had already been peaked, so it was a simple matter of keeping attention on the little device and, by connection, on him.

However, not everyone was pleased with the new development. "Dedede, what are you up to this time," Tiff snapped, clearly not impressed by the strange robot.

Her questioning, however, did not seem to shake her adversary. "Well, look who it is," he responded, crossing his arms. "Just so you know, I'm not up to anything. I'm just showing off my new Walky. It's the latest thing. It sends messages, plays music, and ya don't even have ta carry it 'cause it'll follow you around on its own."

While the discussion was going on, Kirby and several of the Puffalings had approached the little device, which was still playing the music. The little Puffals examined it for a moment, and not finding anything about it that was particularly frightening, eagerly began dancing to the music and singing quietly along. The only exception was Toby, who still seemed unnerved by the device.

Seeing this, Dedede smirked again. "See, even Kirby there knows that there device is good quality."

Tiff frowned. She had to admit, it didn't look very dangerous right now, but something just felt off about it. Then again, just about everything Dedede did felt off. "Well, if there's nothing wrong with it, where'd you get it then?"

Dedede froze. He hadn't been expecting a question like this. "Come again?"

"I said," the girl repeated, "where did you get it from? After all, if it's so great, why should you be the only one to have one?"

"Well, I, uh," the Pengu stuttered, his mind racing to find some sort of answer.

"Yeah!" a Cappy from the group called out. "Those things seem really useful!"

"I could use them in taking orders at my restaurant," Kawasaki said, clearly pleased with the idea.

"Those things would be great in keeping out people who want to read without paying," Bibli, the bookstore owner, pointed out.

"Yeah, and I could send messages through the store without ever leaving the register," Tuggle, who ran the grocery store, said cheerfully, and Gengu, his brother who ran the toy store, nodded in agreement.

Soon all the Cappies were chattering excitedly about all the various things that could be done if they too had a Walky drone. Each had their own plans and ideas, and each eagerly requested how to find one of the useful little bots.

Dedede was at a loss for words. The instructions that had come in the box hadn't explained how to get any more, and the certainly didn't provide a name for where it came from. Furthermore, since he couldn't mention Chit-Chat, he had no idea if the Walkies would respond to anyone else. As such, he responded the same way he responded to any other pressure he didn't like: by yelling.

"Listen here!" he snapped. "It don't matter where I this here drone came from. What does matter is that it is mine, and if I want another one, then dang gum it, I'll say 'I want another one'!"

However, the first time he said "I want another one," the Walky began to react. It froze for a moment, before opening up its flip top and spitting out what looked like a musical note. When the phrase was repeated, it responded again, spitting out another musical note. Once outside, the notes lay on the ground for a moment before reshaping and growing into two more Walky drones.

Everyone stood still for a moment, observing what had just happened. Once the happening had registered in their minds, Dedede laughed. "See, I told you I knew what I was doing. Ya just need ta say those words and another Walky pops out. Now, why don't one of you who spoke up there test it out?"

Gangu stepped forwards, and walked around the two copy drones, trying to think of something to say. After a moment's hesitation, a figured out his command. "Uh, Walky," he said to the older of the two drones, "I want you to go check the stock of bouncing balls in aisle seven."

The Walky immediately took the order and rushed off to the toy store and did as ordered. After about five minutes, it rushed back. _Bouncing ball stock at: 54% capacity_ , it said in a robotic voice _. Restocking is recommended to achieve maximum sales output._

Dedede laughed when he saw this. "Well, what did I say? Are these little guys useful or what? And just to show you my congentiality, I'll get a Walky for whoever wants one! For a modest fee, of course."

Near immediately, there was a rush of excitement. Everyone wanted a Walky and were willing to pay to get one. Soon nearly everyone in town had one of the strange little microphones, and excitedly set to using them.

Tiff, however, still wasn't pleased. Something was off about the devices, and she was determined to prove it.

However, much to her dismay, it seemed she was alone in that pursuit, as the other children seemed absorbed in playing with a unit they had purchased as a group. "Not you too!" she exclaimed in shock. "You guys can't be buying into this!"

"Oh, relax, sis," Tuff said, shrugging his shoulders. "It's really cool, and it isn't causing any harm."

"He's got a point," Ribbon added. "After all, not everything Dedede does is bad. Look, even Kirby is enjoying it. Right, Kirby?"

"Poyo, goo' music!" the little warrior exclaimed happily.

Tiff sighed. She was still certain there was something wrong with these new devices, but it seemed she was on her own to prove it. "Fine," she muttered quietly. "I'll look into this myself, then."

As she turned to go, she felt a slight tug on her hand. It was Toby, who had followed close after her.

"You want to come with me?" she asked, a little surprised by the tagalong.

The yellow Puffal nodded. "Poy. Poyo poyo Dedededededede poyo poy pththththbt," he said, making his disdain for the so-called king clear.

Tiff laughed. "Well, at least you agree with me. Come on, I think I know who'll know what to do about this." With that, they rushed off to the castle.

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Within the ruins of the ancient Star Warrior ship, movement was slow. Despite Ado's enthusiasm about the situation, no real evidence had turned up regarding any past actions related to anyone who they knew of. Furthermore, the computers were less then useless, offering no information whatsoever. After several hours of fruitless searching, frustration with their lack of findings was finally getting to the artist. "Oh! This is hopeless!" she exclaimed when the third search through several filing cabinets turned up nothing.

Adeleine went over and patted he twin on the back. "Hey, It's okay," she said. "We didn't know if there would be anything here when we came, so it was worth a look."

"I know," Ado sighed. "I had just gotten so excited about what we did find that I really hoped we'd find more information today. Sorry I dragged us out here only for us to not find anything."

"We might not have found anything related to Sir Meta Knight," Poppy said, trying to join Adeleine in comforting, "but there is a lot of neat stuff in here. I mean, check out this neat glow…thingy." He lifted up a baton that had been located in one of the living spaces. It was dimly glowing on one end, and had several buttons located on the side.

Ado laughed. "Thanks guys. It means a lot that you stuck by me. C'mon, let's go see if that thing that the others went to check out is still there."

"Knowing Dedede, he'll probably be showing it off all day," Poppy laughed, casually twirling the baton-thing. However, when he did this, he accidentally hit a button, which caused a bright light to flash out of the end of the device. This not only startled the kids, but something else that was also in the ship with them.

As so as the flash came, a swarm of Batty, which had taken up residence in the old ship, woke up and began flying in a panic about the kids' heads. In response, the twins ducked, covering their heads with their arms.

Poppy, on the other hand, began flailing in a panic. "Ahh! Go away! Go away! Shoo!" He did this, but it seemed to be to no avail, as the flying creatures only responded by intensifying their alarmed swarming.

In response, the boy continued trying to wave away the winged bothers. In a quick movement, he whipped out a bomb, seemingly out of nowhere, and flung it against a wall. It exploded with an intense boom, sending shattered debris everywhere. This finally frightened off the Batty, who rushed out of the ship in hurry.

"Whoa," Ado murmured as she picked herself up off the ground. "I didn't know you could do that! Where did that bomb come from?"

"I...don't…know…" Poppy murmured, looking down in shock at his own hands.

"Hey, guy, look!" Both turned to look where Adeleine was pointing. The bomb blast had opened up an area in the wall of the ship. Most of the blasted away hole lead to rock wall, which was to be expected, considering where they were. However, a portion just big enough to squeeze through lead to a new opening; one not connected to the ship.

The trio pushed through until they were in the new area. It was an ancient tunnel, clearly designed before the ship had crashed into the area. It was long and traveled parallel with the starship, and the bricked walls stated that it was not natural.

"Well," Adeleine said, pulling out a new glow-stick from her art bag. "It looks like we found something after all."

To be continued…


	15. DJ Breakdown, Part Two

_Now that you understand the severity of the matter, I hope you understand why I did not wish to discuss this topic with others listening in. This information must remain a secret, until time has come for the Star Warriors to rise again. Thank you for your patience. Sir Meta Knight, O.S.W._

Meta Knight set his pen down as he looked over what he had written. He couldn't help but smile as he saw the irony in that he now was writing down what just a few weeks earlier he had attempted to blot out from all written records. However, with the discovery that Daroach was alive, the Puffal Warrior was no longer alone in this dangerous situation. As a Star Warrior himself, the mouse needed to understand the difficult position they were in because of past actions, and prepare himself for the consequences of said actions. They would affect everyone alive who bore the title of Star Warrior.

He had sealed the letter in an envelope when a knock came at the door. "The door is unlocked," he said without bothering to turn around. "You may come in." He carefully slipped the letter into a hidden compartment in his desk as he heard the door swing open and his visitors came in.

It didn't take him long to figure out that one of the newcomers was Tiff, even before she spoke. The Dreamlander girl had good sense, but she was often thrown into a panic by the slightest thing that was done by the so-called king.

Then again, many times Dedede's stupid decisions did have rather severe consequences. Perhaps it was good that someone what keeping a close eye on his actions.

The knight shook his head and laughed inwardly. _What hare-brained scheme has Dedede come up with this time?_ He thought to himself.

He didn't have to wonder for very long. Tiff, followed closely by little Toby, rushed into the room, clearly upset about something. "Sir Meta Knight," the girl said quickly, "something is up with those Walky things that Dedede is handing out, but no one will listen to us!"

Toby nodded quickly in agreement. "Poy poyo poyo poy p'yo Kaabii!" he added in a distressed tone.

Meta Knight raised his hand, signaling the two to be quiet. "Please calm down and explain yourselves," he said. "I'm afraid I have been rather occupied with another matter this morning, so I have not had the opportunity to leave. I haven't the faintest idea of what you are talking about. What is Dedede handing out? What has happened?"

"Well, sir," the girl explained, "we were going to the dig site when several of our friends came from the village told us that Dedede was having some sort of presentation. So we went to go check it out, and found out that he was showing off some kind of robot creature, called a Walky. It looked really weird, like a walking microphone, and it responded to some voice commands that Dedede was giving to it. I tried to find out where they came from, but Dedede was able to call up several more of the devices before I got an answer. Now everyone in the village wants one of those creepy things!"

"Poyo poy poy poyu!" a distressed Toby chirped in.

The knight nodded after listening to the explanation. "I see," he said calmly once the duo had finished. "Now, have these Walky devices actually done anything harmful yet?"

The duo paused for a moment. They hadn't really thought about it, but it was true. Strange as the little microphone robots were, they actually hadn't done anything bad yet.

"I will agree," the warrior continued, "that this is a strange set of circumstances, but it is not healthy to become incredibly agitated at every little thing that Dedede does. There is no question that his decision making is subpar. He is one of the more irresponsible individuals that I have ever had made acquaintance with. However, he, for the most part, is harmless, and sometimes must be humored, if at least for your own sanity's sake."

The two kids looked up disappointedly. They had to admit, what Meta Knight said made sense, but they still had hoped to reach some sort of revelation about the strange devices that just appeared out nowhere.

However, he wasn't quite finished. "That said, this does sound like something that might require a bit of further investigation."

"You really mean it?" Tiff exclaimed. She could have hugged him right at that moment, except for the warrior's well known dislike of sudden physical contact.

Meta Knight nodded. "Yes. If I remember correctly, you said that Dedede gave no answer about where he got these devices. He is not clever enough to make himself, and I have been keeping tabs on the workings of his servants. Nothing like this has come anywhere near to being developed by them. As such, while Dedede himself is harmless, it is not out of the question to suppose that he is the pawn of one with less than noble intentions."

He casually began moving towards the door before turning back to the duo. "If you would like, you may accompany me for the interview."

Tiff nodded. "Right. Come on, Toby. Let's go!"

"Poyo!" the baby grinned, and they headed out after the Star Warrior.

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The trio wandered down the tunnel, examining the walls as they went. For the most part, they were completely bare. Signs of wearing told of the long span of time these tunnels had seen, but whoever had built them did not use any sort of markings to differentiate different areas. This had clearly not been built with aesthetics in mind.

"How far do you think this place goes?" Poppy asked, staring rather nervously at his strange surroundings.

Adeleine held her glow-stick up a little higher. "I'm not sure. These passages look like they've been buried for ages. It's also unlikely that they exit out anywhere nearby, or they would have been found long before now."

"Well," Ado said, giving a small smile, "at least they keep going straight. I don't think there's been even one fork in the path at all." She turned for a moment to look back at the path they had already traveled. "I wonder if that means we went the wrong way."

"I guess it could," her twin responded, "but I think it's more likely that this place was meant to lead to some place in specific. I mean, look at how wide the passageway is and how each of the torch holders have been spaced regularly. Wherever we're headed, it's likely that a lot of people were meant to go there all at once."

"But what kind of place would be both underground and meant to hold a lot of people?" Ado mused.

"I don't know," Adeleine responded, "but it must have been something important. This place was built to last. Just look at everything. No one's been here is who knows how long, yet it's still not in too bad a condition, all things considered."

The boy glanced over nervously at a spider-web. "I guess, if you don't mind dark, creepy underground tunnels with all sorts of creatures crawling around everywhere."

"C'mon, Poppy," Ado laughed. "Find a sense of adventure! After all, I'll bet you 'Leine's right, and we've discovered some important ancient Dreamland gathering ground."

"Or burial ground," Poppy muttered. The dower predictions that were made, however, had little effect on his companions. The twins were too eager to see where they were traveling to pay heed to his pessimism.

After about fifteen minutes of traveling, the first sign that they were reaching anywhere appeared. They reached a larger room in the corridor which united with about three other tunnels. The new passages did not attract much interest, as they all headed away, so the trio kept to the path that they had been on. However, as the traveled down, more and more passages united into it so that it became more and more complicated to follow.

To compensate, Adeleine pulled out her paintbrush and began leaving a trail of paint for them to follow back. This became more and more necessary as they went on, because more and more tunnels came the closer they got to their destination.

After ten minutes of new tunnels joining and fusing with theirs, the companions finally came out into a large room. It was a giant room in the shape of a circle. Around the wall was about ten different openings, including the one they had just come out of. In the direct center, there was a stairwell leading up to a hole in the ceiling.

"Alright then," Poppy said, turning around. "Now we know where it leads to. Let's head back now."

"Come back here," Ado said, pulling him back. "We just got here. Besides, there's a whole place we haven't seen yet!"

Adeleine nodded. "Yeah! Let's find out what this place is first, and then when we head back we can tell people just what we found."

The boy gave a small amount of protest, but finally gave in. The three of them walked slowly up the stairs and emerged through an opening which was slightly covered over by a brown stone arch.

They hadn't known what they were expecting. Maybe they had thought it would be some old ruins of some ancient civilization, or maybe an abandoned military fort from some long forgotten war. However, what was for certain was that they weren't expecting what they did find.

"Whoa," Ado murmured as she and her companions looked over their finding: a beautiful but overgrown garden area surrounded by stone walls but opened to the sky.

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Dedede reclined back in his throne, listening to music produced by a Walky while several others raced around carrying a variety of foods and entertainments. He had been thoroughly enjoying his day, and why shouldn't he? After all, his new device was extremely popular. Nearly everyone in the village had bought one, and everyone who did couldn't help but rave about them. Furthermore, it appeared that only the person with the Chit-Chat headset could make any more, so anyone who wanted more had to come to him to get it. All this put together meant that through the day he had made a tidy little sum.

He was sitting in his throne room at the moment, basking in the enjoyment of his own cleverness. Why, he had even gotten Kirby and his friends to buy a Walky. They were among the first in line to buy one! He laughed at the memory of that event.

Of course, that Ebrum girl, what's-her-face, tried to rain on his parade. However, for once _he_ was the one to get the last laugh. The Pengu smirked at the memory of the girl's face when she discovered that the other kids, including her own brother, were among those who had wanted to get their very own Walky. Maybe next time she'd be more careful when she wanted to butt heads with the person who was most certainly the cleverest Pengu in all of Dreamland.

Of course, the kid did almost catch him with that question about where the Walkies came from. He had almost had to admit that he himself had no clue. Ah, well. Even if he had no idea who made the Walkies, at least whoever they were had given him an unlimited source of the little bots.

Indeed, even at this moment the palace was swarming with the little robots. They were running here and there, preforming every small whim that Dedede told them to do. Why, they were even more efficient than the Waddle Dees, who had seemed to take the communal agreement to stay as far away from the little drones as possible. Well, that didn't matter to Dedede. If they didn't want to deal with such magnificent technology, that was their fault. He would enjoy the little drones and the lucrative scheme that came with them all on his own.

The Pengu was so busy patting himself on the back that he was taken completely off guard when someone spoke to him. "You appear to be enjoying yourself, sire."

Dedede jumped in shock, but it wasn't too hard to guess who had addressed him. "Meta Knight! How many times have I told you not to sneak up on me like that?"

"My sincerest apologies." The warrior bowed low. He had entered a few moments before, followed closely by two kids, the Dreamlander girl and the yellow Kirby. "I did knock," he continued, "but apparently you did not hear me. Perhaps your new device is playing too loudly for other sounds to be heard?"

"Uh-what? Oh, yeah, right." The Pengu turned to the nearest Walky, which was still playing about as loudly as it could. "Hey, Walky, turn it down a notch." The machine responded immediately, quieting down to a far more reasonable level.

Once it was easier to speak and be understood, Meta Knight nodded over to the device. "That is a piece of technology I have never seen before, your highness. I have been told that you are the source of these devices, these 'Walkies.' Is this true?"

Dedede grinned. So, even Sir Meta Knight was interested in the Walky units. "Why, yes it is. These nifty little things came from me. I'm not afraid of sharing my magniforus properties."

The warrior nodded, as if vastly interested in the little devices. "So, you did, at the very least, distribute them. Where did you find such fascinating technology?"

That wiped the smug smile right off the Pengu's face. The Cappy villagers might be easily distracted from the question of the source of the Walky units, but Meta Knight was another story entirely. "I, well, uh…"

"The manufacturing is very well done," Meta Knight continued, not even allowing Dedede the opportunity to think of an excuse. "How did you come up with it? Did you make it yourself? If, so, you did a very good job. You can hardly tell it is machinery."

"Uh, yeah, I came up with it," Dedede fibbed. Right now, he would say anything just to get the nosey warrior to leave. "It's all mine, not someone else's. After all, I know more about them than anyone else."

Tiff could hold her quiet no longer. "Then why don't you just tell us how you made it?" she said, the tone in her voice making it clear that his lie had not gone undetected.

"I'm not on trial her, missy," Dedede scowled right back. "My Walkies are of the highest quality and one of a kind. I'm not about to go spilling my secrets to everyone who tells me to. Now why don't you go and stick your nose into someone else's business."

Toby frowned and ran up to the Pengu to defend his friend. "Poyo poy poyo poyo poyu poyah, Dedededededede! Tiff poy poyo poyo p'yu poyo!" he said, waving his little nub arms frantically.

"And you!" Dedede scowled right back. "I don't like being lectured by someone who can't even speak properly yet, so just pipe up, pipsqueak. And it's De-de-de!"

The kids were clearly about to speak up again, but Meta Knight raised his hand and turned to the duo. "Please, try to avoid having an accusatory tone. You can find more with honey than with vinegar." He then turned to Dedede. "Sire, please keep in mind that you are dealing with children and speak in a way that gives a good example." He said this calmly, but the tone made it clear to all parties involved that there would be civil discussion, rather than insults flung.

The guilty parties all clearly did not want to just let the matter drop, but Meta Knight was not one you just disregarded. Begrudgingly, they apologized under their breath.

That matter handled, the Star Warrior continued with his previous inquiries. "Well, sire, if these are your product, than I suppose you wouldn't mind if I took one with me?"

At that moment, there was nothing Dedede would have liked more than to just get rid of the knight and the meddlesome kids. "Yeah, go ahead. Just hit the road," he said quickly, forgetting even the price.

His goal now achieved, Meta Knight turned, taking one of the Walkies with him. The kids glared at Dedede, who glared right back, before turning to follow the Star Warrior.

Once they had gotten out of earshot of the throne room, Meta Knight spoke, though he did not turn to the kids. "You were right. He is hiding something."

"So what do we do now?" Tiff asked. She was eager to start working to convince the village that the Walky units were no good. However, Meta Knight's answer surprised her. "For the moment, nothing."

"Poyo?" Toby asked, confused himself.

"All we can tell right now," the warrior explained, "is that Dedede is not being entirely truthful about the origin of these devices. That is not enough to prove that they are harmful. What we need now is proof of some sort of wrongdoing. For now, just try to relax. I will look into the workings of the device to see if I can't discover something more about their origin. Alright?"

Tiff and Toby couldn't help but be somewhat disappointed by that response, but they were willing to defer to the veteran's judgment. "Alright," the Dreamlander girl said. "We'll wait. Just please, tell us if you find anything."

The warrior nodded. "I will. Just, please, until then, try to relax." With that, he returned to his room.

"I guess all we can do now is wait," Tiff sighed. "Is there anything you want to do?"

Toby thought for a moment before patting his stomach. "Poyu poy?"

His friend laughed. "Alright. I suppose we can go get lunch."

"Poyo!" he declared happily before running off. Neither noticed as a figure that watched them from the shadows.

Marx scowled. So, that nosy Erranite girl and one of those mini-puffs had gotten the Star Warrior involved. It wouldn't take him long to deduce where the Walkies had come from. Well, then perhaps it was time to put stage two into effect.

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Sheer amazement was the only word that could described what Poppy and the twins felt as they emerged from the tunnel system. This beautiful gardened area had clearly once been inhabited, as there were signs leftover from whoever had vacated the area, but there was no one around. Furthermore, it was rather obvious that this was an area that no one in Cappy Town had ever seen before.

"This place is gorgeous," Adeliene breathed, amazed by the scenic surroundings.

The scenery of the place was unmatched by anywhere that the trio could think of. While the areas of Cappy Town had a simple charm to them, this place had a serene, untouched quality to it. Wildflowers and a variety of fruiting plants grew everywhere. Trees canopied the area, tinting the noontime light a pale green. Thick droves of ivy covered all the stone, including the arch covering the opening. All in all, it was a very beautiful place, in strong contrast to the grim stone passage they had come through.

However, despite the cover of greenery, it was clear that people had lived here before, if a long time ago. Along the wall, and even going up it, there were alcoves which looked to be big enough to live quite comfortably in. Within these, little artifacts were left of whoever had lived inside them. Scraps of cloth that might have once been blankets, simple pieces of pottery, and other small household objects lay scattered around, as if still waiting for their owners to return.

Ado grinned. "Wow. Just, wow. This place must be ancient. I mean, look at these objects." She bent down and picked up a small clay plate with a carving on it. "I think Mr. Curio once dug up a plate just like this one, and that was from several hundred star decades ago!"

"I remember that plate," Adeleine laughed. "It was the star centerpiece of the antique shop for quite a while, until Dedede broke it."

Poppy smiled. "It was after that that the plastic boxes were enforced in the store wasn't it?"

The young artist nodded. "Mr. Curio said that as long as that Pengu was going to tromp in every time he was bored we had best wrap everything in bubble wrap." She chuckled at the thought of it. "At least he stopped with the protective boxes."

"Well," Ado said, slipping the small dish into her art bag, "he'll be happy to know we found a replacement."

The kids wandered around the area for about another half hour, exploring the area and gathering what artifacts they could. As this continued, the tranquil atmosphere started to get to Adeleine, who leaned against the wall, slightly tired. The early morning wake up was now having an effect on her, and she almost slipped off into a doze, until she spotted something on the wall. It was near completely covered with ivy, but it was visible.

Quickly, the girl pulled out a small box cutter and began clearing away the offending shrubbery. The vines were thick, but the box cutter was sharp, so it didn't take too long for the ivy to be cleared away. When she could finally see what it was that had been covered, the girl's eyes opened wide in delight. "Hey, Ado! Poppy!" she called out. "Come over here and see this!"

Hearing her excitement, they rushed over and saw what she had uncovered. They were ancient murals, depicting the daily life of the people who lived here. Images of the men, women, and children of the tribe who lived here were painted in vivid colors. And that wasn't all.

"What the heck?" Poppy exclaimed in surprise. "They look just like Tiff and Tuff!"

It was true. The scene, which portrayed a gathering after a successful hunt, showed many individuals of the Dreamlander species busy at work or play. This was rather stunning to the trio because Dreamlanders were a minority. Though they bore the name of the country they lived in, they were well outnumbered by other races, especially Cappies. A few of the race, including the Ebrum family, had some high standing situation, but they were few and far between. Most lived simple, quiet lives.

Yet here was evidence that they had once held prominence in Dreamland, or at least in that one specific area. Ado grinned brightly at their discovery. "This is bigger than we thought. The others are going to want to see this." Quickly, she whipped out a camera from her art bag and took a picture.

As soon as she had gotten it, she replaced the camera and pulled out a box cutter of her own. She also tossed Poppy a Swiss army knife, calling out, "C'mon! Let's see if we can't find more of these."

The other two nodded quickly in agreement. Soon, the three of them set to work cutting off the blinding foliage to find out what other secrets of history had been hidden.

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Tiff had finally started to relax as she and Toby approached the apartment building where the Ebrums lived. Noon had by then turned to afternoon and still nothing had happened with the Walkies. Maybe there was nothing wrong with the little devices. The Dreamlander girl groaned. All she needed was time to get her mind off of the weird little things.

Too bad one of them ran into her the moment she walked in the door. "Mom, Dad!" the girl exclaimed in shock. "What happened? How did these get in here?"

Instead of getting a response from one of her parents, the Walky flipped its top open. "Tiffany," it repeated in her father's voice, "your mother and I have gone out on business for the moment. We will be back later this evening. If you or your brother needs to send us a message, this handy little device can bring it to us. We will see you tonight." With that, the creature stood, waiting for a command.

Without speaking a word, Tiff turned around and went into her bedroom. The Walky tried to follow her, but the moment that it had set foot in her room she pushed it out and slammed the door on it. She had no desire to even think about Walkies and right now just needed time to cool down. Once alone, she covered her head in her blanket, trying to block out the sounds of the Walky attempting to get in.

Toby, who was still unnerved by the weird machine, had already walked around and headed to the boys room to see if anyone was in there. The room was empty, but as he looked out the window he could see that the other kids had gathered together in the meadow just outside the palace wall.

As he didn't want to be alone and it seemed like Tiff didn't want to play right now, he decided to surrender for the movement. He headed out, floating down to join the other children.

Upon realizing he had joined them, Kirby eagerly greeted his little brother. "Hii, Toobii!" he exclaimed delightedly. "Loo' t'e Wa'ky know joke!" Sure enough, the kids were sitting around the little device, listening to it as it broadcasted a comedy routine.

The Puffaling sighed but decided to join his enthusiastic siblings in the entertainment. He had to admit, it didn't seem all that bad. After a while, he even got to enjoy the entertainment.

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Dedede was enjoying his Walkies once more in peace. Now that Meta Knight and those busybody kids had headed off, there was no one to dispute his plan. Well, almost no one.

 _Sire_ , one of the Walkies said as it walked up to him. _Your captain of the Waddle Dees wishes to speak with you. Shall I allow him in?_

"Sure, let him in," Dedede responded quickly, and the Walky hurried off to obey his command.

Bandana Dee trudged in, staring warily at the various machines. "Sire," he said quietly, "I would like to have a word with you. On the behalf of the Waddle Dee staff, of course. We have some…concerns about the Walky units."

Dedede grinned. "Useful little things, aren't they? Bet they've cut your workload in half! You guys must love them."

"Actually, about that," the Waddle Dee said, tugging on the side of his bandana. "We actually don't like them."

"Ya don't?" the Pengu asked, genuinely surprised. "And why not?"

"It's just that they're so, so, so wrong." He said anxiously at the devices. "Sire, Waddle Dees typically communicate by eye contact. As a result, we're typically nervous around things that don't make eye contact. Well, Walkies don't have eyes, so it always seems like they're going to hurt us. Would you mind if, well, there weren't so many of these things running around? Or at least allowed the Waddle Dees to deliver the messages?"

The Pengu laughed at that. "Oh, you guys are just nervous. The Walkies wouldn't harm a fly. Just give it time, you'll get used to it."

Bandana looked like he was going to argue for a moment, but instead he sighed. "Alright sire. It won't be easy, but for your sake we'll try." With that, he turned to go.

After he had left, Dedede chuckled to himself once again. "Walkies wanting to hurt anyone. That's a hoot! Who would have ever thought of that?"

"Don't count it out quite so quickly, Dedede" a voice that the Pengu had never hear before said.

"Huh, who's there," the "king" asked. "Who said that? How do you know my name?"

"I did," the voice repeated. "You might not recognize me, but I have been with you all day as you helped the plan along. My name is Chit-Chat."

"What, like the headsets for the Walkies? What plan? Who are you trying to kid?"

"Why, no one. You yourself know the first part of the plan very well. I have just been waiting for my signal to strike while you spread my minions out among the village. Now I have received that message. I do not regret in telling you this, but now you have become superfluous." The device began playing a hum that caused the Pengu to slump over for a moment.

When he opened his eyes, they were no longer his own. "Walky," "Dedede" commanded the first of the drones, "start sending out the signal. This town will be ours."

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Meta Knight had been working with the device for a while now. Nothing about it appeared to be wrong, but it had been clear that Dedede was hiding something. However, no matter how much he tested the machine, the warrior was at a loss to find anything to prove to him that these were dangerous.

As he worked, he heard as Sword and Blade passed in the hall. They had been discussing the Walky units themselves. The old warrior shook his head but smiled. It had not surprised him in the least that his apprentices had taken notice of the sudden fad. Such things happen often when one is young, and are harmless, as long as the fad itself is benign.

Which these things at least appeared to be, as he was completely unable to find anything that even appeared to resemble a threat. However, just as he was about to let it go, it opened up of its own accord and let out an all-encompassing hum. To the untrained ear, it would have not seemed like anything dangerous. Many people, at most, would have just found it slightly annoying.

However, the Star Warrior was far from untrained. It didn't take long for the veteran to recognize the sinister trill as a recoding from a Sirenix, or a mind control monster. Quickly, before it could overpower his mind, he withdrew Galaxia and sliced the offending microphone in half.

As soon as he had done so, the two halves slid down and melted into a puddle of some colorful liquid. The knight didn't touch the liquid, lest he do so and end up harmed by the contents of the liquid, but he did through a towel over the puddle. The strange goo would have to be studied later.

As fast as he could, he ran into his room and took up several hearing protection devices. After equipping himself with one of them, he ran out, searching as hard as he could for Sword, Blade, or Kirby. He knew now what they were dealing with, and he was going to have to find his students quickly. From what Tiff had said, these wretched devices were all over Cappy Town.

However, when he reached his students' room, he found he was too late. Just as it had been before, there was a Walky sitting in the middle of the room. It was giving off that sinister trill, and the duo had already succumbed to it. They did not respond to entrance, instead staring at the Walky in a hypnotized dazed.

To be continued...


	16. DJ Breakdown, Part Three

The kids' work to uncover the ancient walls turned out to be much more successful than they could have ever expected. Sure enough, from top to bottom, the walls were covered with murals that portrayed the daily life of the former society. Some of them were more decorative, portraying successful battles, exciting festivals, or significant marriages, but most of them were simple windows into an ancient Dreamlander's daily life.

"Here's another one marking an important birth," Adeleine called out as she brushed away small bits of the vines she had cut away. "It's amazing to see how much went on here. It's all been abandoned for who knows how long, yet everything is near perfectly preserved."

"Well, this place is pretty well built," Poppy said, gathering up a bundle of the discarded ivy to move to a more convenient area. "Whoever set it up meant it to last. If these paintings are portraying real life events, than its understandable why they would have needed such a place for their home. The only question I have is why hasn't this place been found before now?"

Ado shrugged. "Who knows? There doesn't appear to be much evidence pointing as to why this place was abandoned." She glanced around the walls, examining what had been about a good hour and a half's worth of work. The lower portions of the walls, along with some patched areas around the living spaces, had been clear away, but there was still a lot of foliage cover. "Looks like it's going to take longer to clear this stuff out than we though. We've got plenty of evidence, and Mr. Curio will definitely want to get a look at this place when he gets back. We can finish up uncovering the paintings then. Shall we go back to town?"

Poppy nodded. "It's probably best. It's getting late, and the others are probably wondering what happened to us."

Adeleine, however, disagreed. "C'mon guys. There's just a little more of that ivy," the artist said, pointing out a thick cluster of the greenery near the gate. "Let's just take care of that first. Once we've got that cleared up, then we can head back."

Ado and Poppy could see nothing wrong with clearing out one more area before they left. As it was a fair sized section, the three of them began working on the section together.

"We've had a big day, haven't we," Adeleine laughed as they finished up their work. "I'm mean, there might not have been anything left in the ship for us to examine, but we did find something from Pop Star's past. This place must be several thousand years old, yet we're still seeing signs left by the people who lived here."

"I have to admit, this is rather fascinating," Poppy said. "This is a pretty major discovery. It's kind of sad, though."

"What do you mean?" Ado asked. "This place is awesome! Everyone's going to be so excited to see this place."

"But isn't it weird that we've never even had a clue that this place was here?" the boy continued. "After all, this seems to have once housed a rather large population, and it was totally abandoned and forgotten. Do you think something terrible might have happened to cause a mass exodus? Maybe something bad happened, and we should reveal this slowly."

"I never thought of it that way." The young artist frowned. "That would be awful, but there's no guarantee that something bad happened. Maybe they just moved when they found a better place to live.

"Lots of things could have happened," Adeleine chirped in as they worked, "and the only way we'll ever find out is if we keep at it!"

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Meta Knight's mind raced as he tried to think of what to do. He had no desire to fight against the duo for fear of harming them, but he would if he had no choice. Thankfully, they had yet to respond to him. The Walky was apparently unaware that he was not under the spell of one of its companions, and thus did not mark him as a threat.

All the more to his advantage. He began moving as slowly and as quietly as he could, doing his best to keep from the Walky taking notice of him. Maybe if he could destroy the Walky the way he destroyed the one from earlier, his knaves would be freed from this unnatural control.

He almost reached it when the Walky took notice of his movements. Realizing that this wasn't that action of one of the brainwashed slave of its master, its call changed into a panic laden cry. In response, Sword and Blade both sprang to life and withdrew their weapons.

The Star Warrior was forces to dodge as quickly as he could to avoid being hit by his brainwashed students. Realizing that he had no other option, he whipped out Galaxia and prepared to defend himself. "I am sorry for what I now must do," he said, hoping that they could hear him, and he charged forwards.

If either of them could understand him, they showed no sign of it. He was forced to face them both at once, a feat made all the more difficult by the fact that they were in an enclosed room.

It was Sword who attempted the first blow. Gripping the leather-bound part of the Zweihander in one hand as well as at the hilt, he jabbed quickly with it, trying to direct the blade into Meta Knight's visor. The warrior acted quickly, defending the vulnerable opening as best as he could. He moved fast, catching his student's weapon in Galaxia's prongs. With one swift movement, he wrenched the sword away and flung it across the room. He then stunned Sword with a quick kick, sending the brainwashed warrior backwards.

However, he did not have time to recuperate, as Blade rushed him from behind. The blow, though not unexpected, did come close enough in the wake of the last one to catch him somewhat off guard. The knight was only just able to pull the Dimensional Cape around himself, initiating a teleport.

The teleport, however, did disorient Blade enough the he could only stumble forwards for a moment and stare around himself in confusion. This was enough for him to completely miss as Meta Knight rematerialized right behind him. Taking the opportunity now that he had it, the warrior lunged forwards, striking a blow with Galaxia's hilt to the back of Blade's head. It hadn't been hard enough to do real harm, but it did allow for the knave to be knocked into a closet, which was immediately locked.

He wasn't allowed much time to recover from that encounter, though. Sword had taken the moment of distraction to recover his blade. Once he had reclaimed the weapon, he charged the veteran yet again. He struck dangerously close, only missing by inches as the warrior dodged quickly to the right.

Meta Knight quickly matched his brainwashed student in blows. Meta Knight noted with worry that whoever was working this mind control had done a good job of it, as Sword's fighting style had change from simple attacks that just about anyone could predict to much more skilled techniques. The knight was going to have to finish this soon.

He got his opportunity faster than he would have expected. Once again, Sword took advantage of the leather bound part of his sword, grasping it almost like a spear. He then charged, running against his master as hard as he could. Once again, he missed only by inches, but this time it ended with his weapon buried firmly in the wall.

Seeing the chance for a clear shot, Meta Knight chose to take this opportunity. While the Walky's puppet guards were momentarily occupied, the warrior swung Galaxia as hard as he could, firing off a Sword Beam. The attack did its work quickly, slicing right through the wicked device. As soon as the beam had struck it, the Walky melted into the colorful goo.

The Puffal warrior turned, expecting his students now to be in their right minds, since the sinister controller was now defeated. However, he had to rush out of the way as a still extremely aggressive Sword rushed him yet again.

Realizing that Sword was still under the influence of the Walky's song, Meta Knight resigned himself to the fact that he may very well be on his own in his mission. He met his student yet again sword to sword, prepared to fight for his life.

Halfway in, however, something happened to change that. He had found himself cornered and unable to teleport as he had last time. The warrior still had no desire to harm his apprentice, but it was increasingly likely that he was going to have no other option. In one last desperate attempt to use a non-lethal method, he struck Sword hard in the helmet, using the back of his gauntlet. The blow caused a resounding clang.

With the loud sound, Sword staggered back, dropping his weapon and grasping his head. Not wanting to waste time, Meta Knight quickly grabbed the fallen sword and pointed both at his opponent, waiting to see what the retaliation was going to be. However, it was not going to come.

"S-Sir Meta Knight?" Sword asked confusion clear in his tone. "What's going on?"

The warrior quickly lowered the weapon. "Sword," he said eager to believe his student to be free but cautious enough to wait on judgment, "can you understand me?"

"Course, I can, Sir," the knave responded. "Why are you pointing my own weapon at me?"

Meta Knight handed to sword back to its owner while he explained what had just happened. The young knight-in-training was surprised by what he heard. "You mean Blade and I just attacked you, because of what that thing was doing? I knew something was funny when we woke up in those bubbles, but I didn't imagine those things were hijacking out bodies."

"What do you mean, 'those bubbles,'" the older warrior asked.

"Well, right after we brought that thing back with us, it let out that call that brainwashed us. When we woke up, we were standing in some weird bubble in this dreamscape-type area. The whole village was there, too, and none of us could figure out how we got there. Then I heard a loud noise, like metal striking metal, and I woke up."

Meta Knight's eyes turned green as he thought about what he had just been told. "It must have been when my gauntlet struck your helmet. While the Walky was here, I couldn't get through to you, but once it was gone, a single loud noise must have been enough to awaken you. We must awaken Blade as well."

With that, the knight turned to the closet where his other apprentice was still trapped. He opened it, quickly dodging to one side as the door swung. As soon as Blade showed himself, the warrior moved quickly, striking once again so that metal hit metal.

That did the trick, and soon the brainwashing was undone. As soon as Blade was brought up to speed and hearing protection given out, Meta Knight turned quickly to the hallway. "We must hurry," he said as he rushed on. "There are many still under control of the nefarious machines. We must find aid, and fast." His knave both called affirmative as they hurried after him, and the three of them ran out to try to face this danger.

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The work on the last painting proved to be a bit harder than they anticipated. It turned out that due to the smaller area of the gate-side wall, the Ivy was clustered thicker over the area. This meant that it took a bit longer to clear out. Still they had cleared out a good portion of the lower half uncovered.

Like the others, it told of the history of the colony. However, this one was rather different from the others. Unlike most of the other murals, this one did not tell a story. Instead, it showed pictures of various creatures, all clad in armor and wielding weapons made out of wood and stone. Underneath each, there was a marking written in an unfamiliar language. Next to the writings were numbers, though the arrangement was in an unfamiliar patter. These portraits were more detailed, making it clear that these were commemorating certain individuals.

"These people look important," Ado said, running her hand over the painting. "Who do you think they were?"

"They were probably chieftains, or something like it," Adeleine responded. "Some culture leave a specific marking when someone important is selected. These markings underneath them must be their names. Some of these letters look like common language." She traced a hand over one of markings as she spoke. "However, I can't tell what the others are. Maybe there from an ancient form of the common tongue." She pulled out a notepad and began copying some of the markings. "I'll compare these to some other examples of ancient language when we get back."

"Good idea." Poppy proceeded to take out a notepad of his own. "I'll get these numbers down, too. They look like they might be dates, though the setup of the arrangements makes it hard to tell just exactly what dates they are. Once we get back, I'll go see if the bookstore has something on numeral arrangements."

While the other two began copying down the markings on the wall, Ado finished up clearing off the ivy. By now, most of it was cleared away, and they were very close to seeing the full list. Suddenly, a funny idea came to her. "Hey wouldn't it be neat if it turned out that one of these chieftains listed up here really was one of Tiff and Tuff's ancestors?"

"It would be interesting," Poppy said with a shrug. "However, I don't think it would be that likely. Just because they belong to the same race doesn't necessarily mean that there is any relation."

"Yeah, but just imagine what sort of reaction that would have," Adeleine laughed. "At the very least, there would be a near guarantee that Dedede would blow a gasket."

The boy grinned. "That would be funny. After all, _he_ holds no real claim to any authority. My dad was one of the people Dedede approached when he first arrived in town. From what he says, Dedede just came in one day with a whole group of Waddle Dees and built a castle. No introduction, no declaration of any king, no nothing. He just moved in and declared himself the king, though he didn't specify of what. The Cappies only let him stay because he really wasn't doing any harm, only being really annoying." He chuckled. "Not that he really could have done much at that time. The Waddle Dees were pretty much useless for anything but manual labor."

"It was shortly after that that the Ebrum family moved in, right?" Adeleine asked.

Poppy nodded. "Yeah. Tiff was born right after Sir Ebrum accepted the position as King Dedede's Cabinet Minister. Not long after that was when Meta Knight joined on as captain of the guard. Between the two of them, things started running more smoothly in the palace."

The artist nodded as she listened. "I'd believe that. While Dedede claims kingship, I've never seen him actually do anything. He mostly likes to lay around and order the Waddle Dees to do things for him. Occasionally he tries to pretend that he's in command, but whenever there's something that actually needs to be done, it's someone else who actually handles things. It seems to me that only the Waddle Dees take him seriously. Honestly, sometimes I even why they do."

"Who knows," Poppy said. "You could try asking, but I doubt you'll get an answer. After all, only Bandana Dee talks, but even he is completely bowled over by Dedede."

"Whatever the reason, I highly doubt that any actual claim to royal blood is it." Adeleine paused for a moment as she turned over a page in her notebook so she could continue writing down the markings from underneath the portraits. "I know it not very likely, but it would be rather interesting to find out if one of Tiff and Tuff's ancestors was on this list."

"Yeah," Poppy agreed, "but the chances aren't very likely, especially with how no one else knows that this place even exists. It would be neat, but about as likely as finding one of Kirby's ancestors on this list."

"Uh, guys," Ado said after she had scraped off the last of the ivy. "I think those odds just went up." When she had her companion's attention, she pointed out the last two portraits.

Both were clearly different from the others. The first was of a Dreamlander man, just like all the other. However, while he was still dressed in the manner of the others, his armor was painted in a different way, as if to represent a different material. Furthermore, his weapon, far from the stone and wood tools of the previous subjects, was a large bow of a light silver color that suggested that it was made of metal. He also wore a mask, which none of the other Dreamlanders had worn.

However, his companion was even more curious. He, too, wore a mask and armor of the same kind as the other one. He also wielded a metal weapon, in this case a pronged golden long sword. However, the most baffling thing was that he was not a Dreamlander. He was a jet black Puffal.  
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Moving through the palace was surprisingly easy. The three Warriors rushed through, doing their best to find anyone who had not yet been mesmerized by the insidious devices. However, it was becoming clearer and clearer how hard that was going to be. Not many people had been about in the late afternoon, and as such, the searchers only saw the occasional bunch of Waddle Dees. Even these were standing in a trance, unable to do anything but listen to the hypnotic music. The Knight and his apprentices rushed past as quietly as they could whenever they had to pass these groups, as they had no desire to tip off the Walkies to what they were doing.

They finally found a useful aid wandering in a daze through the kitchens. Bandana Dee had been making certain that the preparations for supper had been going well underway when the strange whirring started up. As such, he and the few Dees that manned the kitchens were making a slow procession out, followed closely by a Walky.

Meta Knight worked swiftly, using a Sword beam to deal with the machine before it even knew that they were there. After that, it was short work banging several pans together to wake up the Waddle Dees.

"What? Where am I," Bandana muttered as he shook himself awake. He rubbed his eyes for a moment, trying to grasp what had just happened to him, before he realized who he was face to face with. "Sir Meta Knight!" He jumped about three feet before quickly saluting with his spear so as to not insult the rather intimidating warrior. Unfortunately, the movement had been so quick that it flew out of his paw. "I didn't hear you come in!" The other Waddle Dees, sharing their commander's apprehension for the warrior, went back to their work, hoping to go unnoticed.

The Star Warrior nodded. "You would have had great difficulty in that, my friend. I'm afraid that his highness' new devices proved to be treacherous. They have unleashed some sort of hypnotic song, and everyone who hears it ends up in some sort of trance."

"I knew those things were no good!" the Dee said. "Those things seemed weird right from the start. I should have checked it out first before giving that box to the king."

"You gave him these devices?" Sword asked, shocked by the revelation.

"Well, yes and no." Bandana said as he retrieved his weapon. "I got it from Marx earlier this morning. He said that it was an anonymous package addressed to the king and asked me to deliver it to him. When Dedede opened it, it had the Walky and some weird headset that the king put on. After that, all this craziness with the creepy things started up."

"An anonymous delivery, you say? It seems more than likely to be the work of Nightmare." Meta Knight quickly handed Bandana a set of the hearing protection before motioning for the others to follow. "Here. These will protect you from falling victim to the siren song. If this is work of our enemy, then we are in severe trouble. We must find Kirby, and fast."

"I know where they are." Bandana sped up, motioning down a hallway. "I saw him and several of the other kids heading out into the courtyard before that song started up. Their probably out there right now." The warrior nodded, and followed where he lead.

However, they found the kids much sooner than expected. Instead of still being out on the lawn, they were moving slowly through the halls in single file. A Walky device was moving at the head, giving the call to bring its victims to some unknown destination.

Meta Knight rushed forwards and attempted to destroy the Walky with a well-aimed Sword Beam as he had done previously. However, this device caught on sooner to what was happening, and it changed its pitch to the attack call. Even though the attack still cut though the device, the call had still gone through, sending the youngsters out against their would-be rescuers.

Just as with Sword and Blade, the kids' attitude changed almost immediately. They still stared out in a daze, but instead of lying still, they rushed out at the four, attacking as best they could.

The warriors had the advantage in that, other than Kirby, the other children had little experience in actual fighting. However, there were more of the brainwashed young ones than there were of their attempted rescuers, which made things more difficult.

"Be careful not to harm them!" Meta Knight called, doing his best to keep Kirby back while fending off Marty and Mikey at the same time. "Keep in mind that this is not their choice."

"I'll do my best," Bandana responded as he fled from Ribbon, Lololo, and Lalala.

Sword called over the affirmative, but was too busy fending off Tuff, Andy, and Charlie to do much else. Meanwhile, Blade was had his hands full with Sammy, Kirsti, and Toby, and thus couldn't even call back.

The fight waged on for a while, but the sheer outnumbering, as well as the defenders' unwillingness to harm their attackers meant that it was slowing going against them. Indeed, it almost seemed like hope was lost, until a loud crash rang out, snapping the youngsters out of it.

"Medikni, poyo," Kirby mumbled as he backed out of the attack. "Wha' goin' on?"

"You were under the control of a wicked device," the knight explained, "but it was destroyed and its control broken by that crash." He explained everything they knew and how they had gotten there.

"But if you guys were all facing us," Lololo asked, "where did that crash come from."

"That would be me," a voice called out. They all turned and saw Tiff, who was standing by the entrance to the hallway, the shattered remains of a glass dish at her feet. "I'm glad to see you guys are okay now."

"We are," Meta Knight responded as he passed the hearing protection to the youngsters. "How did you escape from the devices' control?"

"I never was put under," the girl responded. "I was doing my best to filter out the weird music those things kept playing when that drone started up. Thankfully, I had already put some earplugs in, so I wasn't affected. I was looking to see if anyone else escaped when I found you guys."

"Thank you for your assistance," the knight said, bowing. "We must now find a way to break the spell for the rest of Cappy Town as well."

The Dreamlander girl grinned. "While I was looking for you guys, I found that out too. The master Walky is the one that's controlling Dedede. I'm sure if you destroy that, then everyone will be freed."

"We must hurry then. To the throne room!" The Warrior then rushed off, followed closely by the others.

It did not take long to make it to the throne room. The halls were all empty, making it possible for them to move without being seen. The doors of their destination had been left wide open, and the group rushed headlong in, eager to be rid of the sudden plague.

However, waiting for them just within the room, was an ambush. Hundreds of the Waddle Dees as well as several servants from around the village lay in wait in the shadow, all under control of a multitude of Walkies.

Meta Knight, however, caught sight of what their opponents were attempting to do. "It's a trap! Do not enter!" he called out.

However, his call only triggered the attack. Meta Knight moved as fast as he could, defending Kirby from being grabbed by their attackers. "Sword, Blade, go! Defend the children!" he instructed his students. "I'll be right behind you!"

"But sir-" Sword started, but he was cut off as Bandana rushed by him, carrying several of the babies and followed closely by Kirby and the other kids.

"You guy's heard him! Let's go!" the Waddle Dee called.

The knaves looked at each other for a moment before nodding. "Please hurry, sir," Blade said as the two headed off.

Meta Knight nodded. Once again, his attackers were not very skilled in the ways of battle, and thus he did not have a hard time fending them off. He was about to run himself when he heard a cry.

"Help!" Tiff called out. She had been caught by several of the Dees, who were dragging her back into the throne room. The knight caught a glimpse of what had happened the moment that she was pulled in.

Quickly, he rushed after her. Once inside, he fought off the assailants and helped the girl up. "Tiff, are you alright? Did they harm you?"

"Oh, I am fine," she responded. However, there was something wrong in her voice. "Soon, you won't be." With that, she struck him hard in the arm. This blow had been entirely unexpected and as such succeeded in knocking Galaxia from his grasp. After that, it was a matter of moments before he was captured.

Nearby, a mind controlled "Dedede" watched in approval. By now, the wicked headsets had grows with the power it had sucked from its victims, and as such was fully visible. "Well, well, it looks like you are just as gullible as the master said you were," his said, a laugh in his voice. "As if a kid would be strong enough to resist my control by herself. She fell to the hypnosis faster than your students did."

"Who are you?" the warrior sneered, unafraid to face his captor. "Why have you sent these foul devices here?"

"Oh, how rude of me," "Dedede" responded. "You know who my host is, but my name is Chit-Chat. The Walkies, as you noticed, are all under my control. I was sent here by my master to take out the Star Warriors here, i.e. you and Pinky. I don't think I need to tell you who my master is."

Meta Knight's only response was the fact that his eyes turned red. This, however, only seemed to amuse his captor. "Oh, temper, temper. I haven't done anything. Yet. You see, I'm going to need another host if I'm going to take that squire out, and this one's just not going to do the job." He shrugged. "Strong as this dope is, he's just not up to par with a Star Warrior. So I'm going to need a tougher host."

The warrior's eyes flashed with fear when he realized where this was going. "No!" he cried, struggling hard against his captors. "I will not fall to your control!"

"You don't have a choice," Chit-Chat responded. He then directed Dedede to take the headset off and force Meta Knight to wear it. The moment it was off him, the Pengu's face changed to match the glassy expression of the other victims, making it extremely obvious who was really in control. The knight struggled for a few moments against the control of the device, but eventually he couldn't fight any longer.

Once he was under its command, the brainwashed creatures released the hostage. "Meta Knight" grinned wickedly as he looked up. "Oh, yes," he said to himself. "Now here's a host with some power." He then turned to pick up the fallen Galaxia.

However, the blade could sense that is was not its true master in control, and sent out a burst of lightning. Chit-Chat scowled. "So the legends of the Galaxia are true," he muttered crossly. He took a breath before composing himself. "No matter. I can do this without the sword."

He turned, snatching the spear of a nearby Waddle Dee. "Run all you want, young warrior," he laughed. "You can't hide from me. Soon, all of this will be over, and all your friends will be mine, permanently."

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"Just wait until the other guys take a look at what we found," Adeleine expressed happily. She and her two companions were heading swiftly back through the tunnels to the village, both girls' bags full of the evidence they found at the site. "We not only found an area of ancient Dreamland civilization, but we've found out about an entire chapter of our history that had been previously forgotten!"

"You have to wonder why it was forgotten," Poppy mused. "After all, it's not every day that there is some sort of interplanetary alliance. Apparently a pretty important one, too, or else that Puffal wouldn't have been the only non-Dreamlander marked on that list."

"And did you check out those masks and weapons?" Ado asked. "These guys have got to have something to do with the Star Warriors. I mean, it can't be a coincidence that this Puffal wore a mask and was clearly wielding Galaxia."

"While there is a chance that the blade in the picture was not Galaxia, I have a feeling your right." Poppy gave a half-smile. "It would explain a lot of the weird things that goes on here, like why Sir Meta Knight and Kirby ended up here in the first place. After all, when you think of a place where warriors gather, Cappy Town isn't exactly the first suggestion."

"Once Mr. Curio gets back, we'll really be able to look into this," Adeleine said, grinning brightly. She squeezed through the hole that lead back into the Star Warrior ship. "Until then, we've got to tell everyone about what we found!"

"Alright then," Ado said as she and Poppy exited the old tunnels as well. "We'll drop most of the artifacts off at the shop before we head out. Last one to the shops a rotten egg!" With that, she and her twin shot off like a bullet.

"Hey, wait up! No fair!" Poppy called as he trailed behind the girls.

The shop was empty as Mr. Curio was still out, so it didn't take long for the trio to carefully put away the variety of pictures and artifacts that they had brought back. Once they had finished making sure that everything was secure, they headed out into the town, hoping that they would be able to find their friends quickly and give news of their amazing discovery.

However, once they arrived in Cappy Town proper, they were in for a shock. The streets were completely empty. Not even birds or animals occupied the streets. The village was known for its slow pace, but this was like a ghost town. It wall all rather eerie.

"Hello," Adeleine called, hoping to get a response. "Where is everybody?"

"It's completely deserted," Poppy said with apprehension clear in his voice. "Do you think something happened to everybody?"

"I hope not," Ado responded, looking through the various empty stands and stalls. "This is creepy." Suddenly, something caught her eye. She rushed to the window of the town restaurant and, much to her delight, found it to be full of the various town members. "Hey, guys, I found them!" she called out. "They're all in here!"

The three of them rushed into the building to find out why everyone had gathered in the building and why the streets were so empty. However, when they got inside, they were met with an odd surprise.

Standing at various sections of the restaurant were strange microphone like robots, all giving of a rhythmic hum. The bizarre sound given off by these creatures was extremely mesmerizing and even though it wasn't that loud a call one could hardly think for the sound of the trill. Within a few moments of entering the building, the trio too were pulled into the Walkies' nefarious enchantment.

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Meanwhile, the tension was getting extremely stifling among the small group of those who had protection from the hypnotic call. They had succeeded in escaping from the ambush at the throne room, but at the loss of Tiff and Meta Knight. The escapees now waited in the main corridor, hoping that they companions would join them soon. However, as the minutes ticked on, things weren't looking hopeful.

Trying to break the tension, Tuff spoke up first. "What happened to us back there?" he asked, turning to Sword and Blade. "All I remember is that we were listening to a broadcast over the Walky when it suddenly just stopped and started playing that weird noise. Then, all of a sudden, we're all trapped in those weird bubble things and all we can hear is that sound."

"I'm afraid that's about all we know, too," Sword said. "We were pulled under the enchantment as soon as it started. I wish we could tell you more."

"We were snapped out of it by Sir Meta Knight," Blade added. "Somehow he was able to avoid being pulled under at all, and he was the one who found out about how to break the hypnotic control."

"Medikni an' Tiff gonna be 'kay?" Kirby asked, fear for his mentor clear in his voice.

"Oh, you know those two," Bandana Dee laughed, trying to sound much bolder than he actually was. "I'll bet you that by now Meta Knight has got all those bad things beat and Tiff's given them a lecture on everything they've done wrong. It's gonna be all right." He said this in a way that made it clear he was just as much trying to convince himself as anyone else. "We're gonna be alright."

"Yeah," Ribbon added, hugging the small Puffal. "They will be alright. Why, I bet you they come right down the hallway right now and laugh at us for being so worried."

"You are right about that, at least in one way," a familiar voice said from within the shadows.

Eagerly, the small group shot up at the sound of the voice. They recognized it as Meta Knight, and were excited to see that he had won in his confrontation. However, as he drew closer, it was clear that something was off. This strangeness became completely clear as he approached.

"In a way, he is here," Chit-Chat said using Meta Knight's voice. "It is just that you have very good reason to be afraid." With that he lifted the spear. In response, Dedede jumped out and restrained Sword and Blade, tearing off their helmets and hearing protection in one swift move. Likewise, a multitude of Waddle Dees did the same to most of the other children, incapacitating them before they could react and removing their only protection against the hypnosis. Soon, the group was surrounded by a hoard of Walkies, all of whom were unleashing their song. Now, Kirby alone was free from the wicked song's influence.

"Now, child Warrior," Chit-Chat said, lowering the spear at Kirby, "you shall engage your mentor in one to one combat. Let's see how well he's taught you."

With that, he struck quickly. Kirby could only dodge as fast as he could to avoid being hit with the spear. Realizing what was happening; he attempted to run, to get away from the conflict, to try to figure out a way to stop this chaos.

However, his escape route was blocked by the mind washed slaves. Chit-Chat mocked him from behind. "Did you think it was going to be that easy?" he asked. "This is only going to end in one of two ways, kiddo. Either you die, or your beloved mentor does. And if he does, well, then I'll take a new host to kill you." He gave a mocking shrug. "So I guess that means there's only one way this is going to end."

Kirby kicked out, trying to hit the evil headphones. He had no desire to hurt Meta Knight, but he also didn't want to die himself. He had to try to figure out a way to take out Chit-Chat without harming the elder Puffal.

However, this goal seemed almost impossible. The machine had already expected that this would be the little one's attempted goal and did everything in his power to make it so that Kirby could not land a hit that would not harm Meta Knight in some way. Furthermore, he had arranged it so that there was no copy ability that the youngster could use. The lack of an available weapon and his own apprehension against fighting his mentor put the little one at impossible odds, and he was soon cornered and in a position for Chit-Chat to make the killing blow.

However, when he tried to do so, something stopped him. "What?" the device said in confusion. "What's stopping me?"

Suddenly, Meta Knight's eyes flashed. "I won't let you do this," he said, struggling against the control and succeeding in flinging away the spear.

There was a clear struggle within the one body between the two. However, as much as he fought against the control, it was becoming increasingly clear that Meta Knight could not win on his own.

"You are tiring, Star Warrior," Chit-Chat taunted. "Don't think you can hide that from me. Soon, you won't have the strength to fight anymore. After that, the child's blood will spill, and you yourself will forever be my host. You can't defeat me."

"I might not be able to," the warrior responded, "but there is one who can." He quickly turned to Kirby. "Kirby, inhale one of the Walkies, now!"

The little one honestly didn't understand why he was being told this, but he knew his mentor well enough to know that he had a plan in mind. Quickly, he inhaled deep and succeeded in ensnaring one of the wicked devices. Once he had caught it, he changed in a flash, and when he was done, he had on a set of headphones and a real microphone in his hand. He had become Microphone Kirby.

Chit-Chat laughed when he saw this. "Do you really think that a child with a microphone is going to scare me?"

"He should," was Meta Knight's response. "Now Kirby, sing as loudly as you can!"

The little one's face brightened when he heard this order. He loved to sing, and he loved to sing loud, but he rarely was ever allowed to. "'Kay!" he responded cheerfully.

Suddenly, music began to play. Unlike the tuneless trill the Walkies had been playing, this was actually a melody. First, a drum opened up the music, followed closely by strings with elements of a harp in the background. It was actually rather pretty.

For about the first sixteen seconds, anyway. Then Kirby opened his mouth. "Kaabii! Poyo poyah eee!" he sang out in a shrill voice. It was like thousands of nails were going over a thousand chalkboards. The intense sound covered over everything, and no one was spared from the cry.

"What, what is he doing?!" Chit-Chat cried in shock. "Slaves! Stop him now!"

However, everyone was already reacting to the awful singing. No one was able to stay standing, and they were clutching their heads trying to block out the awful sound.

Even out in the village, the terrible singing could be heard. Because Kirby had inhaled one of the Walkies, all of them were forced to play his performance, and soon there wasn't a person in Cappy Town who wasn't despirately grasping their heads trying to filter out the terrible sound.

Kirby himself, however, was blissfully ignorant to how terrible is his singing actually was. His headphones were playing the original song, a happy little ditty about tambourines, rainbows, and balloons, and how evil would eventually be defeated by sweetness. He liked the song and did his best to follow along with the words, though he replaced any word he couldn't pick up on with poyo. Doing this, he happily sung on, unaware of the sparking Walkies and struggling people surrounding him.

This all went on for about a minute and a half. Finally, Chit-Chat couldn't handle the awful sound any longer. "No!" he cried out as sparks danced around him. "How is he doing this?! How?!" With that, the terrible device exploded. He was followed soon after by every single Walky.

His song now finished, Kirby lost the Microphone ability. He looked around in shock at the sight around him. "Boom?" he said simply, confusion clear on his face. However, he brightened up when he realized that the terrible things that had been controlling his friends were gone. "Eve'yun 'kay?" he asked.

Meta Knight rubbed his head, forcing back the headache that Kirby's singing had caused. He looked up, but couldn't see clearly because his visor was cracked. "Yes, Kirby," he said, "everyone's alright. You did very well."

"Poyay!" the little one cheered.

Nearby, Dedede pushed himself up. "Uggh," he groaned. "What train hit me?"

Hearing him get up, Meta Knight turned to the Pengu. "The Walky devices you were using turned out to be a plot by our enemies to take control of us. You and I were both the victims of its leader." The warrior Puffal's voice took a scolding tone here. "I hope this has taught you not to accept "gifts" that you don't know where they came from."

"I-uh-well," the Pengu stuttered, trying to come up with something to say. "It was Marx! He brought it in!"

The jester, who had been amongst the crowd, shook his head. "Ah, sire, I merely meant for you to discover where it came from, not start using it. You must try to understand what you are being told."

Dedede had no response to that. "Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I won't just accept mysterious packages. Are ya done now?"

"Just one last thing," the warrior added. "In the future, if Miss Tiff warns you about something, I would listen to her." The warrior then turned to head back to his room to deal with them mess made by the Walkies that didn't spontaneously combust. As he left, his eyes turned pink in response to the outrages mutterings Dedede was giving.

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A while later, he was still examining the mysterious fluid, even though it had by now dried up. He was at a loss as to what it was, and was determined not to leave it until he figured out what it was.

He was so focused on this issue that he was almost startled by a knock at the door. "Yes," he called, turning to see who was visiting him now. "You may come in."

It was Ado and Adeliene, who we're clearly shaking off the effects of a bad headache. The warrior chuckled as he saw them. "I see you heard Kirby's performance today."

"So that's what that was?" Ado asked. "I thought it was feedback playing over several shredders. At least it snapped us out of that weird trance."

The warrior smiled, and his eyes turned a soft pink. "Indeed, it did. Now, do you wish to speak to me about something?"

Adeleine nodded before taking out a picture. "We were exploring what was left of the Star Warrior ship when we accidentally found a tunnel. It leads to this really bright pretty garden like area that had all sorts of painting around it. It seemed to belong to some ancient Dreamlander tribe."

"This is all very interesting, but I do not see how I can be of any assistance," the Puffal said. "I'm afraid my knowledge of Pop Star's history is sadly limited."

"Well," the young artist continued, "this was one of the portraits." She handed the picture to Meta Knight, and he could now see it was a painting of a masked black Puffal wielding a golden pronged sword. "We thought that the sword looks a lot like Galaxia, so we wanted to ask you if you knew who this was."

Meta Knight started when he saw the picture, but handed it back. "I might have an idea," he said, "but there is no guarantee that I am correct. I will have to see the area myself before I can give an answer for certain."

"Alright then," Ado responded. Suddenly, she looked up in surprise. "Hey, have you taken up painting?"

"Painting?" the veteran asked. "No, I have not. Why do you ask?"

"Because you've got a big paint stain, right there." The young artist pointed out the stain from where the Walky had dissolved into the goop.

"You are certain this is paint?" Meta Knight asked, surprised by this new lead.

Adeleine examined the spot. "Oh yeah, this is paint. We've got spots just like this at home all over the place. You're going to need a paint remover to get it out."

"Ah, well, thank you." The Puffal motioned for the twins to leave. "I am afraid I am rather busy right now. I will look into the portrait later. Thank you for your help with the stain. Good night."

The twins returned the farewell and headed back home for the night. Once again alone, Meta Knight turned warily towards the spot. Who could make a creature of paint?

To be continued…


	17. Muckraker, Part One

Kirby examined the area around him. Long corridors made up of metal lead out in different directions. Each one was lit up by lamps set uniformly along the walls. Every couple of feet or so there was a window which looked out into the night sky.

He knew this place; he could feel it. However, while this strange place was familiar, there was nothing about it that gave a specific. It was another one of those things where he recognized everything just enough to be bothered by it, and not enough to specifically tell just what it was.

Eager to come up with something along the lines of recognition, he rushed over to one of the porthole like windows. Standing on the tips of his feet, he peered out to try to catch a glimpse of the outside terrain for a hint to where in Pop Star he was.

However, he realized as he looked out that he wasn't in Pop Star. Instead, he was above it. The bright star-shaped planet shown with a bright and warm light, as if it was welcoming the little one there for the first time. All around it real stars shown with a bright light, though they did not twinkle. Kirby would have been disappointed by this if he had not been too startled by the sight of Pop Star.

"Enjoying the sights, huh, li'l guy?" a voice from behind asked. Kirby, surprised by the sudden question, turned to see who had spoken to him. Much to his delight, it was Ax, though it took Kirby a moment to remember that since Meta Knight's student wasn't wearing his armor. The little Puffal tried to call out a greeting to Ax, but much to his dismay only a squeaked "Poyo" came out, no matter how hard the little one tried to greet his friend by name.

Ax himself didn't seem to mind the discrepancy in Kirby's vocabulary. "That cheery little planet is Pop Star," he said, as if that wasn't well known to the pink Puffal. "We go there every now and then, but it's not a very important place. Right now, most of the people down there don't even know we exist."

Kirby glanced up in confusion, wanting to ask how they could be a secret when they had so many friends who lived there. However, once again, all he could get out was a "Poyo p'ya?"

"Keep working on those words, okay?" Ax said, affectionately patting the little one on the head. "One of these days you'll get something out."

"Squire Ax! There you are!" Both Kirby and Ax turned to see who had addressed them. It was a shaggy man covered in long brown hair. He had a mustache a lighter shade of brown than his body and wore a green hat with a bright gold star on it.

"You were supposed to be in my class fifteen minutes ago," the man scolded. "What do you think you are doing out here?"

"Oh, that was today?" Ax asked, genuinely shocked and rather scared. "I forgot! Really, I did!"

"You're lucky that Sir Arthur himself asked me to come get young Cevio here for the council. Now you'd better get to the class room right now. Don't think that you can get away with playing hooky just because you're one of Sir Meta Knight's squires. On the double!"

"Yes, Sergeant Cosmos, sir!" Ax said, quickly throwing a salute. "Bye, Cevio! See you after class."

Kirby looked after the fleeing boy, about to ask who Cevio was, when the man took him by his shoulder. "Wake up, Kirby," the man said as they started walking. The little one was about to ask how the man knew him when the man repeated, "C'mon, Kirby. You fell asleep again."

The little one blinked a few times before he realized what was happening. It wasn't the strange hairy man who was shaking him awake. It was Ribbon, who was looking down, concern clear on her face. "You alright, Kirby?" she asked once it was clear that he was fully awake.

The little puffball rubbed his eyes before nodding. "Kaabii a'ight," he said before yawning. He considered telling the fairy about his dream but decided against it.

"Good, because it's almost time." Ribbon grinned brightly before settling down next to Kirby. It took the little one a few moments to remember what they were doing, but once he did he excitedly turned his eyes skyward.

According to Coo, today was going to be an important day for the great Dynablade. Kirby wasn't exactly certain why, but today the great bird was going to fly out to Ice Cream Island, which was located in the middle of Orange Ocean, to retrieve several fruit trees which grew there. As such, it was going to be one of the few times that the Dynablade could be seen away from her nest, and Kirby and Ribbon had found the perfect place to view the flight.

Sadly, only the two of them could attend. The Ebrum siblings had to go off on some sort of political trip with their parents, and of course Lololo and Lalala went with them. The Puffalings had a checkup appointment, and with the Ebrums gone that meant that Meta Knight and his knaves were going to have their hands full with keeping the seven babies in control in the doctor's office. Ado and Adeleine had started looking into the journal again as well, which meant that they were going to be busy for a while.

Oh, well. At least he and Ribbon could enjoy the flight. "Isn't this amazing?" the fairy asked as she settled against the tree. "It's been years and years since anyone's actually seen a lone Dynablade in this flight. Not since Sir Meta Knight was a child." She froze for a second, as if she hadn't meant to say that last part. "I mean, it would seem to be that long ago, not that I know about his childhood." She laughed a bit nervously after that.

Kirby hadn't noticed her little slip up. He was too busy staring up into sky, waiting to see the great bird. He knew well enough what Dynablade was, but he had never seen her before. Dynablades are extremely secretive during nesting, with only trusted birds allowed to visit. However, this day would mark that the secretive time was about over for some exciting reason.

That's when it happened. With a bright burst of color and sound, Dynablade took to the sky from her mountain nest. The two youngsters watched in amazement as she passed by. The bird looked so amazing, soaring through the air without any trouble or problem. The only thing on the great creature's mind was fulfilling her goal. It was awe inspiring and impossible to tear your eyes away from.

Well, almost impossible. Kirby felt something stick into his side as he watched. At first, he attempted to brush away the annoyance without diverting his gaze, but this proved ineffective. The offending object merely returned and poked him harder. Frustrated, the little one turned to deal with whatever it was, but completely forgot what he was doing when he saw it.

It was the brightest, shiniest, reddest tomato that Kirby had ever seen before. With a vigor born of enthusiasm, he rushed up and went over to grab the delectable fruit. Or was it a vegetable? Ah, he didn't care. It was delicious. That was all that mattered.

He rushed over to the tomato and, without a moment's hesitation, inhaled it. His goal now achieved, he turned to go back to where Ribbon was still seated when he spotted another piece of food, this time a watermelon. Eagerly he went over to eat the fruit, and found another and another. Soon, he was following a trail left to the height of the mountains without even knowing it.

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The artist twins had been very, very busy for the last couple of days. Ever since their discovery in the tunnels, they had been hard at work trying to uncover just what that area was. However, going had been slow and most of the people who could help them with this project were busy, so Ado and Adeleine had decided, for the time being, to turn their attention back to Sir Heavy Knight's journal.

However, once again, there wasn't really much to read. A lot of the pages had become corrupted by the natural wear and tear of time, so there were places that they just needed to skip over entirely. Furthermore, a lot of the passages that were still whole were completely uninteresting, speaking of grownup business dealing with people and places neither of them had never even heard. As such, when they finally did find something, they both got excited.

That morning was one of these few, exciting moments. "Hey, Ado, check this out!" Adeleine called. "I've found another one that refers to Meta Knight!"

"Really?" Her twin rushed over, excited to see what had been discovered. "What's it about?"

"It seems to be a while after his christening," Adeleine answered. "Let me see. Here we are!" She picked up the book and began reading. "'Meta never fails to amaze me. Today was the first test for class placements."

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_The hallway where the testing was going on was packed tight with youngsters running about. They were all recently christened squires and every single one of them was excited to find out what class level they were going to be placed in._

_This was done because of the varying age range that squires fell in. The majority of them were around very young. These were the children who had been born to Star Warriors and thus had been in this culture their whole lives. Others, however, were slightly older children who had been adopted and recruited at a later period in life. All this was an exciting business. Even though they had become squires when they had been christened only a few months ago, the listing of classes was when their training really began._

_At first, Meta was not quite certain how to take things. This was rather overwhelming to the young Puffal, who had not spent much time away from his parents as of yet. Furthermore, the squires were from many different groups, so most of them were strangers. However, his parents would be there to view his individual performance, and there was at least one friendly face._

_"_ _Hey, Meta! Over here!"_

_The young Puffal turned to see his mouse friend from Pop Star waving to him. It had been a little while since he had seen his friend, formally Gonfflen and now Daroach, and the blue puff was very happy to see that he was among those who had come to the main ship for the testing._

_"_ _P'yu poyo, D'woach!" Meta called out as he ran over to where his friend was waiting._

_Heavy Knight chuckled as he watched his son race out. Meta had been a rather timid child, even when he was little. As such, it was kind of a relief to see the little one so eager to be with a friend._

_He did have a little apprehension about the tests though. He hadn't brought it up in conversation, but the Boxin warrior was a little concerned about his son's size. Meta had always been on the small size, even by Puffal standards, and he hadn't grown all too much. Compared with the Star-Jumper children in his age range, the little boy was downright tiny. Heavy Knight shook his head, as if trying to clear out those thoughts._ This must be an inhaler thing _, he thought, trying to console himself._ He'll be just fine _._

_He was drastically shaken from his thoughts by a voice. "So, come to watch the placement testing, huh?" a rather boisterous sounding voice asked._

_The Boxin warrior turned to look at the speaker, but he didn't need to do so to identify the speaker as Lady Almethea, who was in charge of the training of the younger squires. "Wouldn't miss it for the world," he responded. "Meta's going to be taking it today."_

_The lady, a warrior from a race of tall bird-like creatures, grinned brightly. "He is now, huh? Well, little Meta's grown fast. Chose an odd name for him, though. What made you and Rosalyn settle on Meta?"_

_"_ _Meta is the Boxin pronunciation for the Puffal name Metian," he explained. "Rosalyn and I thought that he should have some connections to his roots as a Puffal as well as to the Boxin culture."_

_"_ _Is that so?" she responded before laughing again. "Well, then he'll have a fine name to live up to. By the way, where's Rosalyn? I would have thought she'd be here."_

_"_ _She wanted to be," he answered, "but she wasn't feeling well this morning. We thought it would be best if she stayed in for the time being."_

_A loud whistle blew, signaling the start of the testing. "That's my cue," she said before turning to go. "I'd better head in before people start wondering what's keeping me. See you when it's Meta's turn."_

_Meanwhile, the two kids were eagerly awaiting their opportunity to prove themselves. "Isn't this great, Poyo?" Daroach asked, unrestrained excitement in his voice. "After today, we're gonna really be trained in everything that it means to be a Star Warrior. Weapons training, and how to fly the jets, and everything like that!" The young mouse motioned as he spoke, as if he had already started at the aforementioned training exercises._

_"_ _Poyo poy!" Meta exclaimed happily. Usually his friend's enthusiasm exhausted the young Puffal, but today was different. Why, how could one be anything but excited when such an important event was about to happen._

_"_ _You know he's not actually going to be trained this soon, right?" a girl sitting nearby added._

_Daroach turned to her. "And why would that be?" he asked, a skeptical tone in his voice._

_The girl pointed to Meta. "He's too young. Keep in mind, you were a recruit while he was probably a born-in. Everyone knows that all the born-ins and most of the littler recruits end up in a separate class, and don't actually get trained until their a bit older."_

_"_ _No way," the mouse responded dismissively. "You haven't seen him is action like I have."_

_The girl shrugged. "Suit yourself."_

_Meta couldn't help but be a little concerned. Daroach was convinced that training was eminent, but the Puffal didn't have his friend's confidence. Was he too young to start training?_

_He didn't have too much time to worry about it, though. The line move from the youngest to the eldest, and as such he was one of the first squires called back. He was disappointed to see that Daroach wasn't going to be allowed to go back as well, but was relieved to see that his father was already waiting inside with the two instructors._

_One of them, a man with green hair named Sir Cassio, stepped forwards. "Alright, Meta. This is a very simple test in self-defense. We just want to see how you respond to an attack. Now, it might seem intense, but nothing that you see in here can hurt you, though you can interact with them. Alright?"_

_The little one glanced nervously over at his father, who smiled and noddle approvingly. Reassured by the affirmation the little one nodded confidently. "Poyo!"_

_Sir Cassio checked off several items on a piece of paper. "Very good. I'm going to leave while the simulation is going on. I and several others will be viewing from another room. Just call if things get to intense." With that, he, the other instructor, and Heavy Knight stepped through an opened door, which slid shut behind them._

_In the hidden room, Heavy Knight couldn't help but be a bit nervous. "You are quite certain nothing can go wrong with this."_

_"_ _I wouldn't worry," Cassio responded. "This is on the lowest level, and even so most of the time the simulation is on for about thirty seconds with the younger ones. Then either they get 'caught' and the simulation ends or they call for the simulation to end."_

_"_ _Yeah," Almethea said, patting the Boxin on the back. "This is merely a formality for the younger ones. Nine times out of ten, they need more preparation before they'll be ready for actual training, anyway. Alright, training simulation on!"_

_Inside the training chamber, Meta waited patiently for the test to begin. He didn't know quite what to expect, and thus was completely unprepared when a strange environment appeared around him and what appeared to be a large bolder fell right next to him. He fell back to one side and looked up to see a swarm of Bronto Burts right above him, a good deal of them carrying more large rocks._

_Without a second thought, he inhaled the rock and looked for a close-together cluster to aim at. Once he had selected an ideal group, he let loose, firing a bright golden start at the creatures. It made contact, crashing into the lead and bursting into a hail of golden shards, which then rained on the followers._

_He didn't have time to rest, though, as several Scarfies came at him along with the Burts. These creatures were deceptively cute at first, but took no time in advancing towards the youngster._

_He tried inhaling these new creatures at first, but found to his dismay that they were immune to that attack. Glancing at his surroundings, he came up with a new strategy instead. Dodging quickly past the Scarfies, he inhaled deeply and took to the air. His flight was little more than up and down floating with some clumsy swimming motions. However, it was unexpected enough that he was able to escape the monsters, as their attempt to jump him resulted in them all crashing into one another._

_He was able to maneuver himself over to where several of the remaining Bronto Burts were clustered. Releasing the breath he had taken, he shot out an air bullet, which succeeded in demolishing through three of them. The remaining three were thrown into a bit of a tizzy, but he still succeeded in inhaling them with a deep breath. That accomplished, he turned to face the Scarfies._

_The monsters had now thoroughly recovered from the shock of his flight and were rushing at him. Quickly, the baby Puffal unleashed the inhaled Burts, now wrapped up in a large gold star orbited by two smaller stars. This star ripped through all but one of the Scarfies and unlike the other stars didn't explode until it made contact with the nearby wall._

_The majority of the monsters taken care of, Meta turned to face the last one. The Scarfy rushed at the little Puffal, who dodged the attack. This caused the creature to smack into the wall where it was stunned. It was easily dispatched with a single kick after that._

_With the last Scarfy defeated, the false environment faded away._ Training simulation, level one, finished. Level passed _, the computer announced._

_Within the observation room, all was silent. Indeed, the young one's response was extremely unexpected. This had never happened before. It wasn't that no student had ever passed before. They had, just not this young and never on their first try. Not a word was spoken as the door slid open again._

_As such, Meta wasn't quite certain what the adults were thinking when they entered the training room. He rushed over and began tugging on his father's hand. "Papa, poy poyo poyo?" he said, as if asking for affirmation._

_The contact allowed for surprise to wear off and pride to surface. "You did very well, Meta," he said, and a smile broke over his face as he picked his son up. "Very good job!"_

_"_ _Poya!" the little one squealed, relieved that he had done a good job._

_"_ _Oh, Meta did more than well," Cassio said, going over a pile of notes he had been writing. "From the looks of things, not only did he complete the course, he did so at record age. We have never had a first go completion, even at such a low difficulty level."_

_Almethea laughed. "Take good care of this little guy," she said, clapping Heavy Knight heartily on the back. "It looks like you've got a little prodigy on your hands!" She then turned to Meta. "I'll be seeing you in training, knight-to-be."_

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Kirby hadn't hesitated a moment to follow the trail wherever it was leading him. Any suspicion he might have had about the source of the treats along the way were immediately driven out of his mind by the time he saw the next one. As such, the pink puff didn't even notice where he was until he was a good ways up the mountain.

Not that it really mattered. The little warrior knew this area well enough to make it back home on his own. He could even see exactly where he should go. However, something did catch his eye, and he decided to check out this novelty before he went back home.

It was the biggest nest that he had ever seen, except for maybe the one where he and Meta Knight had stayed when that mean whistle lady had taken them. He toddled into the nest to get a closer look and found three eggs. Each one was twice as big as he was! He knew very well what eggs were, and he approached them with innocent delight shining in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Ribbon was close to a panic. While she had been watching the flight, Kirby had slipped away somewhere. Remembering what had happened the last time that he had disappeared, she prepared to rush off to find help again. However, she stopped herself, reminding herself that last time he had been abducted by incompetent crooks.

"He's probably just wandered off somewhere this time and isn't too far away," the fairy told herself. "I'll just check around to make sure he's alright."

She flew around the base of the mountain, looking for any sign that the little Puffal had been in the area. However, much to her dismay, there wasn't anything even close to a clue. This didn't stop her from continuing her search. She was determined not to look to anything else until she found where he had gotten to. The young fairy was so intent on her goal that she almost didn't notice when someone called out her name.

"Ah, g'day, Ribbon. Fancy meeting you out here." She looked up and realized that it was Rick the Hamster who had greeted her. "Enjoying the good weather, are you?" the friendly creature continued.

"I'm sorry, Rick," Ribbon called back as she flew right by him. "I don't have time to talk. I'm kind of in a rush right now."

The hamster rushed after her, keeping up with her on the ground. "Maybe I can help, then. What seems to be the problem?"

"It's Kirby," was the quick response. "We were sitting out here to view Dynablade's flight. We were watching it just under that tree, and I looked away from him for only a minute. When I turned back, he was gone! I've been looking for him, but I can't find any sight of him." She clutched her hands together. "I hope he's alright."

Rick nodded as he listened. "I'm afraid I haven't seen the tyke all day," he admitted, "but I did see something strange this morning. Someone had left food scattered over the path that lead up the mountain. I hadn't thought about it at all when I noticed it. Maybe someone wanted a closer spot and dropped some of their lunch as they went?"

"Maybe," she said. "If that did happen, and Kirby found it, than it's very likely that he wound up wherever the trail leads."

"That the idea," he agreed. "C'mon, I'll show you where I found it." The hamster then took off running on all fours. Close behind, Ribbon flew as fast as she could after him. They might not have a guarantee that he would be where they were headed, but at least now they had an idea of where to go.

Sure enough, when they reached the trail that Rick had mentioned. Just as he had suspected, the abandoned foods were no longer where they had been. This almost promised that the ever hungry tot had been this way.

They followed the path as it climbed the mountain, searching for any sign of their young friend. However, as they went on, Rick became more and more anxious.

"This isn't good," he muttered as they rushed along.

Ribbon was concerned by this remark. "What's not good?"

"How far we're going on this trail," he clarified. "You see, this path goes up to some of the highest peaks of the mountain, and is one of the easiest pathways there. However, not to many people travel along here because it goes right to the Dynablade's nest. Not too many people are allowed up there, except for a select few, and all trespassers face the wrath of a very dangerous bird."

"Then if Kirby came up here," the fairy said as realization came to her, "than he could be in a lot of trouble! We had better find him fast."

The duo move as quickly as they could before long the nest was in sight. The came forwards and saw what they had hoped they wouldn't see. Kirby was sitting in the nest, right among a clutch of eggs.

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_In the council chambers, energy seemed to flow free among the gatherers. Little Meta's sheer success at his test was important enough that it merited the attention of the council, and of Sir Arthur in particular. Even though this was a more casual meeting, with no one in armor, the air that something important was happening still clung close._

_"_ _I'm honestly not quite certain what happened, sir," Cassio said as he gave his report. "I have never seen anything like it. We had set the simulation to level one, as we always do with young ones his age, and put it to Bronto Burts and Scarfies only. After that, he just took to it on his own!"_

_"_ _I'll say he did," Almethea agreed. "I mean, I knew those inhalers were tough, but I had no idea it started so young. He was running and flying about in a way that would make some of my third and fourth years proud."_

_"_ _This is all very unexpected," Arthur said. He tapped the side of his head in thought. "Meta had been very quiet until now. Heavy, you have seen no sign of this before?"_

_"_ _Never," the Boxin responded. "As you said, he has always been a rather mild little one. There was an incident several months ago, but even then he didn't respond any differently than any other young one might have."_

_"_ _Perhaps this is something natural to an inhaler," Galahad ventured to guess. "After all, Popopo is an extremely hostile world. The average inhaler might need their abilities of self-defense much earlier than most Star-Jumpers due to such a predator filled world."_

_"_ _That does sound like a plausible theory," Lancelot said. "It would explain the apparent discrepancy in his abilities and temperament. What might be considered an impressive achievement for a Star-Jumper may very well be business as usual for a young Inhaler."_

_"_ _That simple leave the question," Percival said, bring up what everyone had in mind, "what shall be done with young Meta. He clearly has the skills to be able to handle the earlier parts of training, but he is still very young and a good deal smaller than his peers. Should he start in a more advanced level?"_

_Arthur nodded. "This is an important question, and one that only one person in this room can answer." The head of the Star Warriors turned to Heavy Knight. "You are the boy's father. What do you say?"_

_"_ _It's not a simple question," Heavy Knight responded. "A part of me becomes anxious when I even think of him starting training so early. However, he has proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he can handle this work. I believe that the experience will be good for him. He shall start training on the more advanced level."_

_"_ _So it shall be," Arthur said. "We'll just have to watch our young prodigy as he grows. I would say this meeting is finished." He lifted his sword, as was tradition to end a meeting._ Donec tenebras perit _."_

 _The others responded in turn._ "Et ad lumen, nunquam evanescere."

_The meeting finished, the warriors turn to leave, each to their own living quarters. However, as they left, Arthur called one of them back. "Cassio, will you please stay for a moment."_

_The man was surprised, but nodded. "Yes, sir. What would you like me to do?"_

_The leader of the Star Warriors pulled up a screen. "There has been some strange anomalies coming from the Zeta Quadrant. Various planets that we have been in contact with had turned up black. No one seems to know what is going on in that area. I would like you to gather a team and begin investigation."_

_Sir Cassio saluted. "I shall start as soon as possible. Good evening, Sir Arthur."_

_"_ _A good evening to you too," the warrior responded. As soon as Cassio had left, the green Puffal turned to the window at the back of his office. The vastness of space seemed to peer right at him, offering the challenges of the future. The head of the Star Warriors looked out, hoping against hope that they would be able to handle those challenges._

To be continued…


	18. Muckraker, Part Two

"Kirby!" Ribbon called out when she and Rick had finally spotted the young Puffal. He was seated within the nest very close to the three eggs, and the fairy was worried that he was about to make a very dangerous decision. "Get away from there!"

Kirby glances back from where he was seated. He smiled when he recognized his friends, and waved at them without moving from his spot. "Hii, Wibbon! Hii, Wick," he called out. "Kaabii founded eggs!"

"We know you found eggs, mate," Rick said from the far edge of the nest, not wanting to get any closer. "However, those aren't for eating. Why don't you come back over here and we'll go find a snack elsewhere."

This statement seemed to confuse the little warrior. "Why Kaabii eat eggs?"

"You mean you're not going to?" Ribbon asked. She was surprised by the tot's question, as she had initially assumed that he would view the eggs as food.

In response, Kirby shook his head. "No eat. Eggs go'na hatch, an' t'en Kaabii have mo'e bwotahs an' sistahs."

It took the duo a minute to understand what he was saying, but it came clear after a few moments. You see, the hatching of the Puffalings was still clear in the young one's memory. He hadn't known then quite what was going on, but he learned very quickly that each of the strange orbs that he and Meta Knight found contained a young Puffal. As such, the moment he found this large nest with the three giant eggs sitting in them, he grew very excited. Why, if each of those little eggs contained one baby Puffal, then these larger ones must have at least ten each! He then decided that he was going to stay right there and wait for the eggs to hatch.

"It's a nice thought," Rick said, a slight laugh of relief in his voice, "but I'm afraid there's one problem with your plan. These aren't Puffal eggs. They belong to Dynablade. She was going off on her flight to get food for the chicks, which are going to hatch soon."

Kirby looked disappointed for a moment. These were Dynablade eggs? So he wasn't going to get more siblings. Oh well. "Still see t'e chicks?" he asked. They might not be Puffals, but he'd still like to be able to greet the newborns as they came into the world.

"I'm afraid not," Ribbon said as she guided the little Puffal out of the nest. "I'm afraid we're not supposed to be here. We need to leave before their mother comes back." She gave a small smile as he began to move their way. "It's very sweet that you want to say hi, though."

"Yes," an unfamiliar voice responded. "It is very sweet. I'm sure that Keeby here is very…sweet."

The trio turned to the speaker and found to their dismay that there was no one in sight. "Who's out there?" Ribbon asked, trying to discover who had spoken to them but not quite sure she wanted to find out.

"Why I did, Thread the fairy," the voice repeated. "You said that you thought Keeby was sweet, and I agreed with you. I'm sure you'll be very good, too."

This was starting to freak them out. "Now listen here," Rick said, shaking his paw at the mysterious voice. "It's no good just talking out at someone without showing yourself! Now, who are you and where are you hiding?"

"There's no need to get hostile, Roll the hamster," the voice said again. "If you really wanted to see me, all you had to do was ask." With that, the speaker revealed himself.

Quite frankly, the trio wasn't sure what was happening. A strange goo began bubbling between the cracks in the nest, oozing and flowing through the sticks before it began moving towards them. As it got closer, they realized to their horror that there were eyeballs floating in the weird glop. Five in all, they spun and rotated in the uncanny flow. It began collecting on their side of the nest, forming into a self-contained blob right in front of them, all five of its eyes still traveling through its body, though they now focused on the three. All in all, they didn't know whether to run, fight, or throw up.

It got worse when the thing spoke. A crevice opened in the blob, forming the mouth that it spoke through. "So now that you can see me," it said, grinning in the most unnerving way possible, "what do you think? Am I not stunning?"

"You're something, alright," Rick responded. Near him, Ribbon and Kirby were too disgusted to think of anything to say.

The creature seemed to find this amusing. "So, what brings three little morsels such as you up here? Don't all good little creatures avoid the nest of the big, bad Dynablade?"

Ribbon had by now recovered enough from the shock to respond. "I think we could ask you the same question, Mr. Mud-monster."

The creature pretended to be shocked by this. "Now, now, there's no need for name calling, Thread. I am a Magmire, after all, not a mud monster. As for your response, I suppose that is true. I came up here to have a little meal. Nothing like newly hatched chicks for a mid-afternoon snack, after all."

The mention of eating the chicks came through loud and clear to the trio. Kirby sprang forwards, floating for a moment before coming down between the eggs and the Magmire. "You bad, bad mon'tah!" he declared fiercely. "No eat t'e eggs! I figh' yew fi'st!"

The Magmire was far from intimidated by this response. "Oh, you're going to fight me away, are you? Very well, I can have a bit of fun before I have my meal." It shot several globs of itself at Kirby, which the little Puffal kicked at, causing the blobs to disperse. However, this was a short-lived attack pattern, as the droplets would gather together and flow back to the main whole.

Realizing this, the young warrior decided to attempt his main attack. He began to inhale deeply, doing his best to pull up one of the rocks to gain a copy ability. Seeing his action, the monster attacked in one of the strangest ways possible: by firing one of its eyes at him.

Kirby inhaled the eye and, thinking he had caught a rock, sprang up, waiting for the copy ability to kick in. However, after a moment of waiting, he realized that nothing had happened. He hadn't copied a thing.

"Was that supposed to scare me?" the creature asked, oozing closer to the little Puffal. "Now I guess I'll get to have a bit of meat with my eggs."

"Get away from him!" Ribbon cried, throwing herself between Kirby and the monster.

"Yeah," Rick added, joining her in the defense. "If you want him and the eggs, you'll have to get through us first!"

"Very well," the Magmire started. However, he saw something that seemed to change his mind. "You know what, I don't think I want eggs quite right now. But don't worry; I'll be seeing you three again very soon." With that, he slunk away from the nest.

It took them a moment to realize what had happened, but when recognition did dawn relief flooded in with it. "We did it! We scared that awful creature off!" Ribbon declared in delight, taking Kirby by his paws and dancing him around.

Rick grinned, about to join in the celebration when he noticed a large shadow. "Uh, I don't we scared him off," the hamster said nervously. He pointed up without moving.

Kirby and Ribbon paused for a moment before realizing what the hamster was saying. Standing right behind them on the edge of the nest was Dynablade, back from her flight and looking just about as fierce as possible.

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_There was a bright feel in the air the day that Meta attended his first training session. The little Puffal, however, was having a difficult time getting into it. You see, all training classes are mixed level styles, with first, second, third, and fourth years all being trained together. As such, the large gym room that housed the training facility was full of young squires, most of who the little one had never seen before. This being the case, he clung shyly to the wall, wishing his parents would return soon._

_While this did not happen, something close did. "Hey, Meta!" Daroach called out when he spotted the blue Puffal. "There you are. I didn't see you after the testing, so I got worried that something bad happened. It looks like you had everything handled, though." He grinned and took Meta's paw before running out into the group of older kids. "C'mon, let's go get a good look at this place before the lessons start."_

_"_ _Poyo poy, D'woach," Meta nodded, following closely behind his friend. By now he had gotten used to Daroach's boundless enthusiasm. He still was a bit nervous about the new set of circumstances, but felt a bit better knowing that he wasn't going to be alone in this strange new setting._

_As the two boys examined their new surrounding things became easier on the youngster. All in all, it was rather exciting. The room was very large, with bright lights illuminating the area. It had clearly been set up in particular for the training sessions. Various pieces of equipment, such as wooden and blunted weapons, exercise equipment, and various pieces of training armor, was set up and ready to be used. Every item was thoroughly examined and discussed with enthusiasm. Between the exciting new setting and cheerful feeling that penetrated the atmosphere, Meta soon lost the remnants of his anxiety._

_Eager to see more, he began looking around to see what was available. That was when he saw it. It was a large tapestry portraying a black Puffal and another creature holding their weapons aloft. They were standing in front of an army of Star Warriors, facing off against a myriad of fleeing creatures. It appeared that none of the foes wished to face the warriors._

_The beauty and intricacy of tapestry fascinated the little blue Puffal, who rushed forwards to get a closer look. However, while he was staring at the tapestry, he failed to notice anyone else moving around him. As he was not watching where he was going, he ended up colliding with another student._

_The other person, a red Puffal who seemed to be from an older age group, didn't take too well to this. "Watch where you're going!" he scowled._

_"_ _Poyo, s'wy," Meta mumbled as he picked himself up._

_The other Puffal looked at him intently for a moment. "You still say 'Poyo'? What are you, some kind of baby?"_

_The little squire didn't really like the other Puffal's tone, but decided to try to be friendly anyway. "Poyah poy Medda," he said, introducing himself. "Poyu p'yah?"_

_The red Puffal, however, only laughed at his attempts at an introduction. "Hear that, guys?" he laughed, turning to several other old kids nearby. "Runty here thinks he can talk!" He laughed meanly and his cronies sniggered at the comment. "I'll bet he even thinks he might be good enough for this class."_

_By now, Daroach had caught up and had heard enough to realize that his friend was being insulted. "Leave him alone!" the young mouse shouted, waving a paw at the bully. "He's got just as much right to be here as you do!"_

_"_ _Is that so?" the red Puffal said, coming up imposingly on the younger student. "Who's going to make me? You?"_

_"_ _Yes, me!" Daroach held up his paw defensively. "We aren't afraid of you! We've faced worse and you aren't going to scare us, right Meta?!"_

_"_ _Poyu poyah poy," he responded, joining in cautiously. Honesty, Meta rather disagreed there. The older red Puffal did kind of scare him, but he was willing to stand up and resist if Daroach was._

_This, however, did absolutely nothing in deterring their opponent. He laughed again, this time grabbing them both roughly. "So, there not only babies, but stupid babies on top of it. Why don't I teach you two a lesson of my own?"_

_However, before he could do anything to them, he was struck from behind. This forced him to drop the duo. All three turned to see who had come to the rescue._

_It was a blond boy who appeared to be older than Meta and Daroach, though younger than the red Puffal. He went over to where the two younger squires had landed. "You two alright?" he asked in a friendly voice._

_The bully scowled when he saw the boy. "Just can't keep to your own business, can you, Jecra?" he sneered._

_The boy, Jecra, returned the sentiment. He stood boldly between the younger squires and the red Puffal. "Not as long as you keep picking on first years, G'lacta. I would have really thought you would have learned better than that last year."_

_"_ _I could say the same thing," Galacta snarled, "but it still seems you haven't gotten the picture yet." He then charged forwards, throwing himself on the blond boy._

_As Jecra and Galacta tussled, several of Galacta's cronies got in on the action. Not wanting to leave their helper unaided, Meta and Daroach threw themselves into the fight, allowing chaos to ensue. The brawl went on for a few moments as the other students gathered around. Most of them watched in amazement and several of them began cheering the brawlers on. However, everything was broken up by a loud whistle call._

_Everyone but Jecra and Galacta looked up and scattered at the sound. Meta glanced up to see what had caused the sound. He soon saw Lady Almethea approaching, led by a white haired girl in purple who appeared to be about Jecra's age. "See, Lady 'Methea," the girl said. "G'lacta was picking on some of the little kids, and now he an' Jecra are fighting again!"_

_The teacher strode forwards and grabbed the two offenders, pulling them apart. "Stop right now, you two," she scolded. "I'm ashamed of you both. First day, and I've already had to pull you two apart, and you've even gotten other students in on this, too!"_

_She put them down before reproaching them individually. "Now, Galacta, we've already explained to you that you are not to treat other students in that manner. I will be expecting you after class to help with any clean up. Am I clear?"_

_Galacta scowled, but nodded. "Yes, ma'am."_

_"_ _Good." She then turned to the other boy. "Now, Jecra, I know you were just acting in defense of the younger students, but there are better ways to do so. Keep in mind that one of you could have gotten seriously hurt. In the future, keep in mind that violence should be the last resort. Alright?"_

_"_ _Alright," Jecra mumbled, keeping his eyes on the ground._

_"_ _Very well. Come speak with me after class." Finally, she turned to where Meta and Daroach were waiting in a rather uncomfortable silence. "Now, as for you two, this is the first time something like this has happened. I want you to know that we do not tolerate a lot of fighting, but there is the mitigation of defense. Now, since this is the first time, you will get off with warning, but there will be no incidents like this in the future. Do you understand?" When the two boys nodded, she smiled. "Good. Now, I have to get several things ready before we begin, but we will be starting very soon." With that, she turned to go._

_When she had left, they went over to Jecra "Thanks for the help back there," Daroach said, holding out his paw. "My name's Daroach, and this is Meta."_

_"_ _Hi!" Meta exclaimed, waving._

_Jecra smiled. "Nice to meet you. Don't worry about it. I don't think I've seen you before. Are you two really first years?"_

_"_ _You bet we are," the young mouse responded. "Why do people keep asking that?"_

_"_ _It's probably his size," Jecra answered, pointing to Meta. "Usually, the squires around his age are in the younger kids' class."_

_"_ _Poyo poy?" the little Puffal asked._

_Before Jecra could answer, the girl from earlier came over to where they were standing. "There's a class level before this one," she explained. "It's mostly so that the very little kids understand the basics of self-defense and most kids who come in early skip it. However, if a little kid does sufficiently well at the training test, than they can skip ahead to this one. That rarely happens, though. I'm Garlude, by the way."_

_"_ _Thanks for bringing the teacher in on that, Garlude," Jecra sighed. He clearly wasn't too pleased to see her. "I could have handled that."_

_Garlude rolled her eyes. "Of course you could have. Just like you always handled G'lacta before." She smiled before heading off. "It was nice meeting you two. Word of advice: avoid getting into fights with G'lacta. He's a bully, but more or less avoidable. Unless, of course, you're Jecra." With that, she turned to go join a nearby group of girls._

_"_ _Don't mind her," Jecra commented, holding his arms behind his head. "She's not too bad, but she's a teacher's pet."_

_"_ _Hey, Jecra, over here!" The turned to see several boys sitting in a group nearby, one of them waving. "Sit over here! Class is gonna start soon," he called._

_"_ _I'll be there in a moment, Ri," Jecra called. He then turned to the two younger kids. "Hey, you wanna come over?" They both nodded in response and followed their new friend to the seating area to wait for their first lesson to start._

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"Alright, no sudden movements," Rick said as quietly as he could. "Maybe if we leave peacefully right now, she won't attack us."

Kirby and Ribbon nodded in agreement and began edging slowly towards the edge of the nest away from the great bird. However, before they could make it very far, Dynablade leaned down, coming face to face with a terrified Kirby.

The little one froze, no idea what to do. If she decided to attack him, than he didn't have a chance in a fight. However, the opportunity to run had long past. He whimpered quietly, his mind racing to try to figure out what to do.

Nearby, Ribbon and Rick watched closely, themselves locked in terror. If it came to it, they would fight to defend their little friend. However, they both knew very well that if the little Star Warrior's odds of winning were not very good, than theirs was practically nonexistent. All three waited with bated breath to see what would occur.

Much to their surprise, when Dynablade did finally make a move, it was a motherly nuzzle. She was trying to comfort Kirby! Surprise and relief did not begin to describe what the trio were currently feeling.

In reality, Dynablade had initially been mad when she saw the newcomers at her nest. However, she also saw the whole incident with the Magmire and realized that the little puffer and his friends had tried to protect her eggs against a dangerous predator. She then realized that the three did not mean her babies any harm. Furthermore, something about the little pink one reminded her of an old friend.

Now certain that they were perfectly safe, the young ones moved away from nest at a more comfortable rate. "That was an adventure, wasn't it?" Rick said once they had made a good distance away from the nest.

"Poyo sca'ee," Kirby said, nodding in agreement.

The hamster tapped the side of his head. "That disgusting creature called itself a Magmire. I've never heard of such a creature anywhere on Pop Star before. What do you think it was?"

"I'm not really sure," Ribbon answered. "The name rings a bell, somewhat, but I not quite sure where I heard it before. Oh, well. At the very least, it's not going to be threatening those eggs any time soon. Nobody's crazy enough to attack a Dynablade."

Rick glanced up at the sun, which was high in the sky by now. "It seems to be a bit late to make it back to the village in time for lunch. How about you two come over to my den? We see what we can dig up there."

Ribbon and Kirby agreed to the proposition. The trio then headed down the mountain to the small cave where Rick's den was located.

Dynablade watched them leave with worry. She was glad to find out that the three young ones hadn't meant harm, but there was a creature that did. That revolting muck creature had come after her nest with the intention of eating her little ones. It had only failed, too, because of the newcomer's intervention. Such a threat had to be dealt with swiftly if she was going to keep her eggs safe.

She let out a loud cry that could be heard throughout the mountainside. Hopefully, Coo would be able to hear it and would bring help.

At Rick's den, the three friends had been preparing for lunch. While Rick and Ribbon were working in the kitchen, Kirby got busy setting the table. He was nearly finished when he felt a strange twinge in his tummy.

That was odd. He had never felt this way before, even when he had eaten a lot. However, the sensation passed quickly so he decided not to worry about it.

He then went into the kitchen to check up on his friends' progress. However, by the time that he had made it in, the weird sensation came back, this time much harder. Unable to keep standing while the weird feeling overcame him, the little Puffal fell over, clutching his stomach.

He groaned, unable to tell what was going on and why he felt this way. His stomach hurt the worst, but over time the sensation spread out to every part of his body. He cried out miserably, unable to do anything but lay still.

Hearing his distress, his friends rushed over to see what the matter was. "Kirby!" Ribbon cried out. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"Tummy hu't!" the tot cried out. He clutched his feet close to him. "Hu't weally bad!"

Rick gently picked the little one up. "This doesn't look good. We'd better get him to Dr. Yabui right now."

"Let's hurry!" the fairy agreed, opening the door as the hamster carried their friend out. They moved as fast as they could, hoping upon hope that he was going to be alright.

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_Days passed faster than Meta could have ever imagined that it could have. Training was always an enjoyable pastime for the youngster, who took to defense training like a duck takes to water. He was very quickly singled out for the sheer amount of skill he had, especially in sword training._

_Furthermore, he grew less and less shy as every day passed. Daroach and Jecra were his closest friends among his classmates, but most of the other kids warmed up to him pretty quickly. He saw Garlude several more times as well, but she typically was more interested in reading than the physical work. All in all, his anxiety of that first day proved groundless and he adapted well to the new environment._

_There was one problem, though, and his name was Galacta. The red Puffal was very good with the training material. Quite frankly, there were times when Meta out and out admired him for his skill. However, he had an ego and loved to hold his own abilities over the other squires, especially the first years. One of those incidents would happen, and then the blue puff would remember why they had problems in the first place. However, Garlude's prediction proved true, and as long as he kept out of the older squire's way, there wasn't any problem._

_Not any problem the he was aware of, however. Meta was completely unaware of it, but Galacta's dislike for the young Inhaler was growing. As mentioned earlier, Galacta loved the spotlight and always strove to make sure that he was always center stage. Until recently, that had not been too much of a problem. He had always been a bit more advanced than the other kids in the material and thus he had no one competing for supremacy. Furthermore, most of the other kids would stay out of his way, excluding the self-proclaimed defender Jecra, so he hadn't had any issues until Meta joined._

_Though Meta was nowhere near his skill level in actual abilities, the speed with which the blue Puffal advanced quickly caught others' attention, drawing it away from Galacta. This was a blow to the ego that the older Puffal just couldn't take, and envy started to develop. As such, he seemed to devote himself to making every instance he could as miserable as possible for the little Inhaler._

_Thankfully, however, these were not very numerous and the happier times came more often. Indeed, even in the last few days a new joy had been revealed. Rosalyn had not been feeling very well for a while, so she had gone to see why she was feeling unwell. They had discovered that, despite earlier struggles, she had gotten pregnant and was carrying four pups. Meta himself was not quite sure what to think of this news, though it appeared that just about everyone else had an opinion._

_"_ _You're gonna be a big brother?" Jecra asked when the new became public. The friends were seated a table as they ate lunch. "That's awesome!"_

_"_ _Yeah," Daroach agreed. "You're gonna be able to teach your little brothers everything about being a Star Warrior. It's gonna be fun."_

_"_ _You know, he might get little sisters," Garlude added. She had been sitting nearby reading up on a history book. When her comment only got blank stares from the three boys, she sighed and turned back to her book._

_Before the conversation could go on farther, a short warrior named Sir Irluen stood up to make an announcement. "For the next several days," he called out, "we will be introducing some new courses. We are splitting the class into four groups. If you look under your seat, there is a slip of colored paper which will tell you where you are going today. Red will be going to dancing and etiquette, yellow to history and mythology, blue to alternate language, and green to naturalism and outdoors survival. Do not worry if you do not get a color that you want; all classes will be taken by all students, albeit on separate days. Once you have your assignment, please get in line for your class. Thank you."_

_Eager to find out what classes they were going to take, the squires reached under their seats to find out where they would be going. Excitement clamored as they all began speaking of where they would be going, and not everyone was pleased with what they got._

_"_ _Just my luck," Jecra grumbled as he pulled his out. "Red. That's the frilly class. What did you guys get?"_

_Daroach looked down at his own slip. "Blue. That's not too bad, I guess. I just hope it's not too tough. What did you get, Poyo?"_

_Meta had trouble reaching under his chair at first and was forced to get off to take the piece of paper off. This difficulty overcome, he called out the color before retaking his seat. "Gween," he said, laying the scrap out on the table._

_"_ _Lucky," Jecra said. The blond gave a rueful smile. "That's the fun class. You get to go down to a planet's surface and look over everything that can be used. Way better than dancing."_

_"_ _We'd better be getting in line," Daroach noted, getting up to go join the blue line. "I guess I'll catch up with you two tonight?"_

_"_ _See you guys then." Jecra waved before going to get into the red line. "Have fun on your trip, Meta."_

_"_ _Bye!" Meta called out. He toddled over to the green line to wait for the trip to begin._

_Galacta himself had gotten a yellow slip, but Rodrigo, one of his toadies, had gotten a green paper. The red Puffal took notice as Meta got in line and an idea came to him. "Hey, Rod," he called over. "I've got an idea." He then quietly told the plan._

_Rod nodded, grinning meanly. "You got it," he said before slipping into the line several places behind the intended victim._

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Ribbon and Rick sat nervously as they waited in Dr. Yabui's office to find out how Kirby was. Tension was thick enough that you could have cut it with a knife. Indeed, this whole thing was weird and unsettling and they were eager to make certain that everything was going to be alright.

Things had gotten so stressed that the duo just about jumped out of their skins at the sound of the door opening. It just was the doctor, who had finished up his evaluation and allowed Kirby to rush out into the office.

"I looked over Kirby very thoroughly," the Cappy said, "and I'm afraid I couldn't find any problem. He had some stomach pain, but nothing seems to be the cause of it. Furthermore, he's perfectly fine right now." Yabui motioned to where the little one was going over several comic books awaiting the opportunity to leave. "Whatever happened, it seems to have past."

"Alright, then," Rick said, confusion clear in his voice. "Thanks for making sure he was alright."

"You're quite welcome," was the response.

As they left, Ribbon couldn't help but question everything that had gone on. "This all is so strange. Are you sure you're feeling okay, Kirby?"

The little one grinned brightly. "Poyo poy!" he squealed. However, the moment the words had escaped his mouth, he quickly covered it in shock. That wasn't what he had intended to say. He tried to say several other words and names he knew he could say, but once again all that came out of his mouth was several squeaked variations of Poyo.

Furthermore, his odd vocabulary change had not gone unnoticed. "You haven't spoken like that in some time, Kirby," Rick commented. "Are you sure you're fine?"

"Poyo!" Kirby exclaimed in a distressed tone of voice. "Poyo poy poy poyah poyo poyu!"

"Kirby, what's wrong?" Ribbon asked, trying to figure out a way to understand her friend. "We can't understand you; you're talking like a baby." Suddenly, a look of shock and apprehension came in her face. "Oh, no."

"What is it?" Rick asked when he saw the look of horror in her face. "What's wrong?"

"I think I know what's wrong with Kirby," she said quickly. "C'mon, let's get to my treehouse. I have a book there that I think will help us."

"Right," the hamster nodded in agreement. "Kirby, would you like a lift?" The young Puffal nodded enthusiastically and climbed on to his friend's back. With that, the trio headed off to the maple that held Ribbon's home.

None of them noticed the strange looking shadow that watched them from the gutter. The sinister ooze watched them, making a note of where they were going. It seemed, at the very least, that the fairy had finally figured out what was going on and was going to put in an effort to stop it. How cute. Futile, but cute. It might take him time to catch up completely, but once he did, there would be no place to hide.

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_Everything had gone very well during the field trip. The band of children who had been selected for the naturalism class had been taken to the surface of a nearby planet known as Sierra-7, which was rich in flora and fauna but lacked any sapient life. The teacher, a pale-yellow Star-Jumper Puffal named Cerdic, was a younger warrior who had only recently been appointed to this job. He had a vast interest in the material he was teaching, but wasn't so good at keeping track of a dozen excited youngsters. As a result, a good portion of the rest of the day was spent in him chasing after the students who were likely to run off, leaving those who weren't for the most part to examine the local plant life using small pamphlets they had been given._

_Meta had been enjoying his day. The quiet of this area was rather soothing, and the subject matter of great interest to him. He was one of the quieter, more compliant students, so he had been allowed to study on his own, provided he didn't wander too far away._

_Everything was so fascinating and beautiful, but the young Puffal was rather disappointed that neither Jecra nor Daroach was there. It would have been much more fun to have someone discuss the material with. Furthermore, they could both read, something Meta could do at the most basic level, but had yet to master. The pamphlet he had been given used signs and pictures to dictate just exactly which plants were safe to handle and which ones weren't, but the extra information that could have been gained by his companions would have been interesting._

_It was late afternoon when a rather frazzled Sir Cerdic called that it was time to head back to the main ship, the_ Solarian _. The kids got in line and a quick headcount was taken to make certain that everyone was present and accounted for._

_"_ _Okay, everyone," the teacher called out. "We'll be heading back in a moment. Does anyone have a question before we leave?" He nodded when a single hand was raised. "Yes, Jenneso?"_

_"_ _I have to go to the bathroom," Jenneso, one of the younger students, said._

_Cerdic sighed. "Alright. Does anyone else have to go before we leave?" About six more hands shot up. "Fine," he sighed. "Come on. The rest of you, just stay where you are for the moment."_

_As they waited for the others to return, Meta sat on a nearby boulder. He hadn't noticed when another student approached him. "Hey, you, Bluey! Move it!" The little one tumbled off of his seat as he was given a firm shove._

_He turned around frustrated to see Rod sitting where he had previously been. "Poyo p'yo poyo!" he declared angrily. "Poyo no' nice!"_

_The elder boy laughed. "You're talking awfully big considering you don't have your bodyguards with you."_

_"_ _Poyo bodyg'a'd?" Meta said with confusion._

_The bully sniggered. "Don't pretend like you don't know. Everyone can see that you're totally helpless unless Jecra or the rat is there to protect you." He laughed again. "You're just a cowardly little baby."_

_"_ _Poy poyo poyo poy!" the blue Puffal said indignantly._

_"_ _You're feeling brave, huh?" his opponent asked. "Prove it then. Stay in the woods overnight." He pointed out into the forested area. "Go on. Everyone knows that if you can handle yourself out here you can handle it anywhere."_

_Meta glanced nervously out into the woods. The sun was setting by then and the environment that had been so friendly and inviting earlier was rather sinister now. "Poyah…" he murmured quietly, taking several steps back towards the group._

_Rod laughed when he saw this. "Ha, I knew it. You're just a baby!"_

_That was more than Meta could bear. Without a second thought, he ran out into the tree cover. He'd show them he wasn't a coward. He's show them he could handle things on his own._

_Afterwards, Sir Cerdic returned and began herding the kids back onto the ship, not noticing that he was one head short. As he boarded, Rod smirked in the direction of the woodlands. Galacta's plan had worked perfectly. The little runt would be scared silly and in so much trouble by the time this was over. This would teach that first-year his place._

To be continued…


	19. Muckraker, Part Three

"Where is it, where is it?" Ribbon said in a panic as she combed through the books within her bookshelf. Outside, Rick and Kirby waited to find out what the fairy had remembered. Finally, their patience was rewarded. "Yes! Found it!"

She flew out quickly to rejoin them, carrying a thick book with her. The words _Invasive Flora and Fauna of the Universe_ were written in bold words on the cover. "It took me a while to remember, but I knew I read about Magmire before!" she declared, flipping through the pages in a hurry before she came upon the right pages.

Over a two page spread was three images. The first was of a disgusting nine eyed blob with the word Magmire written underneath it. Next to it was a slightly smaller similar creature with three eyes and the word Mucktrite labeling it. Finally, a small one eyed blob was at the end, the word Muddlet marking it. Underneath all these labels stood the caption: _One of the few intelligent parasites, the Magmire comes in three varieties. The five or more eyed Magmire is the most dangerous. However, Mucktrite, with two to four eyes, and Muddlet, with only one, are not to be underestimated. Contact with these creatures results in rapid de-aging, until the victim is so young that they can no longer defend themselves. Furthermore, if they can succeed in planting one of their eyes on their victim, they will be able to stalk them indefinitely._

"This is one of my text books from back on Ripple Star," the fairy continued. "I remembered that passage when you were unable to say anything other than poyo. Didn't you inhale part of that creature by accident, Kirby?"

The little one shook his head but then thought for a moment. When he tried to inhale one of the surrounding rocks, he had inhaled something that didn't give him any ability. That could mean he might have inhaled a piece of Magmire. The thought that he had done so made him feel sicker.

"That means that Kirby is turning into a baby?" Rick asked, glancing between his two companions. "That isn't good. Is there any way we can get him back to normal?"

Ribbon nodded. "Yes, but it's not going to be easy. We have to get rid of the bit of Magmire that Kirby inhaled by accident. Most of the time washing would just do the trick, and he'd turn back to normal over time, but since Kirby inhaled it, it's inside him."

"You can't just spit it out, can you?" the hamster asked, trying to be helpful. The tot tried several times, but it was all to no avail.

"I suppose that means we have only one choice," Ribbon mumbled. "We'll have to figure out a way to induce vomiting."

Kirby made a face and Rick sighed. "If that's the only way," the hamster said shrugging. He looked down for a moment before snapping his fingers. "I think I know just how to do it, too. Back when I was a youngster, it was common knowledge among the creatures of Whispy Woods that there is a particular type of medicinal mud that when mixed with spring water is perfect for inducing vomiting."

"Then we have a lead on what we need to get," Ribbon said, her tone of voice making it clear she was trying to make the best of a clearly unfavorable circumstance. "Where do we need to go?"

"That's the kicker," Rick said, putting a paw to his chin. "The only place that it is known to be found is in the Sienna Basin Caverns. That's a pretty dense area of the forest and very few people ever venture out there."

Kirby looked questioningly between his older companions. He was going to give a questioning poyo when the pains overtook him again.

Ribbon gentle patted her friend, wishing she could do more in the way of comfort. "I afraid we really don't have a choice." She quickly put the book into a small bag and headed out. "We had best tell Meta Knight first. Maybe he'll be able to help us, and we certainly could use the backup in case that creature comes again."

Rick and Kirby agreed to the suggestion. With that, the trio headed out, Ribbon to the town to get aid, and the boys on the path of their mission. After her attempt to get help, the fairy would rejoin the group, and they would head out to aid the ailing youngster.

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 _There was state of panic aboard the_ Solarian. _Though Meta's disappearance had initially gone unnoticed within the group, as the day came to a close and the children were being sent home to their families, the loss of the young Puffal became painfully clear._

_His parents, of course, were the first to react. Upon finding out that their son had been left behind on an unpopulated world, the duo immediately rushed out to find him. Soon afterwards, other search parties went out, scouring the area to find the wayward youngster._

_As a result, most of the other squires were left under the watch of a few caretakers. Heated discussion went on among the children themselves, questioning what the heck had possessed Meta to pull such a risky stunt. This was especially confusing to those who were closest to him._

_"_ _I don't get it," Daroach muttered in a frustrated tone of voice. "Meta hates being on his own for too long, and he never wants to go exploring without permission."_

_Jecra nodded in agreement. "Something's up. There's no way he'd have just run off on his own. Something had to have happened." The blond turned his gaze, and noticed something happening nearby that drew his suspicion. "And I bet I know what it was."_

_Galacta had been leaning back, fully at ease with everything that had happened. With all the panic going on with everybody trying to figure out where Meta had gotten to, there was no way the little trouble maker was going to get out of this. He was bound to get into trouble. The red Puffal smirked. Maybe if he was lucky, the little blue runt would be knocked back a year. That would teach him to hog the spotlight._

_He was shaken out of his thoughts by an angry accusation. "What the heck did you do to him!?" Galacta looked up to see a fuming Jecra approaching, followed closely by a suspicious but calmer Daroach. He smirked casually at his accuser._

_"_ _I didn't do anything. Maybe he finally got the idea that he didn't belong here and left. I wasn't anywhere around him, so you can't blame me for what happened."_

_Jecra's face was beet red by now. "Liar!" he exclaimed angrily. He was prepared to lunge at his opponent, but was held back by his companion._

_"_ _What about your friends?" Daroach asked. Though the mouse was talking in calmer tone of voice, the level of accusation was the same. "One of your friends went with Meta on that trip. You could have had a hand with what happened through him."_

_Galacta shrugged. "Yeah, Rod went with the runt, and even had a conversation with him." He turned to his crony. "Hey, Rod, you didn't fight with the baby, did you?"_

_Rod knew his place well enough. "Nope. I just had a friendly talk with the runt. He seemed agitated though."_

_"_ _There you have it." Galacta shrugged. "You don't have any proof that I did anything. Now, why don't you go run along and go play detective somewhere else?"_

_Jecra scowled and was prepared to fight Galacta then and there, but once again, Daroach restrained him. "Fine," the mouse snorted, "but I still think you're up to something." With that, he pulled Jecra back._

_"_ _I could've taken him," the older boy said. He glared daggers back at their opponents, who were still clearly mocking them. "I could've gotten them to admit everything."_

_"_ _Yes," Daroach agreed, "but that's not going to help us that much right now. Right now, we need to figure out a way to find Meta." He glance out the doorway and spotted a newly formed search party preparing to leave. A smile lit the mouse's face as an idea formed. "And I know how were going to find him." He quickly whispered his plan to Jecra, who nodded in agreement. The two of them snuck off, unaware that they were observed._

_They had nearly made it onboard one of the ships being used by the search parties when a voice interrupted their attempt. "Where do you two think you're going?" They both turned and realized that they had been followed by Garlude. The girl had her arms crossed, and disapproval was clear in her tone. "Squires aren't supposed to be in there."_

_"_ _Aw, come on, Garlude," Daroach said. "We're going out to find Meta. He's bound to be in some sort of trouble and he's going to need our help."_

_She shook her head. "The grown-ups have that under control. Also, you could get into trouble if you're caught."_

_The mouse gave a cheeky grin. "_ If _we're caught," he said quickly. "Meta's bound to be pretty freaked out right now. If Jecra and I hurry and find him, we might be able to get him back to the station without too much of a fuss."_

_"_ _We're going, no matter what you say," Jecra added, determination shining in his eyes._

_Garlude held a front of disapprove for a moment, before giving in. "Fine," she sighed. "But let's hurry. I don't want to get into trouble for this." Quickly, she rushed into the ship before taking her hiding place._

_The boys were about to protest her inclusion, but the sound of the approaching search party interrupted them. Without any other option, they dodged inside and hunkered down and awaited the trip down to the surface. All three hoped their missing friend was alright._

_For his part, Meta was now deeply regretting his decision. The dark shadows of this unfamiliar planet all seemed extremely hostile, especially now that the sun had gone down and he was all alone. The little one, unsure quite what to do now that he was lost and on his own, sat miserably in a small alcove between the roots of a large tree. The tree itself hid him rather well, but did little to shield him from the cold wind._

_He closed his eyes, wishing that when he opened them this would all turn out to be a bad dream. Much to his disappointment, this trick never worked and he remained lost and alone in this strange area. Eventually, exhaustion overcame him, and during one of these attempts he slipped off into a dreamless sleep._

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"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid he's not here," Sword said simply. He and Blade addressed Ribbon, who had flown to the palace in search of Meta Knight. "We had just gotten back from the town when Coo came up. He said that he and Sir Meta Knight had a mutual friend who was in need of some aid. After that, they left, and I'm afraid I don't know where they went."

Ribbon restrained a sigh of disappointment. "Alright then. I'm afraid I have to get somewhere fast. Thank you for telling me."

Blade nodded. "Would you like us to take a message? Maybe he can help when he gets back."

"That's alright," the fairy responded. "We can handle it." She turned to leave as the two warriors returned to their room. Her mind was racing as she flew out to rejoin the boys. So Meta Knight had gone off to deal with another problem. A flash of frustration came into her mind, but she squelched it quickly. Whatever the problem the warrior had gone to deal with, it was probably very important. The trio could handle this on their own.

It didn't take long for her to catch up to Rick and Kirby. The duo had made it to the edge of Whispy Woods and were preparing to enter when they spotted her. Much to her relief, the little Puffal seemed to have recovered from the last bout of illness, but he was smaller than ever.

The boys, for their part, seemed happy to see that she caught up before they entered the woods, but grew concerned when they realized she was alone. "Is everything alright?" Rick asked. "Was he there?"

Ribbon shook her head. "I'm afraid something came up before I got there. We're going to be on our own for this one." She then turned to Kirby. "You feeling alright, little guy?"

The little Star Warrior shook his head sadly. "Poyo poy…" he murmured quietly. Right now, he was really missing the ability to use other words.

"The tremors are coming on faster," Rick explained. "They aren't hitting quite so hard now, but they are causing him to grow younger, faster. We'd better get a move on as fast as we can." The other two nodded in agreement and began their travel.

They walked on in an uncomfortable silence for a few moments. Under normal circumstances someone, probably Kirby, would have brought up something to keep their minds off of their troubles. However, right now seemed too serious for any lighthearted conversation.

After a good while of this, just to break the tension, Rick commented, "I just realized something. Why was that creature addressing us by those weird names?"

Ribbon thought for a minute, going over old lessons in her mind. "If I remember correctly, Magmire have a low form of telepathy. So low that they really can't understand what they're hearing. However, their too proud to admit that they can't hear properly, so they usually go with an assumption that is typically related to the real name."

"Well, that might explain why he kept calling you 'Thread' and Kirby 'Keeby,' but where the heck was he getting 'Roll' from?"

Both Ribbon and Kirby chuckled at the observation. "Who knows?" The fairy shrugged. "Maybe you can ask if we run into it later."

Rick reached down to allow Kirby on his back, glancing nervously as he did. "No thanks. If we never see that disgusting blob thing ever again, it'll still be too soon."

Ribbon nodded in agreement. "Well, were almost to the Sienna Basin Caverns. Once we get there and Kirby spits up that bit of the creature, we'll be done with this matter once and for all."

As the trio traveled through the forest, they didn't notice as strange black shadow following behind them. It was at a distance, but still close enough to overhear everything that was being said. So their supposed cure was in a cave system? All the better for him. Once his prey had gone down, they would be trapped without any chance of escape or rescue. The Mucktrite would be eating soon.

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_It was impossible for him to tell how much time had passed from when he had fallen asleep. It was still dark out, but a steady rainfall had started up. This is what had woken Meta from his sleep, as the rainwater trickled easily into his little hiding place._

_The little Puffal carefully crawled out to seek a dryer hiding place. Much to his disappointment, however, none seemed to be in view. He plucked a broad leaf to use as a makeshift umbrella and began wandering in search of any sort of cover that might be of use._

_He hadn't gone more than a few feet, however, when it became blatantly clear that he was not alone. He heard footsteps nearby as well as several rather loud voices. Not wanting a run in with any dangerous creatures all on his own, he dodged behind a nearby bush and glance out fearfully, hoping whatever it was would pass by without noticing him.._

_However, as the creatures drew closer and closer, it became very clear that these were friends, not foes._

_"_ _Are you sure this is one of the pathways?" Jecra's voice was rather skeptical._

_"_ _I'm perfectly certain," a female voice, probably Garlude, responded hastily. "I've been here as often as you have."_

_"_ _Do we even have any guarantee he came this way?" a third voice, clearly Daroach's, piped in. "After all, this was Meta's first time here. It's my first trip here, too, and I can't tell where we're going."_

_Meta could not contain the sheer amount of joy and excitement that welled up upon hearing the voices of his friends. "Poyo!" he exclaimed, dashing out of his hiding place to greet his friends. "I's here! D'woach, Jec'a, Ga'lude, I's here!"_

_The three young children turned with a start. While they had come with the intent of finding their friend, they hadn't expected to find him so quickly. Relief flooded the small gathering near immediately. Questions flowed out quickly, even though they knew that Meta couldn't answer them properly yet._

_"_ _What on earth were you thinking?!" Garlude asked as she pulled the little Puffal into a tight hug. "You could have gotten hurt out here on your own!"_

_"_ _Yeah," Jecra added. "At the very least, you could've told me an' Daroach. We would have wanted to go with you." The blond grinned cheekily at the glare Garlude shot at him._

_"_ _Sowwy, poyo," Meta responded once he was released._

_"_ _Well, at least you're alright," Daroach said, shrugging. The mouse glanced around their surroundings. "Let's get back to the ship before anyone notices we're missing." He strode off for a short walk before he realized he had no idea where he was going. "Now, which way is the ship?"_

_Meta, who was already lost, so he glanced over at the others. Jecra and Garlude both examined the woodlands. They thought for a few minutes before brightening up. "I know where it is! It's that way!" they both exclaimed, pointing in exactly opposite directions._

_"_ _So what we've just realized," Daroach said embarrassedly, "is that all four of us are hopelessly lost."_

_"_ _Well, we'd better get moving," Jecra recommended. "Even if we don't know where we're going, we'll end up somewhere rather than just standing here."_

_"_ _That's actually a good idea." Garlude scanned the area. "I'd recommend we find the stream and follow it. I think it's this way." With that, she headed down the way she pointed out. Without another word, the other three followed after her._

_However, as they moved out, it became clear that it was going to be hard going. The rain was still falling heavily. While they could use the broader leaves as umbrellas, but there was still the problem of the sound. The rush of the raindrops was loud and masked the sound of the stream._

_"_ _Do you think we're any closer to the stream," Daroach asked. "It seems we've been walking around in circles for a while."_

_"_ _Poyo poy," Meta agreed._

_"_ _I'm certain it's around here, somewhere." Garlude pushed through several bushes. "There! I think I see it! No, wait, that's just rainwater."_

_"_ _Alright, we're going my way now," Jecra said, turning around. The other three called out after him, but went to follow anyway. As they went along, a grumbling sound started up. "Garlude, don't complain just 'cause you were wrong for a change," Jecra called out._

_"_ _I didn't do anything," the girl called forwards._

_The blond boy froze, before turning to Meta and Daroach. "Did you guys make that sound?"_

_"_ _I know I didn't," Daroach responded, growing suspicious himself._

_"_ _Poyah no," Meta said, shaking his head._

_"_ _Well if you guys didn't, and I didn't," Jecra asked, "then who did?"_

_It was then that the headlights of a Rex Wheelie came on, illuminating the area and revealing the fearsome creature._

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It was past midday when the trio arrived at the Sienna Basin Caverns. It had been, for the most part, rather easy going. A little too easy, in fact. Normally, there would have been a lot of undergrowth to push through in such an isolated area of Whispy Woods. On this trip, however, all this seemed to have been cleared out just for the purpose of reaching to caverns.

On a normal day, this would have called up warning bells, at least to the two older ones. However, Kirby's rapidly progressing conditions made them less concerned with the disappeared vegetation.

As such, when the mouth of the cavern system came into view, excitement and relief became the predominant feeling.

"We're here!" Ribbon called out, as she reached the system. "We're almost through!" She quickly pulled a small mixing bowl out of the pack she had brought. She then quickly flew off into the opening.

Rick was behind, still carrying Kirby, who had grown smaller still. "Wait up!" the hamster called once she had gotten far enough ahead. "I can run as fast as you can fly."

The trio entered the caverns, which thankfully were pretty straightforward. There were several tunnel like formations which lead to a huge cavern in the center of the system. In the middle of this was the Sienna Basin Lake, which leant its name to the entire system.

By the time the boys had fully caught up to Ribbon, she had just about prepared the mixture. The soil was rich reddish brown in color, and the solution it had produced was a rather murky mixture. All in all, the cure was far less than appetizing.

Kirby looked nervously at the bowl. "Poyo?" he asked, gingerly tipping the combination.

"You need to drink it, Kirby," Rick said, his tone rather apologetic. "I'm afraid it's not supposed to be good."

The little Puffal made a face and looked nervously for a moment. However, the necessity was already very clear. He quickly drank it as fast as he could. Once he had done so, it didn't take long for the mixture to take effect. The little one began gagging, and it was only a few moments before he finally coughed up a blob of muddy mixture with an eye in it.

Now free of the parasite, Kirby quickly began growing back to his proper size. "P'yo," he murmured. He rubbed his mouth quickly, as if trying to clean away the disgusting taste. "T'at yucky," he mumbled.

He then realized what he had just said. "Kaabii ta'k 'gain!" He happily exclaimed.

Ribbon eagerly hugged her young friend and Rick patted him on the back. "Glad to have you back, mate," the hamster said, grinning brightly. "You feeling back to your old self?"

The little one nodded as he beamed with joy and relief. "Kaabii all bettah. No mo' yucky stuff inside."

"I'm so glad to see you back to normal," Ribbon said as she released the little Puffal. "Now that all this is over and done with, let's head back quickly. We're going to have to tell someone about the disgusting thing that caused all this trouble in the first place."

"Are we resorting to name calling?" The trio turned and found to their horror that they had been followed by the source of their problems. To make matters worse, it was in between them and the only exit. "Tsk, tsk, Thread. I would have thought better from you."

Immediately, the three turned, prepared to fight if they needed to. "Get back," Ribbon called out. "We know what you are now, and we're not afraid to take you!"

The Magmire chuckled mirthlessly. "You weren't afraid to take me earlier, either, and it didn't help you much then, and there's no great bird around to save you this time."

While this had started, Rick had begun combing through the area for anything that might be of help. That was when he spotted the lake, and an idea formed in his mind. "Maybe not, but I do know how we can save ourselves. Kirby, inhale some of the lake water!"

Kirby nodded and rushed away from the conflict to the lake, where he quickly inhaled as much of the water as he could. Before anyone else could react, he transformed in a flash. He now had a golden crown, formed with two waves on either side of his head and a teardrop right in the center. This was holding up a centerpiece of water which held its position, even though it moved is if it was in a glass. He had become Water Kirby.

Without wasting time, he fired out a hard blast of water at the Magmire. The monster only dodged the blow by ducking quickly down. It flowed into a crack in the wall and from that cover rushed over to where it thought it could catch its opponent off guard.

Water Kirby, however, caught what was happening in time to jump back himself. As he did so, he quickly shot out a stream of high pressure water at the creature. This time the blow did not miss, striking the creature hard in center of its body.

The Magmire let out an unearthly shriek as the attack met its mark. The little Star Warrior took this opportunity to his advantage, rushing around and unleashing a wave attack at the monster. This, too, reached its target, causing part of the Magmire to melt away, transforming it into a Mucktrite.

The upper hand gained, Kirby shot out several more shot of high pressure water followed by a large wave attack. That seemed to do the trick, apparently causing an extreme amount of damage to the creature. It soon melted away, and all was quiet.

Now in the stillness after the battle, the three friends regrouped. "Is that it?" Ribbon asked, staring at where the creature had once stood. "Is it dead?"

"It appears so," Rick said, examining the area so as to find any place where their attacker might have slunk off to. "It's not here anymore, that's for sure. You really saved us there, Kirby. Thanks."

Kirby discarded the water ability and nodded. "T'at was weally sca'y. Ready ta go home now?"

The other two agreed that it was about time that they head back. The trio turned to leave the caverns to head back to the village. However, as they were leaving, there was a trickling sound behind them that began growing louder and louder. By the time they noticed what was going on, however, it was too late, and the Magmire shot forwards at them and succeeded in engulfing Kirby and his friends.

"That. Hurt." The monster scowled, and there was no tone of playfulness in its voice now. "You three will pay," it hissed darkly.

The kids struggled hard against their imprisonment, but it was an uphill battle. The Magmire was constricting them hard, and there was no access to air. Soon, the lack of oxygen began getting to them, and the darkness was taking over.

However, before it was too late, a bright flash of light came out of nowhere, forcing the monster to shatter and regroup, releasing its prisoners in the meanwhile. The trio gasped for air, grateful for the release but questioning where it had come from. They turned in the direction that the attack had come from and caught sight of their rescuer.

To be continued…


	20. Muckraker, Part Four

_"_ _Run!" Meta wasn't quite sure who gave the call, but he had no problem with the sentiment. As quickly as they could, all four rushed off as fast as they could, desperately trying to keep ahead of the fearsome beast. The Wheelie, however, had other ideas, rushing around to block off the four little ones' avenue of escape._

_Hurrying as fast as they could, the four kids scattered, each going a different way, as the giant creature rushed at them. The monstrous Wheelie had been moving at such a high momentum that it couldn't stop itself at first, sending it into a tree. This gave the quartet the opportunity to regroup._

_Not to come up with any sort of plan, however, as the mad animal dashed at them again, forcing a hasty retreat._

_However, their last choice in area of escape led to a dead end against a Cliff side. Unarmed and without any way to fight, the children had little chance of escape._

_Or were they as helpless as they seemed? Meta remembered what had happened before, in the training simulator. Surveying his surroundings, he found to his relief that there was an assortment of pebbles surrounding the rock wall. As quickly as he could, he in inhaled one of the small rocks._

_Just in the nick of time, too, as the Wheelie had now found them. As the beast rushed at him and his friends, the small Puffal unleashed his makeshift weapon at it. The bright gold star struck it head on, stunning the monstrous thing for a moment._

_"_ _Good idea, Meta!" Jecra said, grinning brightly at the younger boy. "That'll teach it!"_

_"_ _That's not gonna stop it for good," Daroach said, motioning for the others to follow him. "C'mon, let's get out of here before it remembers what it was doing."_

_"_ _Right," the other three responded in unison. They took off as fast as they could, hoping to be far away once their pursuer had regained sense enough to continue the chase._

_They had no such luck. Much to their distress, they had only run a few paces when the roar of an engine alerted them to the fact that the chase was back on. In response, Meta inhaled another stone and prepared to fire. However, this time he stumbled as he was trying to aim, and the sheer momentum of his movement caused him to fall flat onto his back. He gulped as he landed, accidentally swallowing his projectile._

_His companions turned upon realizing what had happened. They were prepared to rush back to his side to give him aid. However, it soon became apparent that he would not need any help._

_After swallowing the stone, a bright flashed had occurred, and Meta had transformed. He had been blue just a few moments ago, but he was now dusty grey in color. Furthermore, he was wearing a blue helmet-like hat with a bright red plume. The hat was edged in gold and had a five point star in the center._

_For a moment, the little Puffal looked down at himself in shock. He genuinely had no idea what had just happened. However, he didn't have much time to wonder, as the Rex Wheelie had caught up to him. The beast spotted him near instantly and gave a roar of rage as it charged straight for the youngster._

_For Meta, time had almost frozen. He vaguely heard his friends yelling out to him to run, and part of him wanted to comply. However, another part spoke differently._

_He stood in the path of his opponent, and when it had almost reached him, he transformed once more. He grew slightly, morphing into a large blue rock. The Rex Wheelie, which hadn't been expecting anything like this, rammed headfirst into the rock. This stunned it, and it looked around, confused as to where its target had gotten to._

_Meta transformed back, taking to the air as he did. Once he had maneuvered over the Wheelie, he transformed again, dropping right on top of it. This did some damage, though admittedly not as much as he would have liked. The heavily armored top of the beast did not allow for much damage to take._

_The other three children observed as the fight went on. They would have like to help, but were unarmed and did not have any innate ability of their own. It seemed like there was nothing they could do._

_Garlude, however, wasn't entirely convinced that was the case. She looked to the surrounding trees and spotted a low hanging branch. That gave her an idea. "Jecra, Daroach," she called out to the boys. "Over here! I've got an idea."_

_The two responded quickly. "What is it?" Jecra asked as the two arrived._

_"_ _Meta's not going to be able to take that thing out while it's standing straight up," the girl explained. "However, if we can knock it on its side, then maybe he can hit its eye. I think that'll finish it off."_

_Jecra grinned and cracked his knuckles. "Sweet. I was getting sick of running."_

_"_ _Solid idea," Daroach said in agreement. "Now, how do we knock it over?"_

_"_ _We use that." She pointed out the branch. "Daroach, how fast are you?" The mouse assured her that he was fast. "Good. Jecra and I will pull it back, and I'm going to need you to lure it over here. Got it."_

_Daroach nodded and gave a thumbs up. "Got it." With that, he rushed off to get the brute's attention while the other two went to the branch._

_Meta was growing worried. Even with his new-found ability, he was wearing out, and it didn't look like the Wheelie was anywhere close to going down. He was getting close to the breaking point when a loud cry startled him._

_"_ _Hey, wheels for brains! Over here!" The little Puffal looked up and found to his surprise that it was Daroach, who was waving and making faces at the Rex Wheelie. "Bet'cha can't catch me," the mouse called, sticking his tongue out._

_That did it. The Wheelie charged at the mouse, forgetting the young Puffal momentarily. Daroach took off like a bullet with the creature in close pursuit._

_In a panic, Meta rushed afterwards. He had no idea what Daroach was doing, but he really hoped that his friend knew what he was doing._

_Daroach smiled back as he ran. This was working out! They were going to beat the monster. That was when disaster occurred. It happened almost fast to notice, but the young mouse stumbled over a partially buried stump and tumbled head over heels._

_That was enough for the huge beast to catch up to him. It charged, and the young mouse only survived by spinning quickly to one side. Even with this dodging, however, he wasn't fast enough to get totally out of the way and the Wheelie ended up running over his right foot._

_The Wheelie, realizing it had injured its target, spun around to strike again. However, it was caught off guard when a large tree branch came out of nowhere and smacked it from the side and behind. The creature was surprised enough by the attack that it was knocked onto its side._

_Meta, who had been following close, saw his opportunity. Flying over the felled creature as fast as he could, he took his stone form and dealt a hard blow to the creature's eye. It let out a loud squeal before falling totally silent. The foe had finally be beaten._

_Now that the creature had been dealt with, three kids rushed over to where Daroach still lay. He was clutching his foot between his paws. Tears streamed down his face, though it was clear the youngster was doing his best not to cry._

_"_ _Poyo!" Meta cried out. He dropped the ability he had been using and rushed to his friend. "Poy poyo poy?"_

_Daroach forced himself to smile when he saw the others. "Hey, guys," he said. "Did ya get it?"_

_Jecra nodded as he and Garlude helped the mouse up. "Yeah, Meta got it."_

_"_ _I'm so sorry," Garlude said quickly. "I shouldn't have asked you to do that."_

_"_ _Don't worry about it," Daroach responded. "Things would've been worse if we hadn't been able to stop that thing."_

_"_ _Besides," Jecra added, "I_ was _a good plan. It saved our hides back there, along with Meta's new power. How'd you do that, anyway?"_

_Meta thought for a moment before shrugging. "Poyo-know."_

_"_ _Well, whatever it was," the blond laughed, "it's a good thing you found out about it. We could have been in big trouble."_

_"_ _I'm afraid you are still in big trouble." The children jumped when the voice had spoken, and found that they had been discovered by one of the adult search parties, which was headed by Sir Arthur. All four looked down, averting the adults' eyes. They were really dead now._

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"So, this was the trouble that Coo told me about," Meta Knight said. He turned to the children, who were still recovering from their near asphyxiation. "That won't keep it down for long. Get behind me."

They had only just complied with the order when their enemy had also sufficiently regrouped. "Get out of my way, warrior," it snarled. "Those three are mine."

"These children are under my protection," the knight said, his voice calm, but dark and low. "You will come no closer."

The monster chuckled darkly. "You dare to threaten me with that? No normal weapon can take me out for good. Pinky there learned that the hard way." With that, it charged at the knight without a second thought.

Meta Knight responded quickly, lifting Galaxia and slicing through the monster, destroying one of the eyes in the process. This startled the weakened creature, who was forced to back down to recover. "I believe you will find that this is no ordinary weapon," the Star Warrior said coolly.

Under different circumstances, the Mucktrite would have realized that this warrior was a far superior fighter than he had first assumed and backed down. However, the creature was now near maddened with rage and humiliation from the beating it had taken from Kirby and the loss of one of its eyes. As that was, it lunged once more, aiming at engulfing the Star Warrior.

However, Meta Knight was too fast, and in its weakened state it was no match for the formidable veteran. He moved off to one side in a flash, striking hard once more and taking out another of the eyes. The monster, realizing what had happened, let out a cry of rage before plunging itself into the ground.

The kids watched nervously, not quite sure what was going to happen. Meta Knight, however, stayed still and concentrated. He knew his enemy was trying to gain the upper hand through the element of surprise. However, its movement could faintly be detected if one concentrated hard enough. It didn't take long for the Puffal to figure out where the attack was going to come from.

It spurted up from it hiding place and attempted to catch him off guard. The knight, however, had already moved in response to the attack and had set up for a counter attack, cutting through several stalactites. The rock formations crashed down on the monster, forcing it to split into three Muddlets. Meta Knight succeeded in catching up to one of them and cut down hard, destroying its eye.

This however, meant that his back was turned to the other two, which took their opportunity to jump him. It seemed for a moment that it had gotten what it wanted, and that the warrior was in its power. This, however, was short lived. Nearly as soon as he had been engulfed, Galaxia cut quickly through the attacker, taking out its last two eyes. With that last stroke, the enemy was defeated.

The battle now won, Meta Knight went over to the lake to clean his blade before sheathing it. He then began washing off what remained of the monster's filth off of himself. While he did this, the kids rushed quickly over to join him.

Kirby especially was excited. "Medikni!" he exclaimed joyfully. "Poyo beated bad monstah up! T'ank yew!" With that, he eagerly hugged his mentor.

Rick and Ribbon were in agreement, though they were not nearly so huggy. "You really save our skins out there," the fairy said gratefully. "Thanks."

"Yeah," the hamster agreed. "We would have been goners if you hadn't shown up. How did you know we were out here?"

The warrior didn't bother looking up as he answered after shrugging Kirby off. "First of all, I would recommend washing yourself with lake water, to avoid any unpleasant side effects. Secondly,I didn't. Earlier this morning, Dynablade had alerted Coo to the fact that there was some sort of dangerous parasite loose in the woods. She would have dealt with it herself, but she cannot spare the time such a search would take with her eggs so close to hatching, so she requested that he and I look into it." He straightened and turned to his listeners. "I'm glad I did. What were you three doing so far out here?" he asked in an inquisitive and disapproving tone.

The trio explained everything that had happened to them since that morning as they followed his advice, covering the strange trail up the mountain, the meeting at the Dynablade nest, and their run in and trouble with the mud monster. As they explained, the adult Puffal listened in silence, and his expression gave nothing away.

When they had finished, he nodded. "I see," he said. "I am pleased that you did try to alert me to the danger, and I realize that there was not much time for you to think about the danger you were in. However, in the future, please realize that you do not need to handle such circumstances alone. If you had explained to one of my students what was happening, things could have moved along with less risk."

When he had said that, he gently placed a hand on the top of Kirby's head. "That said, you did well, all things considered." He glanced back quickly over his shoulder, as if not trusting their surroundings. "Come. We must return before it becomes dark."

With that, the group left, most of them unaware of the schemer who watched them closely.

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"So, that was the start of things, huh?" Ado said, glancing over her canvas at her twin. At the mention of the first copy ability, Ado had decided to attempt to paint out a picture of young Rock Meta. "Huh, I would've thought that sword would have been his first ability."

"Well, sometime the choice is made for you," her twin said in response. "Remember when we first saw Kirby's copy ability?"

"I remember." Ado chuckled at the memory. "I wonder if Paint Roller ever got those food paintings off of the walls."

Adeleine smiled at the thought of the reaction. "He's probably still working on it. Serves him right for taunting Kirby like that though."

She looked over her previous work as the last bits of ink dried off and was prepared to close the journal when some faint wording stood out to her. "Wait a moment. There's a little more here." She quickly pulled out her pen to see what the little addendum was. She couldn't have been more surprised by what it said.

"War has been declared."

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_After he and Rosalyn had been assured that everything was fine,_ _Heavy Knight quickly_ _recorded the misadventure in his journal while he cooled down. Once that was done, he brought his son down to Sir Arthur's office to discuss the miscreant's punishment. Along with the Star Warrior Chieftain and himself, Jecra and Garlude's parents were present, and all six had just read the youngsters the riot act. Lady Rosalyn was upset as well, but had to rest because of her condition. Daroach would probably be hearing it later from Sir Galahad, but right now he was in the infirmary getting his foot treated. Nurse Elian said that it was pretty bad, and he'd probably have a permanent limp, but could be mended for the most part._

_Which meant he'd be joining them in classroom cleanup for the next twenty months as soon as he could walk on their own. They had explained everything that had happened, and in response were scolded severely for everything. The one consolation was that Galacta and his cronies weren't getting off the hook, and would be called to account for bullying._

_"_ _Children, we aren't doing this because we want to," Sir Arthur explained as the six way scolding came to an end. "What you did today was incredibly reckless and dangerous. You saw what happened to Daroach. It's a miracle that none of you were killed! You have to learn to think before you act."_

_The scolding was interrupted when a messenger came to the door. "Sir, the_ Pegasus _has returned from the Zeta Quadrant."_

_The green Puffal nodded in response. "Yes, thank you. We will meet Cassio out the landing pad in a few moments." With the message clearly delivered, its bearer bowed respectfully before leaving._

_"_ Pegasus _? That's Cassio's ship, isn't it?" Sir Armon, Garlude's father, asked._

_"_ _Yes, it is," Arthur answered. "There have been some issues with the planets in that region, so I sent him over to make certain that everything was alright." He turned towards the door. "I'm sure it is nothing, but we cannot leave such things to chance. You may come along if you'd like."_

_"_ _Thank you, sir," Lady Delmina, Garlude's mother, said as she took her daughter's hand, "but I'm afraid we must be getting back soon."_

_"_ _As should we," Lady Kalon, Jecra's mother, explained. "Telmorn and I have several patrols to do in the morning." Jecra's father nodded in agreement.  
_

_With that, the two families said their good-nights before leaving. The three children waved half-heartedly to each other, but thought it best not to say anything. They'd have plenty of time later to discuss everything that had happened._

_"_ _I believe I shall come," Heavy Knight said, turning to follow Arthur down the hallway. Meta followed closely to his father, not wanting to get separated and in trouble again._

_As they walked, Heavy Knight couldn't help but ask. "You said there was some sort of trouble in the Zeta Quadrant. What sort does it appear to be?"_

_"_ _I'm not quite certain," was the response. "Several planets that we have always kept in contact with suddenly went black. I think it was probably just some technical difficulties, but you can never be too careful."_

_The Boxin warrior nodded in agreement. "Good idea. Even if it is nothing, it's better to find out sooner than later."_

_The landing pad area was rather bustling at the moment despite the late hour. Warriors and their apprentices ran about preparing the space for the returning ship. By the time the three creatures had reached the bay, the_ Pegasus _had already landed and was opening up the landing dock._

_However, something was clearly wrong from the moment the landing dock was opened. The interior of the ship was torn up and not a creature stirred from it. An anxious feeling seemed to ooze from the ship, as if offering portend of doom._

_It didn't take long for action to occur, however. Several shadow like creatures crawled from the craft, hissing and snarling at the surrounding knights. These misshapen things seemed to come out of every shadow the huge vehicle had to offer._

_They were soon followed by a strange dark orb, which itself was more unnerving than the creatures that proceeded it. "So, these are the fabled Star Warriors!" a dark voice boomed from within the orb. The voice was low and deep, and had a tone of mockery to it. "I was hoping to receive a welcoming party. Now, where is your head, the valiant Sir Arthur?"_

_Sir Arthur stood straight, stepping forwards. Heavy Knight stood forwards as well, prepared to defend his old friend if need be. Neither warrior was wearing their armor, but few would have thought that a problem at the moment._

_"_ _I am he," the green Puffal said. "Who might I be addressing, and why have you come in the ship of one of my men?"_

_Once he had received an answer, the orb began to morph. It spread out, changing its form into that of a very lean, dark man. He was clothed in dark robes and had a pair of golden horns on his head. Around his neck hung a strange ruby amulet, and three stones adorned his crown to match. "I am_ _the conqueror of worlds_ _," the man said, spreading his arms wide. " I am the emperor of the spreading darkness. I am Nightmare! And what I have come to do is to make a deal."_

_He moved towards the two warriors. All around, the Star Warriors waited for Sir Arthur to give the signal to attack. However, for the moment no such signal was given._

_"_ _You have yet to answer my question," Arthur stated, his eyes fixed on the strange creature. "What are you doing with the ship of one of my knights? Where is Sir Cassio?"_

_The warlock grinned cruelly. "He trespassed on my empire. I can't just sit and watch when strange ships take it upon themselves to encroach on my domain. Do not worry, though. You'll learn of his fate soon enough." He moved around so as to come between Arthur and any of the other warriors. "I've heard many good things about your little scouting group here. Millennia old, fierce protectors of the universe, all that sort. Now, I don't want to have any problems here, so I've come to make an agreement. Your boy scouts here won't bother with any planet conquered by the Nightmare Empire, and I will allow you to go on doing whatever else it is you enjoy doing. In fact, I will even supply weapons, if you so desire them." He held out his hand. "What do you say?"_

_Arthur frowned and moved away from Nightmare. "We do not make deals with despots. Leave this place now." He raised his paw, motioning to the surrounding warriors to be prepared to attack if need be._

_Nightmare was unfazed, however. "So, you need a little more convincing, huh?" He glanced around the room before glimpsing something that might be of use. "Well, let's find out what your son thinks." With an unexpected speed, the warlock shot out his hand and snatched up little Meta. "How long do you think he can last through an Extinguishing?" He tightened his grip on the young Puffal, who shrieked in pain and terror._

_It was Heavy Knight who responded to the challenge. "Do not touch my son!" the Boxin bellowed. He lunged forwards, dealing a hard blow to Nightmare's jaw, forcing the creature to drop Meta. Now rescued from the terrible monster, the little one buried his face in his father's shoulder._

_Nightmare had staggered backwards, startled by the promptness of the response. However, once he realized what had happen, he began laughing cruelly. "So, that is your response? I would ask you to reconsider." He gave a toothy, predatory grin. "Anything less than total surrender will be considered an act of war. It would be a shame to have to retaliate."_

_"_ _We do not surrender to tyrants," Arthur scowled back, "and we do not respond well to blackmail. Warriors, take that foul creature!"_

_"_ _Do you really think I would allow myself to get into a position where I could be captured," the monster sneered. "Just know that from this moment, you have made a very dangerous enemy." With that, he lifted his arms, and he and his creatures flickered out of reality. All that was left behind was a battered, broken figure. Sir Cassio._

_Arthur rushed over to the fallen figure to see if there was anything to be done, but it was too late. "He's dead," the green Puffal said, a tone of sadness in his voice. He turned to several of the warriors around him. "Take his body and any of our slain from the ship and prepare them for a funeral." The group nodded, two of them picking up Cassio's body and the rest going to reclaim the dead from the ship._

_Heavy Knight stood near, clutching his still sobbing child close. Arthur motioned for the Boxin to follow him. He nodded and followed close, though he didn't set Meta down. "What are we to do, sir?"_

_"_ _Make certain that all are aware of what has happened here," was the answer. "Get every able bodied warrior prepared. Whether we like it or not, the challenge has been laid out. We are at war."_

To be continued…


	21. A Walk on the Wild Side, Part One

The bright morning sunshine filtered through the open window of Meta Knight's room. The warrior himself was seated nearby at his desk overlooking several photos that had been left for him by Ado and Adeleine.

Several days ago, the young artists and their friend Poppy had uncovered some sort of ancient Dreamlander gathering ground. The whole area had been untouched for who knows how long and was covered with old murals. These pictures for the most part just portrayed the daily life of the people who lived in that area so long ago. However, towards the gate on one side they discovered what appeared to be a list of chieftains. The last two individuals drawn were especially of interest, as they were both garbed very differently from the majority and one was a Puffal.

Of course, Mr. Curio had just about burst with joy when he found out about the discovery. He had been away during the events that led up to the find (luckily for him), but had been alerted to the finding by his charges.

That had also been when Meta Knight had been brought to the discovery field. Because the painting of the Black Puffal was holding a blade that seemed to be Galaxia, he had been updated about the area and asked whether or not he knew about the strange place.

To tell the truth, he really didn't. The area was very old, and matched none of the descriptions of ancient fortresses that had been used by the Star Warriors. Indeed, in some places it seemed to be older then the Star Warriors as an organization.

However, he was interested by the two paintings. The paintings of the Puffal and his Dreamlander companion did seem to match up with ancient Star Warrior legend. If this was what he thought it was, than this might lead to far more important discoveries.

He was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of the door opening. "Sir Meta Knight, we've gotten back from the lake basin," Sword called out as he and Blade entered the room.

Meta Knight nodded in acknowledgement as he received the message. "Very good. Was everything there as I said it was?"

Blade nodded. "Aye. Cleaning up what remained of the creature was rather easy going, though not very pleasant." He made a face at the thought of the gloppy mess. "That thing was disgusting."

"Try being inside it while it is alive," his master commented shortly.

Sword glanced for a moment over at the desk and spotted the photos. "Hey, where are those pictures from? They look kind of like Sir Metian and Sir Erran."

"I suspect they are." Meta Knight picked up the two photos and quickly stashed them beneath his cape. "These are photos of some painting found at the ancient Dreamlander settlement."

"I heard of that," Blade commented. "Ado and Adeleine discovered that sometime during the Walky fiasco, right?"

"I remember that, too," his brother added. "You don't think this might be Stormholt then?"

Meta Knight quickly shook his head. "No. I have been to this area, and it is far too small and overgrown to be Stormholt. However, it does appear to have some kind of relevant connection. I will be personally look into this matter." Once he had said this, he turned to leave.

Before he had gone far, however, he turned back for a brief moment. "You two have done very well in disposing of the Magmire. Feel free to take the rest of the day off." With that, he vanished through the doorway.

Once their master had gone on his way, Sword took off his helmet and headed towards his room. "I don't know about you, bro, but I'm thinking it's about time for a nap."

Blade began to follow suit, but grimaced as he looked down and saw smatterings of the mud on his armor. "Maybe later. First I'm going to clean this stuff off."

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"Poyo, c'mon! C'mon, wook!" Kirby called out as he lead his siblings out in the bright sunlight. "We a'most t'ere! C'mon, see!"

Today had proven to be far too bright and beautiful a day for the youngsters to remain indoors. Thus, Kirby and his siblings were currently out in the bright sunshine, eagerly enjoying the good weather. He was currently taking them on a walk around the area where his old house once stood. The rubble had been long cleared away, but it was a pretty area with a good overlooking view of the Orange Ocean.

Currently, the eldest Puffal was currently doing his best to make certain that the other little ones did not get too far behind. All of them were eagerly running behind him, extremely happy just to be out and about in the open air.

Charlie in particular was entranced by the beauty of everything around him. The little purple baby was eager to rush over to check out every new item of interest that was offered. Unfortunately, he had an extremely short attention span, even compared to his siblings, and had to be pulled back to the group every now and then.

Right at this moment, in fact, the little one had wandered away from the rest of the group. Kirby was explaining everything that had happened in that area, especially in how it led up to the little ones being brought to Dreamland. This seemed to interest the other six a good amount, and they listened with baited breath to the tale, even though they themselves were present for a good portion of it.

Charlie, however, grew rather bored rather quickly, and he began glancing around. That was when he spotted something white lying among some wildflowers. Curiosity overtook the youngster, and he wandered over to find out what the thing was.

It was a weird cloth thing. The purple baby picked it up to get a better look. This allowed him to see the shape better, though it didn't tell him what the thing was.

It was long and rectangular. Rather stretchy too, as if it was supposed to be wrapped around something. It was a clean white in color, which was only broken by the occasional grass stain. Nothing about it seemed to say really unique and it really shouldn't have been all that interesting.

However, something about it was familiar to the little one. He studied it thoroughly, trying to figure out why it seemed to tickle his memory. He became so invested in the strange cloth that he was extremely surprised when someone tapped him on the back.

"Poyo!" he exclaimed in shock. The baby then turned to see who had approached him. "Poyah poyo poy?" he asked questioningly.

It had been Sammy. The little brown baby had been the first to notice Charlie's disappearance and had gone to investigate. Upon finding him, the silent Puffal ran over to his brother and had tapped his back. The young one now pointed quickly back to the group, before taking his sibling by the paw and heading back.

Without much of a choice, Charlie followed closely behind, but held the mysterious cloth close. When the two of them got close to the group, the rest looked up and realized that they were coming closer.

Eager to share his discovery, Charlie rushed over to Kirby, brandishing the white cloth high. "Poyo!" he called out happily. "Poyo poy p'yah pyo?" With that, he handed it over to his eldest brother.

Kirby took the cloth and turned it over in his paws several times. "Hmm," he said as he examined it. "Not Kaabii's." He looked it over a bit more before shrugging and handing it back. "Maybe some'un dwopped it?"

His sibling shrugged, supposing that must be the case. Having made that decision, the little ones rushed to the path nearby the cliff, eager to go shell hunting along the beach. Thus the scarf was left behind, completely forgotten for the moment.

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With the whole deal with the Magmire done and dealt with, Meta Knight had decided to go out and examine the paintings at the settlement it bit more closely on his own.

As he traveled down through the now illuminated passageways that lead to the historical sight, the warrior contemplated the irony of the situation. The entrance to this place had been buried nearby the _Excalibur_ this whole time, and no one had any clue of its existence. None of the records he had on file spoke of any certain place of Star Warrior origin on Pop Star. However, it was becoming increasingly likely that there might be some connection here. He'd have to find out what these clues all lead to.

It didn't take him very long to reach his destination. He had been here once or twice before, but the sheer tranquility of the area always struck him every time he set foot into the enclosed space. By now, more of the ivy had been cleared away. This revealed more of the murals left behind by the Dreamlander race, but as useful as they were for discovering about the typical life in this area, few told the actual story that the Star Warrior was actually seeking for.

There was a single exception to this. In a lower area of the wall was a painting that seemed to have a different meaning from the others. It had four metallic creatures standing in a square formation. Within this formation were about two dozen Dreamlander people, both men and women, enclosed by the strange cage. Outside this enclosure, more Dreamlanders stood, reaching to the captives within or clutching each other, as if they were in mourning.

For most of the people who had seen it, this mural was a bit confusing. However, if this place had the connections that he thought it did, then Meta Knight knew exactly what this meant. It was a memorial, calling for the remembrance of a group of the Dreamlander tribe who had been abducted by wicked invaders. The tribe had probably made this painting when they assumed that their kidnapped brothers and sisters were gone for good. They would learn differently rather soon, but they likely didn't have time to memorialize what was to come. No time to memorialize it here, anyway.

He straightened up before preparing to turn to the gate to get a close look at the portraits by the gate. It was taking a bit longer than expected for the translations of the markings underneath the paintings, but just by vision, it was a pretty safe guess about who the duo was. His eyes turned a grassy green as he thought about it.

Sir Metian and Sir Erran.

The warrior placed his paw over the markings, a sense of reverence filling him. It was looking more and more that what most had simply assumed to be a legend was truer than anyone could have imagined. If that was the case, than it was vital that he got to the bottom of it before the foe figured out what was going on.

As all these thoughts flashed through the blue Puffal's mind, he leaned against the gate, trying to process it all. As he did so, the wooden doorway gave a little, creaking as it opened up slightly.

Meta Knight turned in response to the sound. So, the gateway was in good enough shape to open a little, huh. Well, that might be helpful in figuring out just where "here" was. The knight pushed against the door, doing of slowly and carefully so as not to cause any damage to the ancient woodwork.

It responded by opening a slight bit more, but it jammed when it was about half-way open. No more pushing or pulling would coax the entrance into moving out of its position, in either direction. However, this was all he needed. Without a second though, he moved through the slim opening, eager to find out just where he was.

The outside was just as overgrown as the inside had been, if not more so. Along with the greenery that had been present within the overgrown living area, huge trees towered over the space, casting giant shadows over the whole area. This might have seemed rather eerie to most folks, but there was something rather soothing about the sight to the veteran warrior.

With a swift movement, he reduced the Dimensional Cape, allowing his wings to stretch free. By now, his wings had sufficiently healed and reached their old strength again. With a quick flap, he rose into the air. He had missed the feeling of flight, and was greatly relieved that he now had that ability back.

He paused his flight as he reached one of the thicker branches of the tree. Sharp eyes examined the surroundings, looking for any sort of landmark that would signal where exactly he was. At first, no such suggestion offered itself, as there were only woodlands as far as the eye could see. However, patience and persistence won out in the end. After a few moments of searching, he located the back of the Dynablade's mountain.

He chuckled to himself as he took flight again. That would explain why no one had ever had any sort of inclination to this place. Few Cappies every left the boarders of the town and without any other civilization, no one had ever had a reason to come out this way.

As he searched the sky, he spotted something else in the opposite direction that caught his attention. In the distance, there was a flash of red heading towards the village. A ship. He moved higher to catch a better view and found to his relief that he knew the ship.

So, his students aboard the _Rising Arrow_ were coming in for a visit? He stretched his wings, preparing for the flight back. No doubt that the call of their arrival had already been sent to Sword and Blade. He'd better be there to hear what news they had to bring.

He didn't notice as red eyes watched him from the foliage.

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It hadn't been more than a half hour since Meta Knight had left that Sword was startled awake by the sound of an alarm. It took the still drowsy knight in training a few minutes to register just what was going on. However, he was eventually able to realize it was the radio.

After the incident with the Collector, he and Blade had pulled the little radio out of Kirby's totaled scout ship and made modifications so that they would have contact with their fellow student in times of less dire need.

Rubbing his eyes, he reached over to the radio. As soon as he had turned a dial, the screen lit up, showing the face of Sailor Dee clear on it. " _Rising Arrow_ to Dreamland. Come in, Dreamland."

"Dreamland here, Dee," Sword answered, yawning as he did so. "Everything alright? I was just enjoying my time off and would like to get back to it."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the Waddle Dees said. "I didn't realize I was interrupting. Is Sir Meta Knight there?"

Sword stretched out as he answered. "Nope. He's gone out on an info gathering mission of his own. Get this. We think we might have found proof that Sir Metian and Sir Erran were real."

This seemed to surprise Sailor Dee. "Really? Wow, that sure is something. Well, I hope he comes back soon. We'll be in the landing field in about fifteen minutes."

"The landing field?" This caught Sword's attention. "What's going on? Why are you guys coming in?"

The Waddle Dee rubbed the back of his head as he gave his response. "I'm afraid we've got some bad news. You remember the last time we saw each other, right?"

"Yeah, all that craziness with that psycho poacher," Sword responded with a nod.

"You will also remember that we never caught her after that whole affair. Well, we went on the lookout to make certain that she wasn't causing any trouble. For a while, all was quiet and it kind of looked like she just went away."

"Let me guess. It didn't stay that way?"

"Nope. We caught sight of one of her ships somewhere around Shiver Star and went to investigate. It turned out she had been there, though we were too late to catch her."

"What would she want on Shiver Star?" Sword asked, genuinely confused. "That place is just a frozen hunk of rock. There's nothing there worth catching or stealing."

"Uh, not quite," Sailor corrected. "There was something there. It was this really old factory or laboratory thing. It looked like it had been abandoned for a very long time, still have some working machines in it. However, it wasn't any of the machines that she had been after. Instead, she broke into some kind of chemical vault. Furthermore, we're not certain just what she took."

"I see what you mean. That can't mean anything good."

"I'm afraid it gets worse. Right after we missed her on Shiver Star, we briefly caught on to her ships trail, and she was headed right for you guys."

That was bad news. "We'll tell Sir Meta Knight as soon as we can find him. We'd also better go find Kirby. If she's headed this way, they're both in danger." He quickly donned his armor. "Once we find them, we'll meet you in the landing field."

Sailor Dee nodded. "Got it. _Rising Arrow,_ over and out." With that, the radio screen flickered before shutting off.

Sword quickly grabbed his Zweihander and strapped it to his belt. "Hey, Blade!" he called out. "We've got trouble. We're gonna have to go out to the landing field, and then find Kirby and Sir Meta Knight as soon as possible."

Blade, who had just gotten back from washing off his armor, leaned in. "What's wrong?"

"We've got an old friend whose making a comeback." Sword tossed his brother's Broadsword over to him as he headed out. "It's important, and I'm afraid we don't have all too much time. I'll explain what I mean on the way." Once Blade understood the message, he nodded and followed close behind. If lives were on the line, not a moment could be spared.

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The little ones had been thoroughly enjoying their day out. Right now, the young Puffals were amusing themselves with the variety of activities the beach had to offer. Toby, Mikey, and Marty were enjoying floating along with the surf. Kirsti had started on a Sandcastle, which Sammy and Charlie had joined in on. Andy, being not that interested in the other activities, had begun throwing stones into the water, which lead to Kirby joining him in an attempt to teach his younger brother how to skip rocks. Thus, it seemed that the peace of the afternoon could not be interrupted.

Andy watched with frustration as the rock he had thrown fell into the water with a loud plop rather that skimming the surface. "Poyo poy ha'd," he muttered in a frustrated tone of voice.

Kirby smiled at his younger brother. "It okay," he said before selecting a flat stone of his own. "Gotta pwactice fi'st. See, like t'is." He then tossed his rock, which succeeded in skimming for about seven skips.

On the last skip, however, the rock hit something red. Whatever it was had been surfacing from the depths. Once it had been hit by the stone, it flailed around for a bit before getting knocked over to the far beach by a wave.

Once he realized what he had done, Kirby rushed over to the place where the thing was stuck. This wasn't the first time Kirby had accidentally hit some water dweller (as Kine and Chuchu could verify) and he wanted to make certain that the unintended victim was alright.

Sure enough, flopping around in a small gap between two large stones, a small red fish struggled to get back to the water. The young pink Puffal hurried over to help, but found much of his path obstructed by large rocks that left only a narrow passage. He motioned to the babies, who had been following close behind. "T'e road too t'in to all pass," he called out. "Stay hewe."

The other children were clearly not pleased with being left behind as he went to check up on the fish. However, they did understand that the passageway was too narrow to allow all eight of them to pass, so they waited behind for him to come back.

It took a little while for Kirby to make it by the rocks, but once he did, he had a clear pathway to the fish. He quickly ran up to it. "I sowwy I hit yew," he called out as he ran up. "You 'kay?"

He received no answer, and when he reached it he found out why. The fish, though it had been struggling and flailing as if it were real, was not an actual fish. It was some sort of automaton, built to look and move like a fish.

In confusion, Kirby went and picked the odd fish robot up to examine it. It looked a little too high tech to be some sort of toy, but it didn't seem to have any purpose to be out in the Orange Ocean. At the very least, there was no obvious purpose that the little Puffal could think of.

As he examined it, however, something seemed to activate within the device. With a quick jerk, the fish spun its head around and sprayed something in the youngster's face.

This startled the little one into dropping the machine, which struck a rock hard before slipping back into the water. Kirby immediately began wiping at his face with his paws, trying to get the weird liquid off. It didn't seem to be doing much, but it smelled funny and stung the youngster's eyes. "P'yo prank," the little muttered, making up his mind about the weird device. Well, he didn't find it very funny.

From their waiting place, the Puffalings watched what happened with interest. When their elder brother dropped the weird fish thing and began pawing at his face, they became anxious. "Kaabii!" they called out in concern. "Poyo poy Kaabii!"

Shaken from his startled reaction by his sibling's call, the young one looked up. He realized that they were worried about him, and waved brightly to assure them he was alright. "Kaabii 'kay!" he reassured. "Fis' jus' sqi'ted me, but I be al'ight." Once he had said his piece, he rushed back over to his siblings, and the little ones resumed their play.

However, after about fifteen minutes of this, things began to change. Kirby didn't feel quite as well as he had a while ago. His heart rate increased by a good amount, and his head was spinning. He tried to hide it at first, but after a few moments, he could take it no longer and was forced to sit down.

Once again, the younger Puffals noticed that something was up. They gathered around the elder child, concern radiating from them as they questioned him about his condition. "Poy poyo poy?" Kirsti asked, offering he hand to her big brother.

Though he didn't like worrying the littler ones and didn't want to have to cut their day out short, Kirby had to admit that something was wrong. "Somet'ing off," he murmured quietly, accepting the help up. "Gotta go home."

The others looked to each other, worried about his state, before going to head back to the palace. Hopefully, if they made it back fast enough, Kirby would be okay.

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Meta Knight had almost made it to the landing field when he was ambushed. He had had no sign that anything like this was coming, and his flight up until that point had been perfectly uneventful.

Then the crows came. He was not certain why they were attacking him, but he did know that if he wanted to avoid a torn wing, he'd have to land soon. He pulled several aerial maneuvers, hoping this would though his extremely aggravated attackers off.

Unfortunately, he had no such luck. Though the maneuvering did succeed in slowing some of the birds down, his pursuers continued to follow him to the ground, screeching the whole way. Once he reached the forest floor, he quickly covered his wings with his cape, which provided them with some protection against the clawing birds. He also withdrew Galaxia so that he would be able to defend himself.

This sudden aggressive stance, however, had no effect on his attackers. They lunged at him just as whole-heartedly as before. It was not difficult to cut the offending creatures away, but there were so many of them that whenever he succeeded at knocking one or two of the crows away, several more rose up to attack from all sides.

Thankfully, his mask and pauldrons kept most of him safe from the crows' beaks and talons and his cape was too thick to be torn by the creatures. However, the vicious creature attacked ferociously at his uncovered arms and ripped large holes in his gloves where the gauntlets didn't cover them.

He fought vigorously to defend these weakened area. However, he focused so much on reinforcing his arms and paws that he didn't notice until too late that several of his attackers had been fiercely tearing at the strap that held his mask in place. With several quick pecks, they succeeded in cutting through the leather fastening, causing the armor to begin to slip.

Meta Knight responded quickly, using his free paw to hold up the mask while he fought off the attackers with the other. However, it was rather difficult to fight in this method. Several times his hold on the mask almost slipped, causing it to fall a little. One of these time, one of the crows took notice when this happened. Taking advantage of the warrior's moment of weakness, it clutched the edge of his mask in its talons, tearing it away and exposing the Puffal's face.

Unable to see anything of what was happening, the Star Warrior could only swing Galaxia in a desperate fashion, guarding his face from what would certainly be a barrage of pecks and scratches. However, the expected attacks never came. Instead, it felt as if some sort of liquid had been sprayed in his face. He stepped back, startled by this move. The liquid smelled rancid and stung his eyes, but since he was already sightless as it was, he couldn't understand the purpose of the attack.

However, much to his relief, once the liquid had been sprayed, the attack ceased. He began feeling around the ground, hoping desperately that his assailants had not carried his mask off. Much to his relief, he soon located the light piece metal not too far away.

He quickly picked it up and put it back on, adjusting the strap to a section that had not been torn. It was a little too tight now, but would hold the mask in place until he could replace the fastener.

He looked around to see why his attackers had fled. Much to his disappointment, however, there was no sign as to why. Scattered around him were the remains of the birds that had come too close to the legendary blade. However, there was among these remains a shocking revelation.

"They were mechanical?" Meta Knight said quietly to himself, picking up the wing of one of the devices. Sure enough, this was no creature of flesh and blood. Instead, it was some sort of robot, made to mimic a real crow as closely as possible. However, the mechanics showed no sign of where it had come from, or to where the others had gotten to.

The knight got up and shook his head. He wasn't feeling all too well after that attack, He decided that he would meet his students out in the landing field and then go back to his room for a rest. Perhaps he would feel better after a long nap.

A dark figure watched as he revealed his wings once more and took flight. By now, both master and student had received a full dose of the hormones. The game would begin anew.

To be continued…


	22. A Walk on the Wild Side, Part Two

Just as before, it did not take too long for the _Rising Arrow_ to land at its destination. The ship, for all its size and age, was very well built and rather graceful. As such, there were few witnesses to the battleship's arrival.

Two people, however, stood right at the landing sight, waiting for their fellow apprentices to arrive. Sword and Blade had had no luck in finding out about Kirby and Meta Knight's whereabouts. The former had decided that that day was to be just for him and his siblings, and thus the kids who he usually hung around did not have any idea where he was. As for the latter, they had an idea of where he had gone, but no clue as to if he was still there. Sometimes finding him was like finding a needle in a haystack. Other times, you had to be blind to miss him. However, it was nearly impossible to predict what case it was going to be, and thus the two could only hope that he intended to show himself soon.

The _Arrow_ seemed to hover for a moment in the air before alighting on the ground a distance off from where the waiters stood. Shortly afterwards, the hatch to the Star Warrior vessel opened up, and its seven occupants came off the ship.

"About time you got here," Sword said jokingly as he and his brother approached the newcomers. "We were starting to think you guys were going to leave this all to us."

"After all the fun we had the last time we dealt with miss sunshine?" Ax said, returning the jovial tone. "No way are we missing out on this."

Silica looked around the area cautiously. "Has Sir Meta Knight been told of the situation yet?" she asked. She clearly was a bit nervous about the circumstances they were in.

Blade shook his head. "I'm afraid not. He went off on his own a while back, and while Sword and I have an idea about where he'll be, whether or not he is still there has yet to be seen."

Silica's brother, Knuckle Joe, nodded as they were given the information. "We'd better get a move on then. The Collector's definitely not gonna be giving us head start."

Before the nine could head out, however, the very person they were looking for arrived. Meta Knight slowly glided down to where the group was standing. Much to the shock of his students, he was looking rather worse for wear. His gloves were torn and bloodstained, and there were long scratches lining his arms. His mask, too, seemed to have taken a bit of damage, and did not seem to be fitting properly at the moment.

Quickly, his students rushed to his aid. "Sir, are you alright?" Mace asked as she and Blade supported their master.

"There is a 77.86% chance that Sir Meta Knight has suffered some severe lacerations along his arms," Javelin stated. Several of the apprentices shot the robot a glare that read _no duh,_ but he did not notice. "Shall I bring the first aid kit?"

Meta Knight accepted the help from his students, but struggled to stand on his own as soon as possible. "No, thank you, Javelin," he said, steadying himself. "They are merely surface wounds. I will be alright."

"What happened?" Sailor Dee asked, concern showing on his face.

The veteran tried once more to wave it off. "I was attacked by a mob of mechanical crows. They were relentless, but only seemed interested in spraying me with some sort of liquid. As I said before, I will be fine. I just need a bit of rest."

He straightened himself off, trying to look as composed as he could. However, by now the dizziness had gotten worse and his heart was beating by far too fast. Maybe he should reconsider having first aid. _After I hear about what is going on,_ he decided _._ "Now, if you came here without some sort of warning, I assume it is because you have some urgent business. Please, explain why you have come."

However, the young warriors' composure had changed completely when they had heard his story. Fear and anxiety became the clear atmosphere. Upon being prompted to explain, Knuckle Joe cleared his throat and did his best to obey. "Well, sir, you see," he began, "we've got a bit of trouble. The Collector is back, and it looks like she's coming here. Are you sure you don't want to be checked out?"

Meta Knight chuckled quietly, trying to mask a wince as another wave of vertigo hit him. "Perhaps later. Well, it appears this time we will have an advantage. She seems to do her best work when she has the element of surprise on her side."

"That's not all, sir," Mace added. "Before she got here, she got some sort of chemical compound from Shiver Star. We're not sure what she took, but it can't be anything good."

"Furthermore," Silica added, "with what you've told us, she might have already struck."

It took a moment for the full weight of the warning to take effect, but the Star Warrior soon put the pieces together. The mechanical bird attack, the strange liquid he was doused in, the waves of vertigo and the severely increased heart rate. He had been either drugged or poisoned.

"We must hurry then," he said, turning to enter he ship. "It is vital that we find out what-" he cut himself off as he stumbled and fell to the ground.

Quickly, the younger fighters rushed to their master's side. "Sir Meta Knight!"

"Sir, what's wrong!"

"Can you hear us? Please say you can hear us!"

"What's happening? What can we do?"

"There's a 99.999% chance that-"

"We know already, Javelin! You're not helping!"

"Please get up, sir!"

"Come on, Sir! Stay with us!"

"Oh, gosh! What do we do?! Emergency!"

"Don't panic, Trident. Look, he's getting up."

He had been lying on the ground for a few moments, seemingly unresponsive to the voices of his followers. Now, however, he forced himself back up. He stood for a moment with his back to them, saying nothing and not acknowledging the younger warriors' presence.

It was Sword who decided to break the uncomfortable silence. "Sir Meta Knight, what happened? Are you alright?" He gently placed a hand on the Puffal's shoulder.

Meta Knight reacted to it like it had been a blow. He jerked away, looking back at the teens as if he didn't know them. His eyes flashed red and white with fear, and he attempted to run off.

The apprentices attempted to stop him, but he was too fast for them. Without a word, he dashed away from them, racing towards the edge of the woods. Once he made it there, he leaped into the trees and rushed through the foliage.

None of his students were so good in arboreal situations. All they could do is watch helplessly as they master vanished behind layer after layer of greenery.

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Meanwhile, Kirby was not doing much better. Ever since that fish had sprayed that weird liquid on him, he'd been feeling very unwell. He couldn't describe just what he was feeling, but it was the same illness that had befallen Meta Knight. The severe vertigo coupled with an intense heart-rate increase had taken its toll on the little one, who was now just fighting to stay conscious.

The littler Puffals were doing all they could think of to try to help, but they were nearly as helpless as he was. They supported their elder brother as they attempted to move towards the palace, but anxiety was becoming the prevalent attitude of the small group.

"You're not looking to good there, huh, junior?" The young ones looked back to see Tokkori perched in a nearby tree. The bird frowned before continuing. "You'd better not be coming down with some weird disease. Last thing we need is some sort of alien sickness brought in by you fluff-balls."

Normally, Kirby would just have tolerated the taunting, but right now the last thing he needed was to have to listen to the bird's verbal abuse. "No' now, Tok'i," he groaned as Sammy and Andy helped him along. "Gotta go home an' find Medikni."

"You'd better," Tokkori snapped. "He's bound to have some sort of idea what's going on. Bet he's even at fault for it. Wouldn't surprise me one bit if he was playing around with something or other that's about to cause some sort of disaster. He's always given me that odd sort of feelings and- hey! Are you listening to me?"

While he had been going on his tirade, Kirby had taken a few more steps in an attempt to make it to his destination. However, after a few pitiful hobbles, he had stumbled and fallen face first into the grass. The littler one hurried around him, desperate to figure out what was wrong with their elder brother. However, despite desperate shaking and attempts to wake him up, the little one was unresponsive.

Tokkori wasn't having any of that. He flew down and landed in front of the prone little one. When he got there, Kirby was weakly pushing himself up off the ground. "Get up, lazy daisy!" he said rudely into the tot's face. "This isn't a nursery. Go nap in your own area."

Kirby looked up from where he lay, and his expression had changed completely. He was no longer suffering, but he had a look of panicked confusion in his eyes. How close Tokkori was to the youngster didn't help his frightened state, and he responded in an almost reflexive way. He lashed out, striking the bird hard in the stomach before taking off towards the woods.

This response was so shocking and out of character that, for once, Tokkori could think of nothing to say. He could only watch in shock as the Pink Puffal vanished into the greenery.

The baby Puffals didn't know how to respond either. They rushed after their elder brother, but he was moving too fast for them. They were not about to give up, however, so they dodged into the forest, doing their best to keep track of their fleeing sibling.

Tokorri scowled at the sight of the fleeing babies. "Hey! Where do you think you're off too?" he asked in an irritated tone of voice. When no one listened to him, he took off after them into the woods. He was determined to give someone a piece of his mind.

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Terror filled the blue Puffal's mind as he raced through the strange forest. Where was he? What was going on? What had those creatures back there wanted of him? None of the answers to his questions came to mind. All that he wanted to do right now was find out where his pack had gotten to and rejoin them. Yes, he had to find the pack. There is safety in numbers. Until then, he would be completely vulnerable.

He was continuing on his trek through the tree tops when suddenly he was pulled back. He began to thrash violently, trying hard to shake away from whatever predator had caught him. However, whatever it was refused to let go, no matter how hard he fought against it.

After a few moments of hard struggling, however, he slipped down, released from whatever had caught him. He dodged between the roots of a nearby tree and glanced cautiously up. He was careful not to lean too far out, so that the predator wouldn't be able to see him, but he soon found out that his scare had been for nothing.

Dangling from the tree branches was a weird material that had become entangled. It had taken him a few moments to struggle out of it, but now he was free of the restricting cloth.

Why had that been on him in the first place? The blue Puffal couldn't think of any reason that he would have been wearing it. Why, wearing anything at all would only restrict his movement.

That was when he realized that he had been wearing other things as well. They were all odd things that he could see no purpose to. Well, such strange artifacts would only get him into trouble; especially once he was able to rejoin his pack. They would have to go.

As he moved along on his journey, everything came off. The Sabatons were the first to go. He looked at the odd purple things for a moment before flinging them back. They were quickly followed by the gloves and gauntlets, the pauldrons, and the sword belt along with the sword.

Finally, he came to the mask. However, when he attempted to remove the offending piece of metal, he found that it would not come off. He tugged hard against it, but try though he might, it was stuck on hard. Furthermore, the harder he pulled at it, a fierce pain started around his body. However, he was adamant that he would get this awful thing off.

His struggle, however, was interrupted. A strange rustling came behind him, as if something was coming at him through the foliage. The Puffal turned, ready to either fight or flee from whatever was to come.

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"Sir Meta Knight! Where are you?"

The nine students had followed after their master into the woods, hoping that whatever had come over him was just some weird temporary effect, and they would still be able to help him. However, as time went on, that hope was becoming slimmer and slimmer. Furthermore, none of them were as skilled with arboreal movement as the veteran was which meant that finding him was going to be a feat in and of itself.

"Sir, please come back!" Sailor Dee called out as they moved through the trees. "You're not well! Please let us help you!"

Silica glanced nervously as they moved. "I don't like this," she muttered quietly as she adjusted her weapon. "We're moving right into the Collector's territory. This is exactly the sort of place she'd try to arrange a confrontation."

Sword nodded in agreement. "Not that we have much of a choice. I'd bet my sheath she set things up so that we'd end up here. In a forest like this, she'd have the advantage."

"My, my, aren't we the clever bunch?" a mocking voice said from overhead. The apprentices looked up and saw the intruder.

The Collector grinned down at them from her perch. "Well, if it isn't Sir Meta Knight's loyal lap dogs. I thought you bunch had been tailing me."

Before she could say anything else, the teens struck out. The huntress have to move fast to avoid a Vulcan Jab, a rushing javelin, and the blow from a mace head. She jumped over onto another branch nearby, shaking her head. "Now, is that any way to greet an old friend?"

"What have you done to Sir Meta Knight?" Knuckle Joe shouted angrily at the foe.

"Well, I see you've learned much from your master," the Collector commented casually. "You're just as blunt and to the point as he is. Well, I suppose I can tell you." She leaned with her back to the tree before slipping a bottle with some sort of green concoction in it out of a pouch around her neck. "This is a chemical that is known as Agrion Aimotos, or 'feral blood.' It is a mixture of several hormones that is known to have a rather…interesting effect on creatures that have come into skin contact with it. In particular, it is known to cause an intense reaction in the fight or flight response. Victims become terrified of nearly everything around them, and regress mentally into a wild state where reasoning with them becomes impossible."

"You drugged him," Blade scowled back as he lifted his Broadsword, "so that he'd end up here so you could murder him."

She slipped the vile back into the pouch before continuing. "Meta Knight, along with the pink one, your fellow student, has received a full dose of Agrion Aimotos. They will both attempt to flee to an area of safety that does not exist, keeping them from getting any sort of help. Furthermore, the chemical when left on its own is utterly lethal." She gave an utterly cold smile. "I don't have to hunt them. After several more hours of their own fleeing, they'll die from the reaction. You see, I have already caught my prey."

Hearing this, the apprentice's hearts fell. So Meta Knight and Kirby were already doomed. They had been too late.

There was one thing they could still do, however. The students raised their weaponry. "We won't let you take them!" Ax called out. "Even if we can't save them, we won't let the likes of you dishonor them by treating them like trophies!"

Here, the Collector gave a sly smile. "Oh, I was rather hoping that you'd say that." She quickly jumped down from her perch, landing nearby. "You see, this hormone is a very effective form of hunting, but it's not very fun. After all, it's less of a hunt if the prey is utterly helpless."

The students prepared to take her if she tried anything funny, but listened to what she said. They had done enough homework on her past crimes to know that she was ruthless, but they had little choice. Even though there was a chance that she was making things up, it would be a chance they would have to take if they were going to save their friends.

Sword lifted his weapon. "So what is it you want?"

"A challenge, of course. I'm a gambling woman at heart, you see. A riskless game has never interested me much." The Collector strode forwards as she explained. "It takes approximately three hours for the chemicals to kill the victim. Both of them received their doses about twenty minutes ago. That leaves them around one hundred and sixty minutes left." The huntress slipped two capped syringes of a clear liquid out of the pouch around her neck. "In these are the antidote to the hormones those two were given. Catch them yourselves before they croak, and these are yours to do with as you please. Fail, and those two are mine." She slid the antidotes back into the pouch. "Discuss it among yourselves, if you want. But keep in mind; those two only have so much time left."

The teens gathered together to discuss their sensitive situation. "I don't trust her," Blade said simply. "She had done nothing to prove to us what she says in true."

"Yes," Sailor said, nodding sadly, "but we don't have proof that she's lying either. If she is telling the truth, then we don't have any time to waste."

"And if she lying, then we have no idea what's going on and we're still in a bind," Silica added frustration clear in her voice.

"So any way we turn, we're taking a major risk." Joe frowned quietly. "If only there was some way to try to verify her claim."

After a moment's thought, Mace snapped her fingers. "Maybe we don't have to!"

The others could recognize it when the mechanic had an idea. "What are you thinking?" Sword asked as they leaned forwards to find out what she had come up with.

"It's actually very simple," the girl said as she outlined her plan. "Sir Meta Knight mentioned that he had been attacked by this weird flock of mechanical crows. Well, he is far too good a fighter for them to have attacked him without several of them being taken down. What I say is that we take her challenge to keep her busy. However, it won't take all nine of us to make sure that nothing goes wrong. While most of us are taking care of that, Trident, Javelin, and Sailor will find one of the crow machines and get a sample of the hormone that was used on them."

"I see what you're saying!" Trident exclaimed excitedly. "That way, we can come up with our own antidote; one that we will have more confidence in."

"And I know exactly where we can develop that antidote," Sailor added. "There are two weird guys that King Dedede employs to help with a lot of his schemes. I remember seeing them several times when I still worked for the king. They have this really developed laboratory where they do most of their work. Once we get in, synthesizing the antidote will a piece of cake."

Knuckle Joe grinned at the suggestion. "Sounds like we've got a plan of action," he commented, rubbing his nose the way he always did when he became excited.

The plan decided upon, they turned back to their adversary. The Collector raised an eyebrow as she saw them return. "So, you're all done discussing, huh?"

"We've made up our minds," Joe said, acting as spokesmen for the students. "We'll take your challenge."

She flashed as predatory smile. "Very well. Then the game is on!" With that cry, she leaped back into the foliage, and was soon out of sight.

"Alright, we don't have all too much time," Sword said, turning to the trio who were to go off on their own. "The attack had to have happened somewhere around where the ancient Dreamlander settlement is. From the way Sir Meta Knight was flying, it had to have been somewhere in the forest around the base of the mountain. Good luck."

The trio nodded. "I think I know that area," Sailor said as they turned to go. "We'll move as fast as we can." With that, he, Javelin, and Trident rushed off.

The remaining six quickly nodded to each other, before turning to go off into the woods to fulfill their own mission. They had the advantage in sheer numbers, but they were not a knowledgeable about forest terrain as their foe. No words were said, but they all quietly hoped that their efforts were not going to be in vain.

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Heart beating fast, the blue Puffal turned to the sound, not certain what to make of it. He prepared for any sort of horrible creature to lunge forwards from the shrub and attack him. However, he was not in the least prepared for what did come out.

Another Puffal, this time pink and much younger than himself, rushed out of the branches before tripping over his own feet. He rested on the ground, clearly still terrified of whatever might be pursuing him, but too tired out to move too far.

This allowed the blue one to get a closer look. It didn't take long for him to realize, much to his relief, that the newcomer was only a baby. A baby was a good sign; it meant that the pack must be closer at hand than he had first assumed.

He moved closer and attempted to pick the smaller Puffal up. However, the pink child looked up at that moment and spotted him. Because of the strange metal object on the elder's face, the tot did not recognize him as another Puffal, and instead assumed that he was some sort of strange creature. However, the child was too worn out from his previous flight to move much farther than a couple of inches.

The blue one was confused. He just wanted to take the child back with him to the pack grounds. Once they reached there, they would be safe. However, every time he attempted to approach him, the baby would whimper and attempt to scoot away.

After a few minutes, his attempts were interrupted by an unwanted sound. "Meta Knight! There you are!" a shrill voice exclaimed from behind the blue Puffal. The baby, hearing the voice, grew more distressed than ever and backed up under a bush to hide.

The adult spun around to see what had made the unpleasant noise. It was a strange yellow bird that seemed aggressive and rather hostile.

"I've got a bone to pick with you, Puffy!" the bird snapped. "That brat o' yours is acting really off!" Here the obnoxious creature motioned towards the cowering child. "He attacked me just now for no real reason!"

The blue Puffal was not enjoying this scenario one little bit. While the bird was speaking, he attempted to slip off to one side. However, the bird was adamant. "Hey! Are you listening to me? That kid there has gone wild! What are you going to do about it?"

Once again, the Puffal did not want to have to deal with the small but highly aggravating creature. He attempted to slip to the side again, and was once again caught by the creature.

This time the bird grabbed him by the strap holding the weird metal thing to his face. "Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking to you, creampuff!"

The stress was more than the simple leather strap could take. With a sudden _snap_ , it broke for the second time, and the mask fell to the forest floor.

Once the strange thing came off, everything lost focus for the blue Puffal. What had been moments ago clear forest ground and leaves were now and incomprehensible mix of light and shadows. Even color itself was completely gone. This strange effect caused the Puffal to go into even more of a panic.

The bird, however, had not noticed in the least. He was still rattling off his list of complaints, which the blue adult could still hear well enough.

So the aggressive thing wanted to fight? The Puffal hadn't wanted that, but he was willing to defend himself if it came to that.

Without a moment's hesitation, the Puffal rushed to where he could still hear the bird talking. He grabbed the offending creature roughly and kicked him away. Hopefully that would keep from another attack like the one that caused everything to look so strange.

The baby Puffal had been watching this whole time. When the weird metal thing fell off, the child could now see what he had desperately been looking for: an adult pack member. He didn't understand why there were strange things coming off of the grown up's back, but he could still tell that this was an adult of his own race. Once the adult had fought the loud scary thing off, the child rushed out to greet him. The little one was eager to go home, and hopefully the adult would know where that was.

It took the blue Puffal a moment to process what was happening. He still could not see anything, and moving around was a rather difficult process. As such, he was horribly startled when something small and warm gripped his side. However, he soon realized that this must be the baby, who could now recognize him as a pack member.

He wasted no time in picking up the little Puffal and placing the tot on his back. That way, the two of them headed off.

It was slow moving at first. As the adult could not see clearly, he moved slowly, doing his best not to run into any obstacles. This was difficult for him to do at first, as he had no idea where he was or where he was moving to.

However, the child soon figured out a way to help. When they came to an area that presented a danger, the child gave a small nudge in the opposite direction of it. This way, they could move along faster without any hindrances.

In this fashion, the two moved along, with the adult acting as the feet and the child acting as the eyes. They could now head back to their pack grounds as quickly as possible. Now if only they knew where that was.

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At that moment, Sailor, Trident, and Javelin were moving as fast as they could towards the area where Meta Knight had faced the mob of mechanical crows. They were just passing by the mountain trail, and the stress of the time limit was starting to cause the pressure to build. "I really hope Mace is right and there's something we can use over there," the Waddle Dee said, half to his companions and half to himself. "If there isn't anything back there, then we're going to have to go on that murderer's word. I don't like our odds in that."

"Well, even if any of the actual mechanics are gone," Trident commented, doing his best to be helpful, "it is possible that there is still residue left in the area from the chemical administering. It would be more difficult to harvest, but could still come in handy."

Sailor gave a small shrug (his species' version of a rueful smile) at the robot's comment. "I suppose so. That might work, but it would be tougher to get at. We'd still have to figure out where the attack went down."

"I do not believe that will present too much of a problem," Javelin commented. "Look just ahead."

The hovering 'bot flew a little faster to point out what he had noticed, and it did not disappoint. It was very clear that this had been the area where the ambush had happened. Lots of chopped up branches and leaves were scattered everywhere, and lying among the wreckage lay the parts of black, bird-like robots.

"Looks like we got lucky, guys," Sailor commented. He bent down and picked up one of the more intact machines. He withdrew a small dagger, and with a quick movement cut through the covering and reached the inner mechanics. It was child's play from there to get to the inner workings. Inside lay a clear plastic pouch of the same green chemical that the Collector had shown them earlier.

The Waddle Dee swiftly removed the pouch. Turning to his companions, he excitedly held the prize up. "We've got it! Let's move fast! Kirby and Sir Meta Knight are depending on us!"

"Right!" the two robots said in unison. With that, all three rushed off, headed to the palace where they knew the equipment they needed would be. They just hoped that their companions could keep the two Puffals safe in the meantime.

To be continued…


	23. A Walk on the Wild Side, Part Three

Traveling through was rather rough for the searchers. From the moment their opponent had declared the hunt was on, they had not caught any sight of her. Most of the time, this would have been a relief. At the moment, however, it was incredibly unnerving. Just knowing that the huntress was out here, plotting who knows what who knows where was enough to give one the chills.

Even worse, since they had lost Meta Knight in the woods, they had seen no sign of him anywhere. It was true that, while in his own right mind, he would be impossible to find if he had no desire for such discovery. However, they had hoped that in a drug induced panic he had left some sort of marking. Despite this chance, though, they had had no such luck. Furthermore, from what they had been told, Kirby was somewhere out here as well, yet he too seemed to have left nothing in the way of a hint to his whereabouts. For the most part, the search seemed hopeless.

However, they soon heard something that might have been in the way of a clue. The six of them were coming out into a cluster of trees that were gathered together in a cluster. Up in the higher levels of the bows, several of the branches shook vigorously. Accompanying the shaking was several desperate grunts of "poyo."

Their hope reignited, the six teens crouched down and moved into a circular position to try and catch the perpetrators off guard. With a swift motion, they rushed out; hoping at least one of them might be able to get to one of the Puffals.

They caught the Puffals, alright. In fact, after a few rather confusing moments of a scuffle, every one of them had caught a Puffal.

"Poyo poyo poy!" Toby cried in annoyance, trying to wriggle free from Ax's grasp.

The teens looked up and realized that of the little creatures they had taken by surprise, Kirby and Meta Knight were not among them. Instead, all of the baby Puffals except for Marty had been caught.

"Sorry about that," Sword said as he set down a rather unhappy Mikey. "We thought you were someone else."

"Poyah poy Kaabii?" Kirsti asked, dusting herself off after she was too set down.

Even though the question had been delivered in the rather confusing language of young Puffals, the meaning could be understood well enough. Mace nodded in response. "Yes, were looking for Kirby right now. It appears that he and Sir Meta Knight are in some sort of trouble."

Andy waved his arms excitedly. "Poyo poyah poy poy poyu To'ki," he said as he tried to explain what had happened, pantomiming a punch before motioning towards the woods. "Poyo poyo poy poyo."

Here the elder students were unable to understand exactly what was being said, but since they knew that was about as clear as any explanation was going to come, they just went on as if they had understood.

"I'm afraid it's worse than that, li'l guy," Joe explained, crossing his own arms in frustration. "The Collector's come back, and she's after Sir Meta Knight and Kirby."

The little Puffals jumped for a moment in shock. Of course they remembered the mean person who had kidnapped them even before they were hatched and held them in a cage for the first week of their lives. The memory of that nasty whistle she had, and of being trapped in her electrified net, were still as clear as day in the youngsters' minds. If she had returned, than they were in serious trouble.

"That's why we're trying to figure out where they've gotten to," Sword said as he finished the explanation. "If we can find them before she does, than there's a chance that we can save them. However, if she finds them first, than there might not be much we can to."

"Poyo!" Marty declared, still on the branch where he had taken refuge. He was pointing to something that was hanging off of it. "P'yah poy!"

"What 'cha pointing at?" Ax asked. He quickly took ahold of the thing and pulled it out of the tree. "By Nova! It's the Dimensional Cape!"

The other kids and teens turned and looked closely at the dark material. Sure enough, it was Meta Knight's cape, left there after it had gotten entangled in the branches.

"That must mean he's been here!" Silica exclaimed happily. "Then we are on the right track after all!"

"And look over there!" Blade called out before running in the direction. "It's one of his sabatons! The other is right over there too!"

"Looks like this trail's not as cold as we thought," Mace said, grinning brightly. "Come on, little puffs! Let's move out!" With that, the six teens and seven babies rushed off, their hope in their mission renewed.

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Meanwhile, the other three members of their band were moving quickly as well. They had achieved their goal of finding a sample of the chemical used and now rushed off to develop the antidote. It didn't take too long for them to reach the castle.

"Come on, we're almost there!" Sailor Dee called out to his companions. "Dedede hides the entrance to the lab, but all us Waddle Dees know about it. It's over this way."

He rushed over to one of the tapestries hanging in the main hall. It appeared just like all the others; a long piece of cloth with the Pengu ruler's emblem and a golden rope hanging next to it. Though it took a minute of jumping, the Dee soon took ahold of the rope and pulled hard.

Once he had succeeded at the, the entire panel that held the tapestry turned. This revealed a dark corridor that had been previously hidden.

Sailor began moving down the darkened corridor. "It's just beyond this passage," he said, motioning for the two robots to follow him. "Once we make it through, we'll have access to everything we need to make up the antidote."

"What about the people that you said usually work in here," Trident asked a tone of nervousness in his voice. "They won't cause any problems, will they?"

"Would you like us to deal with them if they cause problems?" Javelin asked.

"No! I mean, no need for that," Sailor said, shaking his head quickly. He knew that Javelin and Trident meant well, but they could get a bit…overzealous when it came to defense. "I'll handle it if we run into any problems. Now hurry, we're almost there."

When they reached their destination, they found to their relief that the laboratory was currently empty. This would have been a rare occasion since the wizard and scientist that usually took up residence rarely had a reason to leave. As it was, a previous disagreement between them had resulted in the entire room requiring a period of aeration, meaning that the area was currently empty.

"Here, take this and get started." Sailor handed the packet of the green hormones over to Javelin. He then took off his hat and picked up a spear that had been lying nearby, probably left by one of the Waddle Dees who had done the lab cleaning. "I'll go out and make sure that not one interrupts us."

He then rushed back into the hallway and quickly shut the passage before taking his place. Hopefully if anyone attempted to come in, they would see him standing out and assume the cleaning wasn't finished.

For the first ten minutes, everything seemed to be going well. No one bothered with coming by and nobody questioned what he was doing there. For once, Sailor was actually rather glad for other species' constant inability to tell Waddle Dees apart. That meant that no one would be suspicious about his sudden arrival.

However, just as he was becoming especially confident about his sudden luck, it just about ran out. The Waddle Dee jumped when several voices came in his direction.

"…and once you make a simple adjustment, everything should be running smoothly." Sailor recognized that voice as Magolor.

"Yes, because everyone knows how important it is to have a magical defense in your refrigerator to guard against Bubbles." That was Escargoon, who was apparently not impressed by his partner's defense plot. "The danger of having your food stolen by mythical balls is such a risk."

"Hey," the Halcandrian responded, "just because no one has seen them doesn't mean they're mythical! Laugh all you want, but when your snacks disappear in the middle of the night, don't go asking me who the culprit is."

"With everyone who lives in this palace, it could be anyone," the snail muttered, rolling his eyes. That was when the two of them spotted Sailor. "Hey, you over there. You can head out. Bandana said that the cleaning was finished."

Sailor didn't respond, knowing that most Waddle Dees didn't usually talk, but he did step in front of the entrance to the lab. He shook his head emphatically, doing his best to try to get them to move along.

This action only confused them. "Didn't you hear?" Magolor asked, trying to move past the little orange creature. "You're done. Now if you'll move aside, we have work to get to."

Once again, the Waddle Dee refused to move, shaking his head and motioning insistently for them to move along and come back later. However, this did not garner any response other than the duo pushing past him and opening up the entrance.

He quickly dropped the spear and began trying to pull them away. He wanted to say something about the place still being in use, but his disguise required that he stay utterly silent. However, he was a good deal smaller than the duo, so in any way other than annoying them, his attempts were for naught.

Finally, reduced to no other option, he decided to take his chance. "No, you can't go in there!" he called out when they had come to close to the lab.

This finally caused them to freeze. "Wait a minute," Escargoon muttered as he turned to the Waddle Dee.

"Did you just talk?" Magolor asked, just as confused as the snail.

"I, uh, well, uh," Sailor began, trying to think of anything to say. Under most conditions, Waddle Dees would not speak for anything. Only he and Bandana were the exceptions. His mind raced for any sort of answer to a "guard's" sudden chatty mood.

However, he didn't have to come up with anything. Before he could go on, the duo was struck from behind with something large and heavy, which knocked them both unconscious. When the Waddle Dee looked up to see what had happened, he was not surprised to see Trident wielding a triple beam balancer.

"Javelin's still working on the antidote, but I heard that they were coming in," the robot said. "Don't worry though. They won't be interrupting the work."

Sailor touched his forehead in annoyance. Yep, here was an example of overzealous defense at work yet again.

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The searchers, meanwhile, were making a bit more progress as they moved along. For some unknown reason, Meta Knight had felt the need to strip himself of all of his armor. While this was a bad sign of his deteriorating mental status, at the very least it did mean that they had a steady trail to follow.

The babies ran a bit more wildly than the teens as they searched for their missing friends. They were more nervous about the situation, having not been trained to deal with such circumstances, and were growing more and more anxious with every passing minute. However, despite their rather fearful worry, they still wanted to help their companions.

Between the thirteen of them, they were able to cover a lot of ground fast. However, after a while, no other objects showed itself to point to where Meta Knight might have gotten to. Thus, it seemed as if their trail of clues had simply run dry.

This was made even more disconcerting by the fact that they had seen no signs whatsoever of the Collector. While staying out of the way of an enemy is typically a good idea (especially if the enemy is a known murderer), the fact that they had no signal about her whereabouts made it more and more likely that they were going in the wrong direction. They could only just hope that their friends could hold out until they made it to them.

Despite this, they didn't need to have worried. They soon received an answer to their biggest question, and in the oddest way possible.

"Hey! You there!" The searchers turned around when an annoyed voice called out to them. Well, all except two of them, who already knew very well who it was.

"Hello, Tokkori," Sword said in an exasperated tone. "We're kind of busy right now, and we don't have time for your complaining. If you want to speak with Sir Meta Knight later, we'll tell him whatever it is you have to say."

The bird snorted at that remark before flying into view. He had been carrying Meta Knight's abandoned mask with him. "Ol' metal face is the problem in this case," he scowled. "Hey! Give a guy some warning next time!"

He had cried out because, upon seeing what he was carrying, Blade had snatched the small object away. Sure enough, it was their master's mask. It was dinged up and the visor had been chipped and the strap broken, but other than that, it didn't seem to be too beat up.

"Where did you get this?" Blade asked a tone of impatient frustration in his voice.

"From Meta Knight himself!" Tokkori declared in irritation. "Try paying some attention, numbskull."

Silica huffed in frustration. "We are in a bit of a rush here, so we don't have time for insults," she said, annoyed by the bird's bad manners. "If you know anything about what happened to Sir Meta Knight, you need to tell us now. Lives are on the line!"

"Well, if you don't like my attitude, girlie, then I recommend you figure out some way to deal with it!" he snapped back. "I've been ignored and manhandled all day, you punks!" he shouted, flying between the searchers. "I have a right to be indignant, and if you don't like it, maybe I should just take my info elsewhere!"

Tokkori had been so concerned with listing his own perceived grievances that he was not paying close attention to the reaction of his audience. As such, he was taken totally by surprise when Knuckle Joe grabbed him all of a sudden.

"Listen here, you sorry excuse for a feather duster," the brawler scowled. "Like she said, we are on a time sensitive deadline. There is a psychotic out there who has homicidal intent, and we're the only ones who can stop her! If we do not find out where Meta Knight and Kirby are soon, it might cost them their lives! Now, you are going to promptly and politely explain to us where you got that mask, or so help me, I'll make a throw pillow out of you!"

That startled Tokkori. Most of the time when he started dishing out verbal (or sometimes physical) abuse, people just took it or ignored it. When someone actually reacted, he wasn't quite sure how to respond. "I, uh, well…"

"I would speed things up if I were you," Blade commented, leaning causally against one of the trees. "Joe isn't bluffing."

The bird glanced one more time at the infuriated teen before gulping. "Alright, alright, you win! I was just minding my own business this morning when this troop came tromping through," he said, motioning towards the Puffalings. "Kirby was with them at the time, so I asked him what was going on, and he attacked me for no reason!

"Well, I wasn't about to take that lying down, so I followed after them into the woods. That was where I saw Meta Knight. He and Kirby were acting kind of funny, so I questioned him about what was going on, and he attacked me too! They both then took off north. That's all I know! Let me go!" Since he had told them what they knew, Knuckle Joe released the bird, who flew off in a huff. Inwardly, however, he made a mental note to avoid the students of Meta Knight in the future.

"So they're headed north," Ax said, tapping the side of his helmet thoughtfully. "It would probably be best that we head that way."

The teens nodded in agreement before getting ready to start out again.

From her hiding place, the Collector chuckled darkly. So the fools believed her? This was too easy. It almost made the inevitable end unsatisfying. Almost.

She quickly rushed off, heading in a northerly direction. It was a lot easier for her to move through the plant life than for the apprentices, but she was careful not to get too far ahead of them. If her plan was going to work, they were going to have to be nearby for the party.

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A good while had gone by since the Puffals had that run in with the aggressive bird. Much to their relief, there had been no interactions with any other creature, other than the occasional woodland animal. When this happened, the creature would usually look up for a brief moment before turning away with disinterest. Thus, their travel had gone by unhindered.

On a more worrying note, however, they had no sign as to where their pack might be. Indeed, there had been no sign of any other Puffals anywhere. That combine with the passage of time was worrying the duo. If they couldn't make it back to the nesting grounds by dark, then they might end up having to face the predators of the night alone.

Anxious though they were, no creature can go on forever without some sort of respite. As this was the case, the adult Puffal decided to rest for a while since there had been no sign of danger nearby.

He carefully felt around the bases of the trees until he was able to locate what he was looking for: a sizable hollow in a tree trunk. As carefully as he could, he took his little passenger, who had already fallen asleep during the trek, down from his back and laid the tot in the hiding place. He himself sat nearby with his back to the trunk. He rested in this manner with the intent of standing guard over the child. However, soon the exhaustion of his flight overcame him as well, and after a few moments, he too fell fast asleep.

The duo were still like this when the Collector found them. She grinned wickedly to herself. This was too perfect. Carefully, she crept up and snatched the child from his resting place. However, she did not take him far, abandoning him on a pathway only a few yards away. She then hid, ready to watch the chaos that would result.

It wasn't long before the searchers came upon the area themselves. It had been little Toby who found him first. "Poyo poy Kaabii!" the yellow baby cried out joyfully before rushing off to his big brother's side. The other babies caught on to his meaning quickly and too rushed ahead.

It took the teens a bit longer to catch on, but it soon dawned on them. "I think they found something!" Sword called out before hurrying to follow.

"Not something, someone!" Mace declared happily.

They had soon reached the sleeping tot. It had been the intent of the older kids to reach him quietly, and try to keep him calm if and when he awoke. However, much to their dismay, the little ones were already trying to shake him awake. What's more, they succeeded.

The tot snapped awake, surrounded by other Puffals. He briefly grew excited, thinking that they must have finally made it back to the nesting grounds. However, he then looked up and saw more strange creatures approaching.

As quickly as he could, he grabbed the two nearest babies and took off, crying at the top of his lungs for the adult.

The searchers raced forwards and caught up to the youngster, who they desperately tried to calm down. However, he was already in too much of an agitated state for that, and his cries only grew more panicked.

The group was so busy trying to calm Kirby down that they had briefly dropped their guard in other areas. Thus they were completely unprepared when something large and blue rushed out at them, attacking fiercely. They were forced to retreat a few feet back and they soon caught a glimpse of what had struck them.

It was Meta Knight, his wings flared aggressively and his eyes blood red.

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"You know, there are other ways that you can let a guy know they aren't supposed to be going somewhere," Magolor commented. He and Escargoon had recently woken up from their unexpected nap to find themselves tied by a cord around their waists to a desk. A distance off, Trident and Javelin were hard at work with the sample of chemical, and were close to finishing the antidote.

Sailor, who had by now retrieved his recognizable headgear, rubbed the back of his head apologetically. "Yeah, sorry about that. It's just that we've got a kind of time sensitive mission. We've got to get this antidote finished, and fast."

"And you didn't think to just tell us that as opposed to breaking my triple beam balancer?" the snail commented, an annoyed tone in his voice.

"You caught us off guard and I panicked!" Trident said defensively. "I couldn't think of anything else!"

"Besides, it might have taken more time than we have to explain everything out," Sailor continued. "From what we know, it's only a matter of time before that Agrion Aimotos stuff kills Sir Meta Knight and Kirby!"

At the mention of the chemical's name, Escargoon looked surprised. "Wait, did you just say you're making an antidote for Agrion Aimotos?"

"That is correct," Javelin said as he emerged with two syringes full of a rusty red liquid. "They were afflicted with the chemical by an enemy of theirs known as the Collector. Using some samples gained from some of her devices, we were able to synthesize and antidote to reverse the effects once we can catch up to them. Getting this formula is vital to saving their lives."

"Except it isn't," the snail said shortly. "Don't you guys know anything about chemicals?"

The three apprentices looked at each other hesitantly for a moment. "What do you mean?" Sailor asked, confused by the sudden comment.

Escargoon gripped his forehead. "What are they even teaching in schools these days," he muttered quietly. "Alright, listen here! It's Artificial Chemicals of the Gamble Galaxy 101! Agrion Aimotos is not lethal."

"What! You mean it's not going to kill them?" Trident asked.

"That's just what I said!" the snail groaned. "You're going to need that antidote if those two are ever going to act normal again, but other than a nasty headache, it's not going to do them any harm. Agrion Aimotos is only poisonous when mixed with Tri-Nitro Surfate."

A horrible idea then his Sailor Dee. "Uh, just hypothetically speaking, what color is Tri-Nitro Surfate?"

"It's clear," was the answer. "Why?"

The Waddle Dee turned in a panic to his companions. "We've got to get out there now! That "antidote" the Collector has is a poison! We have to get there now!" With that, the three hurried out, desperate to reach their companions.

It took a few moments of quiet for Escargoon and Magolor realized that the three apprentices had forgotten something. "Hey! You forgot to let us go!"

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The young ones stood, uncertain of what to do. Meta Knight was standing right in front of them, his eyes glowing a bright red. Kirby stood behind him, more anxious but also ready to scuffle if need be. It was clear that they were ready to fight at any moment.

"Sir, please calm down," Sword called, his mind racing for something that might allow him to get through to the blue Puffal. "It's us, your students. You know us, and you know that we don't want to fight with you. Please listen to us."

"It's no good," Joe said, preparing his own fighting stance. "He's not in his right mind, so he won't be able to listen to us right now. It look like we're going to have to take him on. Look for any opening to catch him off guard."

Mace nodded, raising her own weapon. "Right. We'll just have to be careful that we don't hurt him. Like you said, he's not in his right mind."

Hearing the movement, the blue Puffal turned and lunged blindly at her. She responded quickly, dodging to the right and striking out with her flail handle. The blow hit home, knocking him down for a brief moment.

Sword and Blade took this as their opportunity, rushing forwards to try to keep him pinned. However, he was faster, and was able to recover before they could reach him. Unable to see where and who was coming at him, the adult Puffal struck out with both arms and wings, striking out at random when anyone drew near.

Meanwhile, Kirby was trying to figure out what to do. He rushed forewords, trying to figure out something to do. Seeing several of the teens trying to figure out a way to keep Meta Knight down without injuring him, the little one ran to the chaos. He struck out, kicking Ax from behind, startling him with the surprise attack.

He prepared to strike again, but was stopped by several little arms. "Kaabii, poyo!" The tot turned and realized that several of the babies had rushed up to him. The little ones were trying to stop him from fighting the strangers. This confused him somewhat, and he hesitated for a moment.

This hesitation gave Ax the moment he needed. Quickly, he grabbed Kirby and hauled him up. Inwardly, he was thanking his lucky stars that the chemical seemed to make the pink puff forget about his copy ability. "I've got Kirby, guys!" he called out as he struggled to keep hold of the wriggling child. "How are you guys doing?"

"Not too good!" Silica called back. She was currently holding tight to one of Meta Knight's wings while Blade had grabbed the other. They were hoping that between the two of them, they could keep the warrior from fighting too much. However, this was proving to be more difficult than they had expected, and soon they had been flung away by the sheer force of the wing beats.

In a half maddened flight, the warrior began charging at just about anything he could sense. It was becoming clearer just how dangerous he was at the moment, and despite how they felt, his students realized that they were going to have to start fighting in earnest.

When he got within range, Mace struck out, using the ball this time. This knocked the attacker back, where Silica began firing around him to disorient his senses. Before he could recover from the confusion and attack again, Knuckle Joe let out an Energy Blast, which finally succeeded at knocking the Puffal unconscious.

The calm that followed the battle was welcome, but uneasy. "Something's off," Blade muttered as he leaned on his broadsword. "That was too easy."

Mace chuckled at that comment. "If that was easy, I'd hate to see your definition of difficult."

"That's not what I meant." Blade motioned to the surrounding forest. "The Collector issued a challenge. Doesn't it seem weird that we haven't seen any sign of her since?"

While this discussion was going on, Silica spotted something moving towards them. She raised her hand and pointed in its direction. "Speak of the devil," she commented.

Now certain that she had been seen, the Collector began applauding slowly. "Well done, well done. It appears that you actually succeeded at catching them." She smirked as she got closer, rather enjoying the way the teens clustered together for defense, moving the baby Puffals and the rescued duo to the back for protection. "Well, I suppose a deal's a deal." She withdrew the two syringes from her pouch and tossed them over to the group. "The antidote, as promised."

The kids stood still for a moment, not quite certain what to do. They had absolutely no intention of using the chemicals given to them by a known murderess, but Sailor, Trident, and Javelin were nowhere in sight. Thus, everything stood still for a while.

Seeing their hesitation, the Collector laughed. "What, you don't trust me?" she asked mockingly. "Clever kids. You aren't as gullible as I supposed. However, the question still remains, what choice do you have? Either I was lying about the antidote or I wasn't. Either way, inaction will kill them. I would recommend you make a choice, and soon."

As a response, Sword, who was the closest, stepped forwards and picked up the two implements. He stood wordlessly for a moment, trying to figure out what to do with them. After all, they didn't know what was in them, and currently had no way of finding out.

"Stop! *pant*. Don't use those! *wheeze* Poison!"

"Those are fake! We have the real stuff!"

"The liquid contained in those vessels have an extremely high probability of being poisonous! It is highly recommended that you dispose of them immediately!"

The group turned to see Sailor Dee, Trident, and Javelin running up. The two robots were closer, and Javelin had two syringes full of a red liquid in them. The 'bot handed them over to Mace as they arrived. "These are the real antidote."

She nodded and administered the contents to the two Puffals. Meta Knight was still unconscious, so there was no real mark of change in him, but as soon as it was given to Kirby, the youngster relaxed and fell into an almost trance like state as his body was allowed to relax.

"What's in those vials," Trident said, pointing out to the two objects that Sword still had clutched in one hand, "is more than likely to be Tri-Nitro Surfate, a compound that become toxic when mixed with Agrion Aimotos."

"Escargoon, *huff*, explained everything, *pant*. Gosh, I don't think I've ever *wheeze* run that much before," Sailor explained when he arrived. He promptly fell into a sitting position before continuing. "He told us that we will need the antidote to get Kirby and Meta Knight back to normal, but Agrion Aimotos is not lethal unless mixed with Tri-Nitro Surfate."

That was when the pieces all fell into place for the rest of the group. "So," Sword said as he flung the poisonous compound away, "you were planning to pretend to let us "win" to trick us into killing them for you."

"Too bad for you," Silica smirked, raising her weapon in a defensive position, "we didn't trust you for a minute, so that scheme fell through."

The Collector, however, seemed rather nonchalant. "Your right," she commented with a shrug. "My plan A fell through. However, a good huntress always has a plan B." With that, she pulled the sleeves of her coat back, revealing two pistol like objects hidden within.

In response, the teens lunged forwards, preparing to battle. However, this is exactly what the Collector was expecting. She fired, and an electrified net came out and enveloped all nine of them. With another quick movement, she fired and caught six baby Puffals, who had been left defenseless by the attempted charge.

"Androvierian electro nets," the huntress commented casually as she observed the apprentices attempt to escape despite the pain. "I got them off of a couple of bounty hunters combing through Rock Star. You'll find they have a very interesting ability of intensifying the electrical charge the more its captives struggle." She pulled off the bracelet that the net had been shot out of. "This is the only thing that could release you." She tossed it so that it was within sight of the teens, but just out of reach. "Have fun."

She casually walked over to her Puffal victims. Even though the antidote had been administered, Kirby and Meta Knight had been weakened by the experience. Doing them in the old fashioned way would be almost nauseatingly simple. As for the babies, they'd go back to the collection. After all, without their ringleaders, they be helpless.

However, as she lifted up the net, there was a clear discrepancy. There were only six babies trapped within!

No one had noticed, but while all the commotion had been going on, Charlie had noticed something a small chipmunk in the nearby bushes and slipped out of the group. While he hadn't found the chipmunk, he had been hidden away when the Collector had trapped his friends. As a result, he was unnoticed when the Collector tossed away the control.

Seeing an opportunity to help, Charlie dodged forwards and grabbed the control. Before anyone could stop him, he quickly pushed the largest button on it, which proved to be the release button.

Now free of the coursing electricity, it did not take long for the apprentices to escape from the net. Once they had gotten out of the entangling fibers, they got up; all of them ready to take on the foe.

She, however, was not prepared for a confrontation. Realizing what had happened, the Collector made a swift decision. She could have attempted to stay and fight, but the numbers were against her. Without any more tricks at her disposal, to attempt to stay would have been a suicide attack. The huntress might have been vengeful, but she was certainly not suicidal.

So in response, she tossed the remaining youngsters at the teens, before turning to run. This distraction worked for the moment, startling the apprentices long enough to give her a head start. It didn't hold them back forever, though. Once they had cleared up everything, the sixteen youngsters dashed after her.

However, they were too late. By the time they had caught up, she had already reached her escape ship. She threw out a smirk before taking off, and it was clear what it meant. They might have beaten her now, but it wasn't over. Not by a long shot.

The teens looked over, disappointed they lost the bad guy again, but at least relieved that they had stopped her plan before it had gone too far. The tense silence was broken by several happy cries.

"Poyo poy!" Charlie cried out happily, and several of the other babies joined in. They were just happy to see the mean lady go away, hopefully not to come back.

Snapped out of the trance like state by the jubilation, the teens went over to where the babies were still celebrating.

"You really saved us back there, li'l guy," Joe said, patting the purple baby's head. "Thanks for that."

Charlie beamed. "P'yuh!"

"Ohh, what is going on?" The group turned to see both Meta Knight and Kirby, who had awakened from their ordeal. It appeared as if both were suffering from rather nasty headaches. "Is everything alright?" the warrior asked again.

Sword and Blade immediately went to support their master. "It's kind of a difficult story. We'll explain back at the palace."

Meta Knight nodded, knowing his apprentices well enough to trust their word. He started moving along with them, when the headache hit again. With how he was feeling, he bought that it was going to be a very strange tale.

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Within the depths of the Nightmare Empire, Honest John grinned darkly to himself. He had just gotten in the report from Marx about the recent happenings within Dreamland. The Star Warriors had been busy. Admittedly, those at NME had had a hand in the chaos, especially with the attempted Walky invasion. Drawcia had really outdone herself with those. Then there was that Magmire, which had not been their work as it was just a comet traveling parasite, but when Marx found out about it, he had arranged for Kirby to a little run in.

Regretfully, neither plan had worked, but they had done very well in causing the Star Warriors problems, which for the time being was good enough. However, today he did have a bit of good information.

Coming up to the Emperor of the Spreading Darkness, Honest John bowed deeply. "My lord, your spy from the Star Warrior's hometown has made his report."

"And what did he have to say?" Nightmare said questioningly. While he did not trust Marx one bit, the little jester had his uses, and often did make useful suggestions.

"He has found out that our enemies have another foe," the crony answered, "and one who appears to be rather good at her job."

"Really?" The warlock listened with interest. Recruits who already had issues with the Star Warriors were incredibly valuable. "Go on. I am listening."

"She goes by the moniker of the Collector. Twice now she has had run in with Meta Knight and his students, and both times she has come incredibly close to slaying the hated warrior."

Nightmare raised an eyebrow. He knew personally how difficult it was to kill the blue Puffal. "Impressive. So, shall we arrange for a visit with this Collector?"

Honest John bowed once more. "I will see to it personally." With that, he left Nightmare's throne room.

He hadn't gone far when he ran into another of Nightmare's servants. "You seem to be in good mood," Drawcia said, a tone of crossness in her voice.

"Indeed," he responded quickly. "It appears we have an ally against the Star Warriors. I am going to see if she can be persuaded to join our cause."

"So, you're going to lure another in with promises that won't be kept," the Paintrian said with a scowl.

"And what do you mean by that, witch?"

What could be seen of Drawcia's face turned red. "I am a sorceress, not a witch, and you know what I am referring to. I was promised the brushes, and have yet to receive them."

The con gave a sly smile. "Ah, the brushes. Yes, I had quite forgotten about those. Well, I don't see how it is my fault that you haven't gone and taken them."

"Taken them?"

"Yes, you see, you were promised them, but we currently do not have them. They are, however, in the possession of several members of Cappy Town. Now, Lord Nightmare doesn't care what you do in your free time as long as you follow orders when they are given and it does not hinder his own plans."

"You mean I can just go down to that back water and get the brushes myself?"

"By all means."

"Very well," she said. She then turned to go. "Keep me apprised if Lord Nightmare wants anything. It looks like I am going to be rather busy for a while."

Honest John smirked. "As you wish." With that, he turned to go about his own business.

To be continued…


	24. The Persistence of Memory, Part One

It was a typical peaceful morning for Cappy Town. Not a whole lot had been going down recently for the inhabitants. This is not to say that everything was perfect, though. Many things happened, but it seemed that they typically only happened to just a handful of the little village's occupants.

Take just the happenings of a few days ago, for instance. Apparently, a terrible poacher and villain who called herself the Collector had arrived and drugged Sir Meta Knight and his apprentice Kirby with the intention of getting their own allies to finish them off for her. Thankfully, however, the young warriors who served Meta Knight didn't fall for her tricks, and in the end they were able to drive her off without any blood being spilt.

This was all quite exciting for everyone to hear, and you can guarantee that by the next afternoon that everyone around knew about what had happened. Word had a tendency to get around fast, especially in a small town. However, this did not affect the Cappy population directly, so other than something interesting to talk about over some drinks at Samo's, the recent events really did not garner much of a reaction from the population.

Thus, life went on as normal. Things were even more laid back than normal due to the absence of most of the members that exciting things happened to. Currently, Meta Knight had elected to take a short trip with his followers before they left. He had entrusted the infant Puffals to the Ebrum parents while he was gone, and the youngsters, who had not quite recovered from the excitement of their previous adventure, were taking the time off to nap. As for little Kirby, it had been a while since he had been able to just spend some time with his friends. As such, he, the Ebrum siblings, the artist twins, Lololo, Lalala, and Ribbon had decided to take some time to explore the Dreamlander Ruins. Without anyone around to instigate any excitement, the town crept on at the lazy pace that it was totally accustomed to.

It was into this scene that the stranger came. It was a tall woman, dressed in long robes of blue, purple, and yellow. She wore a wide brimmed witch's hat and a bright pink scarf over her face. She wandered around the town, gold eyes scanning the town. It was a little…cheery for her taste. Ah, well, that didn't matter at the moment. It would be easy enough to change things to her taste later. All that mattered was finding the brushes.

Unable to find what she was looking for, she called out to a nearby Cappy. "You!" she called out in a tone of voice that spoke of one who was used to being listened to. "Come here. I have need of your knowledge."

The Cappy stared, a little confused. It was very rare for a stranger to come to Cappy Town, and even rarer for one to come speaking in such a manor. However, he soon regained himself. "Well, howdy there," he said in a friendly tone of voice. "How can I be of assistance?"

"I am searching for the bearers of some items of great power," the woman said, the commanding tone never leaving her voice. "Tell me where I might find such objects."

The Cappy rubbed the back of his head before answering. Quite frankly, the woman was intimidating him, and he was rather eager to finish this conversation. "Well, ma'am, there are a lot of interesting objects over at Mr. Curio's shop. He's always digging up something or other."

The woman narrowed her eyes. "Very well. Where might I find this 'Mr. Curio'?"

"His shop and museum's over at the western side of the town," the Cappy answered, motioning in the direction, "but he's kind of busy at the moment. Some of his wards recently made a huge discovery that-"

"I have no time for small talk, serval," she said hastily before turning. "I am Lady Drawcia, Great Enchantress of Paintriad. He will make time for me." With that, she hurried away in the direction pointed out.

The Cappy could only stare for a moment in confusion before heading on his way. If most tourists were this rude, then he was glad that Cappy Town was overlooked most of the time.

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Completely unaware of what was going on in the town itself, the children were enjoying a little time to themselves. Truthfully, it had been a while since they had all been together as a group. Ado and Adeleine had gotten farther in the journal than they expected, and were waiting for the right time to fill the others in on the details. Hopefully, Kirby would take a nap sometime in the afternoon, which would offer up an opportunity.

Meanwhile, Tiff had been rather busy with some project. She had been working on it in secret, and didn't seem to want to talk much about it. However, she was apparently pleased with how it was coming along, and had chosen to pause for the afternoon.

The Ancient Ruins offered a good place for the friends to gather and relax for a while. The huge area had a peaceful feel to it, which opened itself up to being a relaxing picnic area. However, the paintings on the walls offered just enough information to start up a conversation.

"So you guys are sure you've never even heard of anywhere like this before?" Ado asked as she fished out a sandwich out of the basket for herself.

"No, not even a clue," Tiff answered. "It's really weird, though. I always wondered why we never really saw anyone who was like us. Oh, we know they're out there, and have even communicated over the phone and through letters, but never really in person."

Tuff, who had been rather too excited to sit down, grinned broadly as he examined some of the chieftain's portraits. "This is all really cool, though," he called over. "This had to have been where we came from! I'll bet our ancestors were all on this list, and we come from some ancient line of warriors or something!"

"That is a possibility," Lalala responded, "but it still leaves a pretty big question. If this place was so populated once upon a time, what happened? Where did everybody go?"

"That's what we're here to find out," Adeleine said. She took a drink of lemonade before continuing. "Hopefully, if we study through this area, we'll figure out just what happened here, and how it affects us in the present."

"And that's not the only mystery," Lololo said as he glanced over his shoulder at the paintings. "Who do you think that black Puffal is?"

Kirby, who had not been paying much attention to the conversation, looked up at the mention of his species. "Poyo?" he said curiously, before going over to study the portrait. Once he saw the picture, he grinned broadly. "Poyah, t'at Medikni!"

The older child couldn't help but laugh at that simplistic assumption. "No, Kirby," Adeleine corrected, still chuckling, "that couldn't be Meta Knight. It's way too old, and the Puffal is black, not blue."

The little Puffal looked confused. He looked back at the picture. It certainly looked like the veteran, as it was a dark colored adult wearing a silver mask and wielding a golden sword. However, there were subtle differences. Turning back to the picnic, he shrugged before starting on the food again. "Don' know t'en."

"That's alright," Ribbon said, patting the youngster on the back. "We'll figure it out in time." She glanced around the area. "It's rather amazing, though. This place has been here for so long, and we've never even had a hint of it being here. We wouldn't have even known about it if that old Star Warrior ship hadn't appeared."

"Maybe that's not a coincidence," Ado suggested. "Perhaps this whole place has got something to do with the Star Warriors, and it has just been waiting for them to find it. After all, it's not every day that an old place with clear ties to a rare species just appears."

Tuff by now had wandered back over to the picnic and had started arranging a plate for himself. However, upon hearing Ado's, a thought came to him. "Hey, it just hit me," he said, turning to the artistry twins. "Do you guys know what you are? I mean, we've never seen anyone else quite like you guys."

"Tuff! How rude!" Tiff scolded, mortified by her brother's question.

"No, it's alright," Adeleine said, calming her friend down. "Honestly, we're not quite sure. Mr. Curio found us when we were really little."

"We've tried asking about where we came from couple of times," Ado continued, "but every time we ask, he just deflects the question. It's almost like he's hiding something."

"I'm sure that's not it," Lalala said, trying to sound optimistic. "I'm sure he just doesn't know and doesn't want to admit it. It took forever for Sir Ebrum and Lady Like to admit that their not sure where Lololo and I came from."

"I guess," Adeleine murmured. "It would still be kind of nice to know."

The group stayed quiet for a few moments, an uncomfortable silence covering over everything. Uncertain of what was going on, Kirby decided to take it upon himself to decide the next course of action. He firmly decided that it was time for desert, and carried on with this decision by digging through the picnic basket until he came up with a package of cookies.

That gave the elder children something else to focus on. "No, Kirby," Ado laughed, taking the package away from a very disappointed Kirby, "those are for later." With that, the kids eagerly went back into their meal.

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As the _Rising Arrow_ traveled through the clouds, Trident looked in confusion at the designation on the map. "Sir, I mean no disrespect," the robot said, turning to where Meta Knight stood, gazing out the window, "but this destination is a rather large city. A ship like this is bound to attract attention, and there are far more convenient ways to travel there. Why are we going this way?"

The warrior turned to the map, smoothing the edges as he explained. "There is an old friend within this city who I wish to consult. We will not be landing too close to the city. Instead, we'll come down around here." He pointed out an area somewhat to the south west of the city. "Once there, we will travel by foot the rest of the way."

Sailor Dee, who had been sitting over at the navigational controls, looked up for a moment. "Do you think this friend will know where the Collector got to?"

"I doubt it." The veteran gathered the map back up. "He will probably have heard of her and he will be able to help us keep a watch out. Other than that, I do not believe he will know about that particular problem. However, there are some other recent issues I wish to speak with him about."

"Sir, we've almost reached our destination," Silica called over from the cockpit. "We'll be landing within a few minutes."

"Very well." He turned back to the others. "We had best prepare for the landing and journey." With that, he turned and entered the cockpit to direct the landing.

"Hey, Sword," Sailor Dee called over as he strapped himself in, "what did you say this place was called again."

"This is Tiramisu City," the green armored warrior answered.

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Mr. Curio had been hard at work in the museum/antique shop. Ever since the discovery of the ruins, he had been working hard to date the artifacts. This had been a major discovery! While there had been plenty of signs of the works of the ancient Cappy people of Dreamland, the Dreamlander race had long been an enigma. The sudden finding of an area of a once high population was major.

Adding to the mystery of it all, there articles seemed to out date just about every other artifact that had been found, not only by Mr. Curio, but by archeologists all over Dreamland. Clay plates and urns had been discovered for Cappy and Waddle Dee settlements, but as a rule, they were typically only about a thousand star years at the oldest. The ones found at the Dreamlander settlement, however, seemed to go back as far as several million star years.

As such, he was entirely engrossed within his work at the time that the slam sounded. The Cappy scientist didn't bother to get up. It was probably just a bored Dedede again, and now that everything fragile had been locked up, there wouldn't be anything to worry about. Besides, there were other customers out there. If the Pengu started causing too much trouble, they would alert the owner to a coming disaster.

However, it was not Dedede who started up the ruckus. "I am searching for the individual known as Mr. Curio," a woman thundered. "You will tell me which one of you insignificant creatures goes by that name."

There was a bit of a hub bub in the store. Who was this strange person, and why was she speaking like she ran the place? This was all rather a shock.

Pitch, who had been examining one of the exhibits on display, stepped forwards to try to diffuse the situation. "Please, ma'am, there's no need to shout. Mr. Curio is rather busy right now, but I am certain that if you leave a message, he can contact you later and help you with whatever it is you want to know."

The woman, however, did not take that well. "Whatever it is his is doing can wait," she snapped down at the green bird. "I require his services this minute, and I refuse to leave until I am attended to!"

"But, please, madam, he cannot just-"

"I am not one to be ignored!" the woman shouted, snatching the bird from mid-flight.

Hearing all that was going on, Mr. Curio paused in his examination of a pot from the ruins and headed out into the store. Hopefully, he would be able to quell this situation and a scene could be avoided.

"I am Mr. Curio," the archeologist said, introducing himself. "Is there anything that I can help you with?"

She turned to him, releasing a very shaken Pitch in the process. "I have been told that you are a collector of powerful artifacts," the woman said quickly, not even bothering to give her name. "You will tell me where your Paintrian brushes are right now."

"Excuse me, ma'am," the Cappy said, rather flustered by the demand, "I'm afraid I do not quite understand what you are asking. This museum contains relics and clues towards the past civilizations of Dreamland, but not any sort of powering artifacts. If I have any artifacts of power, I am afraid that they are here without my knowledge."

The woman seemed unwilling to accept that answer. "I can tell you are lying," she said fiercely. "I can tell that the brushes have been here. The very air is ripe with Paintrian power. You will tell me where the paintbrushes are right now."

Until that moment, Mr. Curio truly had been in the dark about what it was that the woman had been demanding. However, at the mention that it was paintbrushes she was looking for, he seemed shocked for a moment, and had to shake it off. "This museum currently does not hold any paintbrushes any exhibits," he said, trying to regain his composure, "nor are any such objects on sale in the shop. Now, I will ask you to please reign in your temper, or I will have to ask you to leave."

This seemed to be more than the woman would bear. "You, a mere peasant, dare to tell me what to do! Do you not know who I am? I am Lady Drawcia of Paintriad, and you will tell me what I want to know right now, plebian!"

The introduction seemed only to confuse most of the Cappies present. They personally had never heard of a Drawcia, or of Paintriad, so her demands were only confusing all the Cappies. Well, all but one.

"Drawcia!" Mr. Curio exclaimed in shock. He had heard that name before, and it had not been tied to good things.

The witch grinned broadly under her scarf. "So you have heard of me? Then you should know that I have no tolerance for those who try my patience. Now I repeat myself. I can tell you are hiding Paintrian artifacts here. Hand them over to me now, or suffer the consequences."

"Like I told you before," the Cappy said as he backed towards the counter, "there aren't any artifacts like the ones you are demanding here right now. I will calmly ask you one more time to leave." Once he had reached his desk, he quickly pressed a button underneath the lip of the furniture. Hopefully, the silent alarm would word, and help would arrive soon.

"Liar!" Drawcia scowled. In a quick movement, she pulled a paint brush out from the folds of her robe. "Let us see if this can burn a little truth from you!" With that, she went over to a wall and painted a large fireball on it. Moving quickly, she motioned with the brush towards Mr. Curio, and the unfortunate Cappy was only able to dodge the projectile in the nick of time. His desk, which wasn't so lucky, ended up a smoldering heap.

This was not enough for the witch, however. "If no one here will tell me where those paintbrushes are located," she bellowed, I will make certain of it that no creature leaves here alive!"

"Freeze!" someone else yelled from behind. It was Chief Bookem, who had rushed over to the scene once he had received the silent alarm. He was now facing the sorceress, a gun pointed directly at her. "Keep your hands in the air and that brush where I can see it!"

Drawcia looked stunned for a moment, as if unable to comprehend the fact that she was being resisted. Suddenly, however, she broke out into laughter. "You dare to defy me? You, such a pathetic little creature?" She brandished her paintbrush and quickly painted a bolt of lightning. "You almost aren't even worth facing."

The chief moved quickly to avoid the bolt. "You leave me no choice," he shouted before opening fire on the witch.

However, she was faster, and painted a bright purple portal, which pulled in all the bullets, before firing them back out at random angles. Miraculously, no one was hurt, but quite a few artifacts that had been on display were shattered.

Drawcia seemed to find this funny. "Is that all the power that you hope to defeat me with?" she laughed. "Let me show you real power!" She rushed out of the building and flew up into the sky. Once there, she reached out, holding her paintbrush aloft. From it, a screen of purple and pink paint erupted, forming a dome that engulfed the village, the castle, and the nearest edges of the woods.

"Hear my decree, you pathetic creatures!" Drawcia shouted out. "I have claimed this puny area, and as long as the wall is up, I will do with this village as I wish! This wall will stay up until someone delivers the paintbrushes over to me. Let this be a message to you." With that, she flew off to the palace, while all the poor Cappies could do was stare in shock and horror as their world shifted around them.

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The rest of the afternoon had gone on rather enjoyably for the small gathering of kids. The peace of the grotto like surroundings led to a very relaxed overall feel. They finished their picnic lunch and dessert and had started to play a few small games to pass the time. After a while, Kirby began to feel a bit drowsy, so he wandered over to a shady place and after a few minutes by himself was soon fast asleep.

The older children had been waiting for this very moment. Now that Kirby was asleep, it was safe for Ado and Adeleine to recount everything that they had previously read in the journal. They eagerly plunged into every detail they could remember. Young Meta's exceptional placement score, his harsh dealings with the red Puffal Galacta, and the formation of his and Daroach's friendship with Jecra and Garlude were eagerly described.

Less so was the news after that. The story that came after that tale was the beginning of the very war that would leave so few survivors. To make matters worse, the next couple of entries were nearly all about the war. Lists of those sent off to fight; territories won and lost; the rush to train new fighters to defend the frontline; it had all but overtaken the book's passages.

"Wow," Lalala said quietly once the twins had finished up their narrative. "I never imagined it had gone on for so long."

"I know what you mean," Adeleine answered. "Meta Knight never really spoke about what had happened and since Kirby beat Nightmare rather quickly when he came here, and we can understand why. I guess we always assumed that the war hadn't been going on for such a long time."

That put a rather uneasy feeling into the kids. For quite a while after the defeat of Nightmare via the Star Rod, things had seemed totally quiet and peaceful, with nothing to be concerned about but common worries and simple curiosities. However, the recent attacks, coupled with the sudden revelation of how long the previous war had gone on, caused a dread to settle over like a dark cloud.

Their conversation on the morbid topic was cut short by a yawn. It had been about a half hour or so, and Kirby was now awake. It took him a minute to register where he was and what he had been doing, but as soon as he looked over and spotted his older friends, remembrance hit him. He pushed himself and eagerly rushed over to where the others were sitting. "Poyo, hii!" he called out cheerfully. "Wha' ya doin'?"

The older kids, who had no intention of including Kirby in the former conversation, raced to think of something to tell the tot. "Well," Tiff said, grasping for something that left him out of the loop but still wasn't a lie, "we're just having a little conversation."

"Oh," the Puffal responded as he said down. "'Bout what?"

"Oh uh, not much, really." This time it was Ribbon's turn to answer. "Just wondering about Meta Knight and the Star Warriors. We don't know a whole lot about that group." Once again, not a lie, but enough that Kirby didn't know what they were really talking about.

"Oh!" Kirby beamed after hearing this. "Kaabii know lots 'bout Medikni! Like, he weally stwong, an' he knows lots 'n' lot 'bout fighting! An' he teaching Kaabii how to be stwong Stah Wa'ee'ya! Someday, Kaabii gonna be jus' like Medikni!"

"We know you will," Lololo said, relieved that the youngster had gone off on another track. "After all, you've already defeated some monsters on your own."

"I don't see why Meta Knight can't train me too," Tuff murmured under his breath. "I'm older than Kirby. I could handle dealing with monsters too."

"It's probably that he'd need Mom and Dad's permission before anything could begin," Tiff suggested. "Just imagine what Mom would say if you asked her."

"I don't think I'd ever see anything related to warriors ever again," Tuff said, slouching a bit against as stone. "She'd probably make me take etiquette, or dancing, or something frilly like that." He crossed his arms. "It's just not fair, that's all."

Ribbon chuckled. "Life rarely is." Suddenly, she looked up, tilting her head, as if listening for something. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what," Adeleine asked.

"It's kinda faint," Ribbon said, "but it kind of sound like flapping wings, and lots on running."

"Now that you mention it," Lalala said, "I can hear something like that, and it's pretty close."

"Poyo, ou'side?" Kirby asked, before going over to the small gate, which stood ajar. He leaned out to get a look, and was majorly shocked by what he saw.

Animals were rushing by as quickly as they could. Birds flew in a haphazard manner and ground bound animals did their best not to trip over each other as they moved past.

Kirby wanted to get a closer look, but he was knocked back into the enclosure by a rushing animal. He stumbled back a few feet before being able to settle himself. "Poyo, all running away!" He said, looking up in shock.

"Running away?" Tiff asked, confused by the action. "What would they be running away from?"

"I don't know," Adeleine said as she started to pack up their supplies, "but they seemed to be coming from Cappy Town. I say we head back and make sure that everything is alright." The others nodded in agreement, and the small group hurried out as fast as they could to make certain that no harm had befallen their home.

As they moved through the tunnel, there was no apparent harm done, but there clearly was something not right. This sense of dread seemed to affect everything around, but it wasn't clear what it was until they came out of the Star Warrior ship.

While they themselves were unaffected, when they came out, they saw that it was not the case in the whole dig site. Indeed, everything in the dig site that was facing the village was covered in some sort of pink and purple wall!

Kirby rushed over to the wall and pushed against it. However, it didn't budge. "It weally tough," he said, turning to his companions. "How we gonna ge' home?"

"I'm not certain," Ado said as she studied the barrier, "but we're going to have to find a way." With that, the kids hurried to try to find some sort of weakness in the block.

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Despite the rather odd circumstances of the large group, moving through the city streets of Tiramisu City was easier than some of the apprentices had assumed it would be. Only Sir Meta Knight was still wearing his armor, but even still, the kids had kind of expected a large group like theirs to be fairly noticeable. However, much to both their relief and confusion, no one seemed particularly interested in the party. Instead, the inhabitants hurried along, eager to reach their destinations.

"Wow, this place sure is busy," Sailor said quietly. "Sir, are you sure you'll be able to find this friend of yours? This city seems pretty busy."

"If he is here, it will not take long for him to locate us," was the answer. The warrior turned into a small alleyway, motioning for the teens to follow after him. "Come, this is the way we must go." He then rushed out of sight, followed closely by Sword and Blade, who seemed to know more than the others.

The apprentices were not quite certain what to think. Sure, they trusted Sir Meta Knight with their lives, and they had no fear of clashes with any unsavory types. They could take care of themselves. But they couldn't help but question what sort of person their master had brought them to meet.

They rushed quickly after him, and found themselves walking through neighborhood after neighborhood. Gradually, the areas changed in degrees of upkeep as they went. When Meta Knight finally began to slow down, they found themselves in an area somewhat different from most of the city. It appeared to be mostly housing of a rather lower quality. Not a slum, but an area that certainly would have been looked over for other areas, both glitzier and more dangerous.

Examining the surroundings, the apprentices became a little confused. It was a cozy little place, and certainly not the sort of place that someone would expect a Star Warrior informant to be in.

"Uh, Sir," Mace said, confusion in her face. "Are you sure this is the place where your friend is? Because it doesn't seem to be the sort of area where someone like that would be."

"Why, that is what makes it perfect for my purposes, Mace, my dear." The teens just about jumped out of their skins when they heard the voice. Meta Knight, Sword, and Blade had apparently been expecting the newcomer, but the others were startled by the sound. They turned in time to see Daroach approach them.

When they spotted him, a reaction of surprise overtook everything. "You!" Silica stated, her mouth open wide. "How could it be you!?"

"Y-you died!" Knuckle Joe declared. "Years ago!"

"We all heard the reports!" Ax said in confusion.

"Records indicate there is a one hundred percent chance that you did not survive your encounter with Nightmare before the Downfall!" Javelin announced, running through his systems to find some sort of explanation. "This does not compute."

"Um, who are you?" Sailor asked, genuinely confused by his friends surprise.

Daroach grinned. When he realized that Meta Knight had arrived and had brought the rest of his students with him, the mouse had rather expected this reaction. "All answers will come in good time," the mouse said simply. "Until then, I believe it will suffice to say that reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated."

"As for who I am, my young friend," he said, turning to Sailor, "my name is Daroach, Star Warrior, leader of the Squeaks, and treasure hunter extraordinaire. I am very pleased to make your acquaintance."

He then turned to Meta Knight. "Now, I suppose this isn't a leisure visit, is it?"

"I'm afraid not," was the response. "There has been happenings in and around Cappy Town that have me concerned, and I would like to have your input on these occurrences."

Daroach nodded. "Very well. We had best conduct our business within the hideout. Please follow me." With that, the mouse hurried off, followed closely by Meta Knight.

The teens couldn't help but still be shocked by this revelation. If Sir Daroach was here, alive and well, than what other surprises did the future hold for them?

To be continued…


	25. The Persistence of Memory, Part Two

The struggle against the purple-pink wall seemed to be a hopeless task. It had apparently been constructed seamlessly, without any crack or hole in sight. Furthermore, it was completely opaque, meaning there was no way for them to see inside the barrier to get an idea of thickness.

"This is so weird," Adeleine said as she hit the wall with a sharp rock she had found nearby. "We leave for just a couple of hours and suddenly this thing pops up and locks us out. What could have set up something so sturdy so fast?"

"Magic?" Lololo hazarded as a guess. "Maybe something happened inside, some sort of accident or the like, and a magical barrier appeared because of it."

"Maybe," Tiff said. The Dreamlander girl was attempting to dig under the barrier, but this method only proved that whoever had set it up had prepared for that sort of attempt. "This just doesn't make sense. Furthermore, I can't tell what the heck this thing is made out of. It's hard as rock, but doesn't look like any rock I've ever seen before."

"It looks kind of like paint to me," Tuff said. "The way these colors are swirling, it almost looks like it had been painted that way."

"Pain', poyo?" Kirby asked, looking up at the older boy. "Go ge' wa-wa, t'en?"

"Well, it's worth a try, I guess," Ado said. She pulled out her paintbrush and pad and quickly painted a geyser burst. She aimed the pad at the mysterious wall, and a huge burst of water shot out, entirely drenching the area. After a few moments, the stream slowed down and the stopped, allowing the kids to see if that tactic had worked. Much to their disappointment, however, the wall still stood, wet but just as firm as ever.

"Well, that didn't work," the artist said glumly.

Her twin looked on in frustration at the barrier when an idea struck her. "Hey! If this is paint, than maybe our paintbrushes will work on them!"

"If this works, we can open a portal into the dome. I don't really know where we'll come out, but hopefully, we'll make it inside." Without waiting for a response, the girl rushed ahead, pulling her own paintbrush out to test her theory. She pressed it firmly against the wall, and then moved it, testing to see if she had any effect on the mysterious block.

Much to their delight, this tactic actually worked. The colors of the wall moved in response to the brush, bunching up and allowing the girl to form a blue portal in it.

Somewhat surprised by their success, it took the children a moment for them to fathom just what exactly was going on. Even though the portal had opened, it still was in a rather opaque. As a result, they were rather uncertain of what just was going to happen once they passes through.

Kirby was the one who made of his mind first. Without saying a word, the toddler rushed up and jumped up, making contact with the blue swirl. He braced himself, half expecting the wall to still be solid and to be knocked back. However, the moment he touched it, the pink Puffal was pulled in and vanished from sight.

The other children followed closely after him. One after another, they came up to the portal and touched it. This pulled each of them in, and they came out on the other side.

The youngsters had been worried that something bad had occurred when they saw the barrier. They had prepared themselves to see some sort of fight going on, with damaged buildings and enemies ready to face them. They had prepared themselves to have to fight off some sort of attack, and to defend those who could not.

They had not prepared themselves for what they now saw in front of them.

Everything around them had practically been flipped on its head. Most of the trees were gone, except for wiry little things that on closer inspection were made out of forks. There appeared to be some sort of animal life running around, but a close look made one realize that these were not living creatures, but vegetables that had somehow sprouted legs. Other such bizarre changes were all around, and seemed to have been caused by whom or whatever had spread the dome.

"Wei'd," Kirby stated as he stared at the odd sight.

"You're telling me," Tuff agreed.

"It almost looks like some sort of bad dream," Ribbon commented.

"Is that the village?" Adeleine asked, pointing off into the distance. The other kids turned to followed her stare, and soon found what she was pointing out.

Sure enough, there was the village of Cappy Town. However, it was just as affected by the surreal dome as everything else. The buildings still lay in the same arrangement they had been in before, but they now appeared to be made of other objects. Or, in the case of the mail office, a living toaster oven who appeared to be annoyed to be tied down.

"Come on," Tiff said as she rushed off in the direction of the village. "If we're going to find out what happened here, we'd better find someone."

The other kids nodded and hurried off after her. Inwardly, everyone hoped that these creepy changes could be reversed.

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The group did not have far to travel after Daroach. They soon came out of the alleyway and came upon what appeared to be a storage space, like the kind for holding boxes which are to be sent elsewhere. The mouse them opened the door, motioning for his guests to enter. "Welcome to my humble abode. Would you please come inside?" he said, before entering himself.

The teens were not quite sure what to expect when they saw the shack. Certainly, it did not appear to the sort of place where a Star Warrior would be lying low. Then again, those who knew Daroach knew better than to question the odd surroundings, and those who didn't just went along with it.

Upon entering it, they found themselves standing in the very last sort of place they expected. The passageway they were on slanted downwards, and after traveling for a short way, they found out why. They soon came to an opening of the room, which itself entered into a large hangar. Within was a large dirigible, which seemed to be in the preparation for some sort of trip.

"Pardon the mess," Daroach commented as they walked along. "As the case is, you've caught us at a moment when we were about to leave for another search."

"'Us'?" Knuckle Joe asked.

"Oh, of course, Joseph," the mouse warrior said simply. "You do not expect that I set up all this myself, now do you?" He look up for a moment before striking his cane against an overhead pipe. "Squeaks, please assemble in the main hangar. We currently have company."

There was a rather loud ruckus which was followed by a crash. "Be right there in a minute, boss!" a husky voice called back. "Just gotta pick up these boxes." There was more sounds of a struggle, and in a few moments, a huge young mouse with an eye patch entered.

"Sorry 'bout that," Storo said, rubbing the back of his head. "I kinda got up too fast, and knocked a shelf over."

"Don't worry about it, big guy," Spinni said as she moved into the hangar after him.  
"Doc will fix it when we get back, no worries."

"You're one to speak," the older mouse said crossly as he came in on his hovercraft. "You are not the one who has to do repairs every time something gets damaged."

"Sorry you had to see that," Daroach chuckled. He was quite familiar with the back and forth banters of his team that signaled a time without problems. "These fine fellows are the Squeaks. The good doctor, Master Storo, and Miss Spinni often accompany me on my journeys." He then turned to his team. "I know you all know Sir Meta Knight and his followers, Master Sword and Master Blade. These others are his other students, Master Joseph, Miss Silica, Master Ax, Miss Mace, and…" he pause for a moment. "I do believe I did not catch you names, good fellows."

"I'm Sailor Dee," Sailor said, lifting his hat in greeting. "These two robots are Trident and Javelin."

"Robots, eh?" Doc asked, floating over to where the duo was. "The mechanics are quite well done. I wouldn't have been able to tell had it not been pointed out."

"Trident and I were designed with the most advanced mechanics of Star Warrior design," Javelin stated simply. "Sir Meta Knight intended us for the purpose of aiding his students in his absence."

While their teams made acquaintance, Daroach turned over to Meta Knight. "You told me in the alleyway that there has been some trouble that has you concerned. How may I be of assistance?"

"I need to ask you something about this." Meta Knight then handed the mouse a small carpet square.

Daroach turned it over in his hands. "It has a very fine weave. Whoever made it knew their trade. It's been stained though, and it looks like some sort of paint."

"That's just it," Meta Knight said. The Puffal took the carpet square back as he explained. "This stain had once been alive."

"Living paint creatures?" the mouse grinned. "Well, you do like to keep me busy. Let's see what we can find out."

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The trip into Cappy Town really did nothing to relieve the worries of the youngsters. The bizarre happenings still surrounded the area, and became much more noticeable the closer to town they got. Furthermore, the sense of apprehension was increased by the lack of anyone they knew.

That's not to say that there weren't any living creatures around. The case was quite the opposite, in fact. No matter where the kids turned, or wherever they attempted to go, strange eyes seemed to peer out of every crevice at them. Once, they were nearly swarmed by a flock of flying creatures that had the bodies of pigs with a cactus for a head. Thankfully, the creatures seemed uninterested in the kids and moved along without bothering them.

"Uch," Tiff said, grimacing at the trippy sight, "what on Pop Star could have happened here?"

"I don't know," Ribbon answered. She flew up to get a better look but then retreated back upon spying some long-limbed creature moving in the distance. "I've never heard of anything like this every happening before."

"It's like we're in a surrealist piece," Ado commented, and Adeleine nodded in agreement.

"Surrealist piece?" Lololo asked, looking confused at the two artists. "What is that?"

"It's a style of art," Adeleine explained. "It has an intense focus in showing the world through the eyes of someone in the midst of a nonsensical dream. Some even went as far as to try to wake themselves up in the middle of a dream to be able to describe the experience more accurately."

"I've never had a dream like this before," Lalala said, "and I hope I never do. This place is creepy."

"Well, some dreams are nightmares," Ado responded, nodding in agreement. "I just hope that nobody got hurt when this all happened."

They had by now reached the Cappy Town Square. The large tree which marked the direct center of town was still standing, though it had been turned into a large bundle of twisted toothbrushes with long strands of noodles hanging off of it.

Upon seeing the strands of food, Kirby eagerly rushed over. However, the moment he got close, the pasta reached out, entangling the little Puffal in its threads and whipping him around. Seeing his distress, Ribbon flew over, and with much struggling was able to free him from the odd trap.

The others were still studying one of the buildings a little ways off, but the duo flew a little ways off, landing close to large building made of soap and pancakes that had once been the town restaurant. "Okay, that was too close," the fairy commented as they landed. "We'd better stay away from anything suspicious looking until we can figure out just what is going on."

"Hey! Kirby, Ribbon! Over here!" The duo turned, surprised to hear someone calling out to them. It was Kawasaki, who was waving through the window of the restaurant. "You guys got caught in here, too? You'd better come in; there are some pretty weird things out there."

"Alright, we'll be there soon," Ribbon answered. "Hey, guys, over here!" she called out to their friends.

"We fin' Ka'sa'ki!" Kirby called, doing his best to help. "Go'na go inna westawant!"

The kids soon regrouped and headed inside the building, doing their best to ignore the bubble insects that formed and scurried off when they opened the door. Inside, several of Cappy Town's inhabitants, the buildings two owners among them, were huddled together behind a large pair of baby rattles which had been once the counter. No one was around the tables or chairs, which had turned into large spools of thread with weird bulbs around them.

"Hey, are you guys alright?" Tuff asked. He started to get onto one of the bulbs to get a better view. "Why are you all hiding?"

"Don't do that, you stupid kid!" Nago growled, roughly pulling the Dreamlander boy off of the bulb in time for it to turn into a Pacto. "Do you want to get eaten?"

Tuff was too stunned to respond. However, the other kids were not so tongue tied. "What happened here?" Lalala asked as they joined the group behind the counter. "Why does everything look like this?"

"It's all that witch's fault!" a Cappy declared, waving her fist in the air. "She's the one who did all this!"

"Um, I'm afraid we were out this morning," Adeleine said. "What witch? What did she do?"

Pitch, who had been among the hiders, volunteered an explanation. "It all started this morning, in the museum," the young bird said. "This strange woman who called herself Drawcia came into the museum and demanded to see Mr. Curio and have him hand over some sort of paintbrushes. She seemed to be in a real fit, as she refused to calm down. The good professor came out and tried to reason with her, explaining they didn't have what she was looking for. She didn't take that well, and took out a paintbrush and began to destroy the museum. Chief Bookem attempted to apprehend her, but she caused even more mayhem, culminating in what you see now."

This description struck Ado and Adeleine the hardest. So there was another person out there who had paint abilities, and she was the one responsible for this all! They would have to investigate into this.

"Where is Drawcia now," Ado asked quickly once the explanation had been given.

"Well, as soon as she was finished here, she flew off towards the palace," Kawasaki answered. "I sure do feel sorry for Dedede if she's staying there. She didn't seem very nice."

Without another word, the twin artists rushed out. Kirby reacted almost immediately, eager to help his friends confront the villain who had done this. It took the other kids a moment to compose themselves, but they too soon took off after their friends. Whatever was going down at the palace, they weren't about to miss it.

Left behind once more, the citizens watched in amazement. They only hoped the youngsters weren't about to bite off more than they could chew.

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"So, do forgive me if I do not quite understand exactly what you mean," Daroach said, moving towards the kitchen. "Please explain what exactly happened with these creatures."

Meta Knight nodded and followed. He himself was trailed by Sword and Blade, who were interested in what the two old friends were going to talk about.

"It all happened a little over two weeks ago," the Puffal began. "We had absolutely no warning about what was coming. Dedede just came to the village one morning with a strange device that he called a Walky. I myself was not present for its unveiling, but several of Kirby's friends warned me about what was happening. When I was told of what had occurred, I went to look into the strange devices, but initially found nothing to be concerned about. At least, until they began to let out a mind controlling call."

"Mind control?" Daroach asked questioningly. "Now, that's something I haven't seen since coming to Pop Star. I'd hardly believe it could happen here, none the less in a little place like Cappy Town."

Sword nodded. "It happened, alright," the soldier commented. "Blade and I were among the first victims. So was just about the rest of Cappy Town. Thankfully, Sir Meta Knight was able to snap us out of it before we actually hurt anyone."

"It took a while, and a bit of help from Microphone Kirby, but we were able to break the hold of the insidious devices," Meta Knight continued. "After the battle had been won, I noticed that a strange thing happened with all the Walkies that were destroyed before the arrival of Kirby's attack. Most of the devices exploded upon destruction, but the few we were able to get rid of before that part melted into the strange substance you see now.

"I'm afraid here is little else to tell. I was trying to figure out just what sort of substance the Walkies had turned into when a set of twins who are also friends of Kirby's came to ask me a question. They were quick to point out that it was a paint stain. Upon further examination, I found this to be true, but for the life of me, I can't think of how a paint creature could come to life like that. I had hoped you might have an idea of what is going on. You typically have a better memory for legend relating to this sort of thing, so I was hoping that you might have a good idea of what might be going on."

"Well, I do know of creatures who have the ability to pull works of art out of their medium," Daroach commented, touching his chin in thought. "In fact, the entirety of the Empire of Museian has this ability. However, only the Royal House of Museian has the ability to summon creatures that appear to be alive. They're not, of course, but they can move around and preform small commands, rather like an automaton."

"That's great!" Ax exclaimed. He and the others had drifted into the kitchen while the conversation had been going on, and the excitement of a possible lead was shared among the gatherer. "Then we have an idea of who caused all this trouble!"

"Not so fast, my friend," the mouse warrior corrected. "I'm afraid there's a problem with this theory. Due to a recent tragic accident, the Royal House of Museian has been reduced to two members: the Crown Princess, Lady Claycia, and her younger sister, the Princess Elline. Furthermore, it is tradition that royalty in mourning are not to be seen by anyone outside the palace. As a result, the media takes this as a personal challenge, and thus, we have near twenty four hour coverage on everything the young princesses are up to. They would not have the chance to pull a stunt such as the one you have described."

"Are you sure there's no one else?" Mace asked. "Maybe someone who isn't as close to the throne, or someone too old to take over?"

Storo scratched his ear as he thought. "Well," the big mouse said after a moment, "there is the Prisoner Portraits."

"Don't be silly, Storo," Doc said dismissively. "The Prisoner Portraits are just legend. There's no way it could be them."

"Excuse me, but what are the Prisoner Portraits?" Silica asked.

"The Portraits are legends, about objects that were used to contain dangerous criminals," Spinni answered. "But those are just stories. Aren't they?"

"Do not be so quick to dismiss stories," Meta Knight commented calmly. "Even if they are not perfectly accurate, they often hold an aspect of truth, and that could be the very element that make the difference."

A broad smile broke of Daroach's features. "Well, it looks as if we have a lead. If you will accompany me to the library, I believe I knew just the book we need."

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To say that Dedede was having a bad day would be an understatement. Quite frankly, the day had begun well enough. He had slept in that morning, and by the time he woke up, there was no sign of Kirby. The little Kirbies had been staying at Ebrum Apartment, but the pink ball himself had left earlier, along with the two nosy siblings who were constantly hanging around him. Furthermore, Meta Knight had gone somewhere (Dedede didn't care where), meaning that there really was no one around to tell him what to do.

That left the Pengu in a good mood, so after breakfast, he decided to take a quick swim in the Fountain of Dreams (something he hadn't been able to do since that whole Nightmare issue) and then have a pre-lunch snack. However, much to his shock, as he was in the waters, he looked up and realized that there was a film of purple-pink expanding over the sky. Furthermore, whatever the purple-pink covered made a change for the weird. Even the palace itself began to shift and change, until it appeared to be made out of a variety of this or that.

Enraged, the Pengu grabbed his hammer and rushed out to find out just what was going on. It didn't take him long, as when he reached the lobby, he found Bandana Dee following a strange woman who had just arrived. She was tinkering further with the palace, and that was something Dedede just wouldn't stand for.

Bandana spotted him as he approached and attempted to explain what was going on. However, the little Waddle Dee was brushed aside without any notice. "Hey, you, what do you think you're doing!" Dedede snapped angrily. "This is my palace, and you can't just come in here and start changing the de-de-decor!"

The woman stopped what she was doing and stared in annoyance at him. "Do you not know who it is you are addressing!" she snarled at him. "I am Drawcia of Paintriad, the feared enchantress, and you should know to hold your tongue around your betters, pauper!"

That left the Pengu livid. "Pauper! Why, I'm King Dedede, and this is my palace! You'd better hit the road, Draci or whatever it is you call yourself, 'cause I'm not just gonna sit around and let some witch come in here and do whatever she wants with my property!"

Drawcia's face turned bright red. "I. Am. Not. A. Witch!" she shouted, withdrawing the paintbrush once more. With a quick movement, she painted several large spiked balls and the motioned in the direction of the king.

Dedede had to move fast in response. He swung hard, knocking one of the spike balls into the others. These bounced around for a while before splattering into paint.

However, the enchantress was not finished. While her opponent had been busy with the projectiles, she moved around him, painting several large stakes. These rose quickly from the ground, forcing him to dodge quickly.

This was difficult for Dedede to do, but he was faster than he looked. As such, he was able to move in time to get out of the way of the first two attacks and climb aboard the last one. This he rode until it had reached a certain height. Here, he could get a good look around the area and could see that Bandana had succeeded in gathering a good number of the Waddle Dees.

"Get her!" the Pengu snapped at his troops. "Get that stinkin' witch out of here!"

The dutiful creatures obeyed, rushing against the enemy. However, Drawcia did not have to do much to deal with the hoard of rather useless soldiers. Without using much effort, she painted a bright purple portal, which pulled in all the unfortunate creatures. She then spun the portal around before firing the Dees back out, right at Dedede!

This knocked his down off of his perch. Much to his dismay, he landed in another portal, which closed off once he landed in it.

Seeing that the Pengu had landed in the trap, Drawcia sneered as she passed. "Let that be a lesson to you about challenging those beyond your ken!"

Dedede remained trapped in this rather humiliating pose, though the Waddle Dees did their best to try to get him out. As such, he was not pleased to see it when Kirby and his pals rushed in.

Spotting the Pengu in his predicament, the little Puffal rushed over to him. "Dedededededede 'kay?" he asked, genuinely concerned. "Kaabii he'p?"

"Do I look okay to you, Pinky!?" Dedede snapped. "How can I be okay when some witch barges into my palace, starts changing everything up, and then leaves me stranded in my own flooring!"

"He was only trying to be helpful," Ribbon scolded softly. Ado and Adeleine had already started painting Dedede out of his prison, and the fairy was helping him out. "You could be a bit nicer."

"Yeah, well, if he wanted to be helpful he should 'a been here when that creepy woman stormed in." The Pengu brushed himself off furiously. "She just charged in and started acting like she owned the place."

"You said you were attacked by a witch?" Ado questioned once they were finished. "Where did you say she went?"

"I dunno," he said impatiently. "Somewhere off in the inner portion of the palace, I guess."

"Looks like we're going to have to split up," Tiff said, turning to the other kids. "Tuff, Lololo, Lalala, we'll check the apartments. That way we can also make sure that Mom and Dad are okay. Ado, Adeleine, Ribbon, Kirby, you guys check out the throne room and see if she's in there." The other kids nodded in agreement before rushing out.

"Hey!" Dedede snapped. "What about me?" When he didn't get an answer, he decided to head out and see if he couldn't find out where Meta Knight had gone to. He'd been slacking off way too often for the Pengu's taste.

Despite the agreed arrangement, none of the kids were quite sure what they were going to do if they found Drawcia. However, they were certain they would think of something.

When they actually discovered her, however, they drew a blank.

It was Kirby's band who actually made the discovery. The witch had made her way to the throne room and had began to come up with a strategy for finding her goal.

Kirby rushed in once he had spotted her. "D'awcia!" he called out, trying to get the woman's attention. "Cappy Town no' you's! Change i' back!"

Drawcia turned, startled by the sudden appearance. However, when she saw who had made the declaration, her expression changed from one of shock to one of ridicule. "And who is it who makes demands of me?" she asked, finding the identity of her challenger rather humorous.

"I's Kaabii, a Stah Wa'ee'ya!" was the response. "If ya don' change Cappy Town back, I have ta fight ya!"

At this exclaimation, Drawcia laughed loudly. "You! You're Kirby? You're the one Nightmare's so worried about? Don't make me laugh." She smirked underneath her scarf. "Move out of the way, creampuff. You wouldn't want to get hurt, now would you?"

"Don't call him that!" Ado called out as she, her sister, and Ribbon rushed over to Kirby's side. All three were prepared to fight if need be. Ribbon wielded a curtain rod that she had picked up on the way, and the twins had their paintbrushes unleashed, prepared to help in any way that they could.

Drawcia intended just to incapacitate the youngsters, as she could see no way that they posed any sort of threat to her and her plans. That was when she got a good look at her challengers and the weapons they were wielding.

"You!" she said in shock, pointing at the kids. Her face quickly distorted into a scowl. "I know you! How are you alive? That portal she made was unstable! I could have sworn that in and of itself would have finished you two off!"

The children froze, as this was one of the last reactions that they were expecting. When no response was given, the witch's voice took a severe tone. "Well, I suppose then this makes my job easier. I now know who I'm going up against. Now, be good little girls and hand over those paintbrushes."

"Come any closer and we'll attack!" Ado called out, he mind racing to come up with some way of keeping the witch at bay. She withdrew her painting pad and prepared to come up with something to defend themselves with.

"Do you really think you can scare me with that, Ado?" Drawcia laughed. "I've been working with this sort of power since before you and your sister were in diapers."

"H-how do you know my name?" Ado asked, fear clear in the young girl's eyes.

"I know everything about you two, Ado and Adeleine," was the answer. "How you two were flung through the portal, how you must have been raised out here in the boonies for who knows how long and by who know what, and how you have no idea how to really utilize the power you now hold. Now, as I said before, give me the paintbrushes."

The twins froze in terror, uncertain of what to do. However, Kirby and Ribbon did not have the same shock. The two of them rushed forwards, eager to defend their friends. The fairy swung the rod as hard as she could and the little Puffal kicked out, both hoping that something would succeed in stopping the witch.

However, Drawcia saw what was coming and dashed back. "So, you two dare to come between me and my prize?" A cruel grin came into her eyes. "Well, let us see what I can take from you in return."

She quickly pulled out her own brush and threw two slash like attacks at the children. They struck hard, and for a moment no one could tell what had been done. Kirby was the first to discover just what had happened.

"He-he'p!" he called out as he realized that both his arms and legs were gone! "Can' move!"

Ribbon forced herself up, and upon hearing her friend's cry attempted to fly to his aid. Much to her dismay, however, she could not take to the air. She looked back and soon realized that her wings were gone!

Seeing their struggle, the witch laughed. "Let us see you fight without your forms of locomotion!"

This snapped the twins out of their shock. As fast as they could, they rushed to their friends' aid. Adeleine quickly grabbed Kirby and shot over a look to Ado. Her sister knew exactly what it meant. _We're outclassed. We've got to regroup._

Ado nodded and whipped out her paintbrush. In a single movement, she painted up a fog. It wasn't one of her better works, but she needed it fast, as Drawcia was responding fast.

The paint witch quickly made up her own wind, which cleared out the fog. However, by the time that was finished, she could only watch as a bright blue portal closed up. She scowled and headed out, determined to find where Calligra's brats had gotten to.

Quickly, she painted up several monsters. They weren't anything to look at, as they were just hastily made stick like creatures, but they would serve their purpose. "Go after them!" she snarled. "I don't care what you do to them, but catch them and bring me back those paintbrushes!"

The creatures made movements as if they were nodding and rushed after the children.

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Once in they had reached library, Daroach began combing through the shelves. As they waited, the teens looked over the books that were sitting on the shelves. They were surprised to see many different topics covered, from advanced mathematics, to histories of various kingdoms, to legends even from other planets.

"What exactly are we looking for here?" Knuckle Joe asked, pulling down a book on the meteorological practices of the native fishermen of Aqua Star.

"An old book of legends," Daroach answered without taking his eyes off of the collection of books. "It should be in here somewhere. Ah ha! Here we are." He pulled a thick book off of a high shelf. It was bound in blue leather and had the words _Myths and Legends from Around the Gamble Galaxy_ printed on it in gold leaf.

He began flipping through the book as the others gathered around. "Now, this book is split into the stories by planet, so we are going to want to find the chapter on Lumio Star. Thankfully, it's the first story."

He soon reached the page he was looking for. One the page where the stories began, there was a picture of three individuals. All three were women and they were clearly not from Pop Star. The first was a tall blue haired woman who was clad in a patchwork of purples, blues, and yellows. The second was shorter, and had pink hair. She seemed younger than the first and was wearing bright pinks, reds, and blues. The final woman was about the same height as the first woman. She had long bright green hair and wore a colorful pattern of green, white, blue, and gold.

"These three," Daroach narrated, pointing to the picture of the women, "are Drawcia, Paintra, and Calligra, three sister duchesses of Paintriad, one of the countries that eventually became the Empire of Museian. Now, the story goes that all three of the sisters were equally beautiful and powerful, and that this was not overlooked by their suitors. However, the King of Paintriad had eyes only for Calligra, the eldest. As such, he wooed her, and before too long, the two were married.

"Well, this did not sit well with the younger two, who became envious of their sister's newfound power. This envy grew into hate, and before too long, the sisters who had once been so close drifted apart. This distressed the young queen, who was unaware of her sisters' malicious intent and wished only that their relationship could go back to what it once was.

"Drawcia and Paintra were willing to take this opportunity, and pretended that they too wanted the same thing. As such, they joined Calligra at the palace, playing their roles well and waiting for their opportunity.

"That opportunity came not two years after the marriage of the young king and queen. After much longing for children, Calligra conceived and gave birth to twins. The whole kingdom of Paintriad rejoiced over the birth of the princesses, but none more than their parents.

"As was tradition, after the birth of the little princesses, the king went out to all the surrounding kingdoms to invite dignitaries to the celebration of his young daughters. While he was away, however, the unthinkable happened. While the queen had been tending to her babies, her sisters came upon her and attacked her. No one quite knows what happened, but by the time the guards were able intervene, Queen Calligra and her infant daughters were gone.

"The king returned as soon as he received the news. He was devastated over the loss of his wife and children and enraged over the treachery. As a punishment for their sororicide and infanticide, Drawcia and Paintra were confined to two canvases, which were then hidden far away."

Daroach here closed the book as he finished his tale. "Legend states that if these Prison Portraits were found, than Drawcia and Paintra could be unleashed once again."

Meta Knight's eyes turned grass green as he thought. "These two do seem to be exactly the sort of people that Nightmare would attempt to recruit to his side, and may have been able to make those Walky creatures."

"What are the chances that one or both of these paintings could turn out to be real?" Silica asked, her interest in the topic peaked.

"We've looked into finding the Prison Portraits several time," Doc answered. "There's a lot of rumor and legend over just where they could have been hidden, but it's just that: rumor and legend. We have yet to find any factual based evidence for their existence."

"Well, _something_ had to have happened to make those weird things," Blade insisted. "After all, microphone monsters that melt into paint when destroyed don't just pop up."

"Well, I'm afraid that there's not much more I can help you with," Daroach said as he closed the book. "Other than this, I cannot think of any explanation to your predicament."

"That is quite alright," Meta Knight said calmly. "The information you have given us has been very interesting, at the very least." The Puffal then turned to his students. "Please, begin the journey back to the ship. I will join you in a short while."

The teens nodded and went to obey their orders. They were followed closely by the Squeaks, who each had their own duties to attend to. When the two of them were alone, Meta Knight turned quickly to Daroach. "There is one more thing that I must give you." He reached under his cape and withdrew a letter. "It is important that you understand this information, but I do not wish to speak of this while we can be overheard."

Daroach to the letter and opened it, and he looked in surprise at what he read. "Well," the mouse said once he could compose himself, "I suppose this is why you said you were not young Kirby's father. Did anyone else know?"

"Before the Downfall, the whole council knew, and there was a lot of conflict over it. I applied for adoption, but it was denied because of this. However, since now you and I are all that remains, this must remain a secret between the two of us. Kirby will be told when he is old enough, but for now no one else must find out."

"Agreed." Daroach turned and tossed the paper into a nearby fireplace, which he quickly lit. "Not even the Squeaks will know a word of this."

"Thank you, my friend," Meta Knight said. "Now, I had best be heading out. I hope the next time we meet, it will not be under such stressful circumstances."

"Hopefully it will be different next time," the mouse agreed. He held out his paw. "Good luck with your issues in Cappy Town."

The Puffal smiled as he shook his friend's paw. "Good luck with your search." With that, he turned and headed back to his ship.

To be continued...


	26. The Persistence of Memory, Part Three

The second band of children hurried through the hallways of the messed up palace. Normally, the four of them would have been able to move through the building without even looking. After all, they had spent most of their life since infancy in the castle.

However, due to all the warping done to the surrounding area by Drawcia's magic, everything was completely and totally mixed up. Even the passageway that lead to their apartment was completely messed up and the kids had to focus closely on their goal to be able to make it there.

Much to their relief, the journey was not impossible. They soon made it to the hallway that lead up to their family's apartment. However, once they made it there, they found that their troubles were far from over.

The magic that had distorted everything had not, for the most part, blocked off any areas from where they had previously been connected. However, upon reaching the apartment wing of the palace, the kids found that they could travel no farther.

In the place of the doors that had would have once lead into the individual living spaces, large plaques bearing strange, incomprehensible lettering blocked off doorways. Much to their dismay, the plaques were embedded in the walls and could not be moved wither way.

They began beating on the walls, doing their best to try to get through. "Mom, Dad!" Tiff called out, hoping against hope that she could be heard through the barrier. "Are you guys in there?!"

"Please tell us if you can hear us!" Tuff cried, doing his best to assist his sister.

"Tiff? Tuff? Are you two out there?"

The siblings could have cried out with relief upon hearing their father's voice. "Yes! Yes it's us!" Tiff called back. "Are you guys alright?"

"We're alright," Lady Like answered, "but we've been trapped inside. Are you alright?"

"We're fine. We were at the Dreamlander settlement when this all went down." Tiff continued examining along the walls for some way in. "Are you sure you can't get out?"

"Quite certain, I'm afraid." There was a tone of worry in Sir Ebrum's voice. "The entire wall has been just about turned to stone on this side."

Before they could converse anymore, a blue portal opened up on one side of the wall. Ado and Adeleine, carrying Kirby and Ribbon with them, tumbled out in a panicked heap. "Where are we this time?" Ado asked as she got up.

"Guys, there you are!" Lololo said as he and his companions rushed over to the newcomers. However, when he caught a glance at the disabled Kirby, he started in shock. "What happened to Kirby? Are you guys alright?"

"I'm afraid Drawcia happened to us," Ribbon said as she stood up on shaky legs. "We succeeded in finding her, but she started saying really weird things about Ado and Adeleine. Kirby and I tried to face her, but she responded by stealing Kirby's limbs and my wings."

"What's more," Adeleine added as she picked the rather distressed Puffal tot up again, "is she coming after us now! We need to get out of here, and right away!"

"But Mom and Dad are still trapped in the apartment!" Tuff said, pointing back at the blockage. "We need to figure some way to get them out of there!"

"I could try a portal, but there's no guarantee it will work," Adeleine offered.

Tiff nodded at the suggestion. "It's worth a try."

The artist stepped forwards and began to paint the portal. However, while she was doing this, loud sounds of scratching and snarling filled the hallway. "T'ey fin' us!" Kirby cried out in shock. He shook as hard as he could, trying to get free of Adeleine's artist bag. "Let Kaabii out! Kaabii figh' t'em!"

"No, Kirby, you're too weak right now," Ribbon said. She then turned to the others. "We can't take them right now. We'll have to move through the portal."

"But what about Sir Ebrum and Lady Like?" Lalala asked. "We still don't know where this portal leads to."

"Don't worry about us. We'll be fine!"

"Just hurry and get away from those dreadful things!"

The kids looked back for a moment, but heeded the adult's advice. They headed through the portal, which closed behind them.

When the kids looked up, they realized that they were standing a good distance off from the palace. They were standing the in middle of the abandoned road in the village, just outside of the museum.

Now that they were safe for the moment, the kids had some time to try to make sense of just what had happened. In particular, the young artist twins stared at each other in shock.

"How did she know our names?" Adeleine asked, even though she knew her sister would not have the answer.

Ado shook her head in response. "I don't have any idea, but she said she knew all about us."

"That's a creepy idea," Tuff said, "but it can't be true. I'll bet she was just trying to get into your heads."

"Ado! Adeleine! You're both alright!" The kids, upon hearing this cry, turned to see who had addressed them. They saw that it was Mr. Curio, who had remained in the museum after the attack from Drawcia.

The Cappy archeologist hurried over to where the kids were standing. "Oh, thank goodness you kids are alright," he said when he had reached them. "After that witch arrived here and did all this, I was so worried that she found out about you. Thankfully, that doesn't seem to be the case."

"I'm afraid that's not exactly true," Adeleine said, almost apologetically.

"We did see her, within the palace," Ado explained, "and she seemed to know quite a lot about us."

"She said that she had seen us before," her twin continued, "and that she thought we had died. But she was just trying to get under our skin. She had to be. Right?"

Mr. Curio became very quiet for a moment. After that, he looked up, and there was fear in his eyes. "I had hoped this day wouldn't come," he muttered quietly under his breath. He took another deep breath before continuing. "Girls, I'm afraid I haven't told you everything I know about you. You have had problems with Drawcia before. That is because she is your aunt."

The twins were too shocked to make a response. The other children, who had been listening with great interest, were not struck with the same dumbness.

"Wha' ya mean, t'e aunt?" Kirby asked, confusion clear in the youngster's voice.

"Yeah, they can't be related!" Tuff exclaimed. "They don't look anything like that psycho witch."

The Cappy shook his head again. "I'm afraid it is rather complicated. Come inside and I'll explain." With that, he headed back into the ruins of the museum.

The kids looked at each other with curious looks. This new-found information seemed almost impossible, yet at the same time would answer many of the questions that had come to mind. With a wordless agreement, the children decided to follow and find out how something so impossible sounding could be true.

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"Well, that didn't really help all that much," Trident said glumly as the group flew homeward. The overall feeling of hopelessness had hit the teens ever since they had left Tiramisu City. After all, they were apparently facing some sort of mysterious hostile power, and the combined knowledge of two full-fledged Star Warriors couldn't figure out for the life of them just what it was.

Sailor shook his head, trying to sound optimistic as he spoke. "That's not entirely true. We do know have an idea of what has been attacking us. After all, it's like Sir Meta Knight said. Even if stories are not entirely true, they are typically formed around some sort of reality."

"Still," Sword mused, "it's a bit frustrating. After all, we still don't have much of an idea about what is going on. It's like Nightmare's got us in some sort of maze of myth, history, and legend, and we really can't tell what is what. With the way that things are going, we might as well be searching for answers with our eyes shut."

Meta Knight listened silently to the words of his students. While he had a bit more faith in what was spoken, he couldn't help but share in their anxiety. The only lead that they had was an old legend about two artifacts that may or may not exist. A part of Meta hoped that the story was true; at the very least, then, they'd have an explanation for what was going on. However, if the story was true, than they were going to be dealing with forces they had never faced before.

The veteran's thoughts were interrupted by Javelin's urgent cry. "Emergency!" the drone called out, grabbing the crew's attention. "There appears to be some sort of shied surrounding Cappy Town. We will be unable to land because of this obstruction."

The non-robotic creatures gathered in the main cockpit to see what all the commotion was about, but when they saw it they could hardly believe their eyes. Surrounding the little village and the areas around it was a strange wall of some sort of purple pink material. It was giving off a weird glow.

"Trident, can you run a diagnostic on the barrier from in here?" Meta Knight asked, turning to the nervous robot.

"I, uh, I can try, sir," was the response. Trident ran a quick scan over the obstacle, trying to figure out just what was in their way. "I cannot tell what it is composed of, sir. It appears to be made out of some sort of liquid or liquid like material. However, it does not appear to be draped over anything, but is holding its shape on its own."

"That doesn't make any sense," Knuckle Joe said quickly. "By definition a liquid needs something solid to hold anything like a shape."

"Well, I'm sorry," Trident said quickly, "but that's not what the numbers are showing. I know it doesn't make sense, but I can't figure out any other explanation."

Meta Knight closed his eyes, which had turned a shade of green. A strange liquid material that was capable of holding its shape on its own. Liquid. Paint. Suddenly, that old story was seeming more and more probable.

He turned quickly to his students. "Prepare to disembark. We will get a closer look at this obstacle, and figure out where to go from there." With that, he headed out and prepared for landing. Behind him, he could hear the teens hurrying to obey his order. He closed his eyes, hoping upon hope they could deal with whatever lay within.

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It did not take long for the kids to hurry into the museum, which had been turned into a giant, twisted alarm clock that had seaweed sprouting out of it. Tension was thick among the small band, and by the time they had all gathered, it was just about too much for some members.

"Alright, Mr. C," Tuff said quickly. "What the heck is going on?"

"What do you mean, she's our aunt," Adeleine asked quietly, a tone of nervousness in her voice.

The Cappy took a deep breath before continuing. "Well, this all has to do with how I found you girls. As you can probably tell, you are not from around here." When the kids nodded, he went on. "Well, here doesn't just mean Cappy Town. I mean I do not believe you are even from Pop Star."

This took the others by surprise. There had always been some sort of assumption that, while they were different from most folks here, they had some sort of connection somewhere on Pop Star. This new revelation, while not horrible shocking, was surprising to say the least.

"Aliens?" Kirby asked in a soft voice, as if he feared disturbing the others.

"It's rather complicated, I'm afraid." The archeologist closed his eyes. "I think it is probably best if I start at the beginning."

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_A young Thaddeus Curio had been going through the remains of a ruined city that had been found in the Raisin Ruins area. This place was well known to be one of the founding areas for much of developed Cappy civilization, and as such, young archeologists just out of college such as him were often sent there to receive hands on experience._

_Most of the time, an area like this would be flooded with students, professors, tour guides, and tourists, all looking for an experience of ancient life. However, at the moment, it was night and he was alone. Curio had chosen to stay behind while his colleagues got some rest, to see if there was anything they had overlooked in the earlier hours._

_However, while he was doing his examination, something the young Cappy could have never expected happened. While he was going over some ancient artifacts, a bright glow started up behind him. He didn't notice it at first, but it grew stronger and stronger over time, and he soon turned to see just what was giving off the weird illumination._

_He did not expect to see a bright blue portal. It had opened up on one of the walls of the excavation site and grew rapidly in the time that followed. Frightened by the mysterious event, the Cappy rushed behind a stone ruin and observed what was going on._

_Things got even more startling from there. The portal, once it had grown considerably in size, soon opened enough to allow a figure to emerge from it. Curio hid quickly when he saw something coming out, all the B grade monster movies his roommate loved to watch racing through his mind. However, when he leaned out again, he saw that it wasn't any sort of monstrous creature that had come forth._

_Instead, it was a woman of a species that Curio had never seen before. She was rather tall by Pop Star standards, and was clothed in bright green, gold, blue, and white. Her hood had fallen back to reveal black hair that fell just past the middle of her back. She held in her arms two bundles that she held close, and she had two paintbrushes clutched in one hand._

_Now that he could tell just what emerging creature was, Curio decided to throw caution to the wind. He moved out of his hiding place. "Miss, are you alright?"_

_The woman looked back at him when she heard his call, and fear showed in her gold eyes. She attempted to run a few feet before weakness overtook her and she fell to her knees. From behind, he could see her shoulders shaking, and he could tell that she was crying._

_The young archeologist approached the woman, who still looked extremely afraid. "Please," she said in a low, soft voice. "We have done no wrong. Please leave us alone."_

_"_ _It's alright," he responded quietly. "I'm not going to hurt you." He reached out a hand, offering to help her up._

_Comforted by the reassurance but still cautious, the woman peered up at him. She hesitated for a brief moment before accepting the help. "Thank you, good sir."_

_For the first time, he could get a good look at her, and he realized she was bleeding from a wound that reached from her right ear to her left shoulder. "You're hurt!" he exclaimed in shock. "We'll need to get that treated fast." With that, he quickly led her to a nearby first aid station._

_Once there, Curio took out the first aid packet and began selecting the items he was going to need. While he did this, the woman set down the two bundles and placed the paintbrushes in a pocket on the side of the dress. She then began attending to the bundles, which his could now see were two dark haired babies of the same kind as their mother._

_Once he had gotten the supplies, he went up once more to the woman. "My name is Thaddeus Curio, by the way," he said, not quite sure how to start a conversation. "I can tend that wound if you'd like."_

_"_ _Thank you," she responded, though there was a look of sadness in her eyes. "That is very generous, but it won't do any good."_

_The Cappy shook his head as he soaked the rag in some antiseptic. "That's not the way to think of things. You'll be fine if we can keep the wound from getting infected."_

_"_ _That would be very sound advice," she responded, "but I happen to know that the blade that made the cut was poisoned. I don't have much time as it is."_

_"_ _What do you mean?" he asked, concern in his voice. "What happened?"_

_"_ _That will take a bit of explaining." She removed her cloak and draped it over the babies, who by some miracle were sound asleep. "My name Calligra. These two are my daughters, Ado and Adeleine. We come from the Kingdom of Paintriad, where my husband Coloran rules as king. "_

_She smiled wistfully and brushed the infant's hair back. "They had been born only a few weeks ago, and my husband had been out spreading the news of their birth. While he was away, my sisters, Drawcia and Paintra, attacked us." Tears formed in the woman's eyes as she spoke. "I had no idea they mean any harm, but while I was alone with my children, we were ambushed. They drained my power and the powers of my children, which changed us in appearance. My powers were gone, but they collected Ado and Adeleine's and turned them into these paintbrushes." Here she took the two brushes out of her pocket and showed them to him._

_"_ _Well, they had not succeeded as taking all of my powers. While they were draining the powers of my poor children, I was able to make a portal to escape through. I was able to snatch my daughters and their brushes away before the wicked work could be finished, but in response, Drawcia was able to land a cut with a poisoned blade."_

_Unsure just what he had heard, Curio continued bandaging the injury. "I'm so sorry," he said after a few moments. "If there is anything I could do, just ask."_

_"_ _If you could," Calligra responded, "could you tell me what country we are in? I would like to try to contact my husband before I die. He needs to know where his daughters are."_

_"_ _Well, ma'am, you are in the country of Dreamland," he said, giving the answer, "in the province of the Raisin Ruins."_

_She frowned when she heard this. "I have never heard of a Dreamland. Where are we on Lumio Star?"_

_"_ _Uh," Curio said, realizing that his guest was more lost than she had supposed, "we're not on Lumio Star. The planet we are currently on is called Pop Star."_

_"_ _Pop Star?" she asked, and fear radiated out of her. "Then there is no way to reach Coloran." Tears streamed down her face and she clutched her daughters close._

_"_ _Hey! Hey, don't cry!" Curio exclaimed, trying to think of some way to comfort the weeping woman. "It'll be alright! I'll find some way to reach their father, and if I can't I'll take care of them."_

_Calligra looked up at the Cappy. "You would do that, Sir Curio? Oh, thank you!" She held her daughters close. "I feel more at peace with my death knowing my little girls will be cared for."_

_The woman stayed over during the night, and in the morning, she was dead. She had been given an honorable burial in a graveyard not too far from the dig site. Curio had kept his promise and had done his best to try to contact Coloran, but as time went on, it was clear that the girls' father was out of reach. As a result, he ended taking care of the young children. However, he kept the names of Drawcia and Paintra in the back of his mind, lest anyone going by those names should come and mean the twins harm._

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Drawcia was fuming. She had been awakened from her imprisonment and promised the paintbrushes, but the little detail of who had them had been left out. Had she known that it was her sister's little brats, she would have come in with more of a plan.

She was brooding, trying to figure out where the kids had slipped away to. However, portals, especially portals made by the inexperienced, were difficult to predict. As such, she was absorbed in coming up with some sort of plan to draw her targets out.

"Hit a bump in the road, have you?" a voice asked from behind her. She scowled when she realized who it was who had come up to her.

"Hello, Marx," she sneered. "I am rather busy as it is, so I will ask you once to leave."

The jester grinned as he moved into the room. "Don't be so stiff, Drawci," he said, giving a rather cheeky smile. "I just wanted to have a word with you. We've met, but we haven't had a real conversation. We should have a good idea about each other, after all, since we're both on the same side."

"Don't kid yourself, clown," she growled. "We're not on the same side. You and I have separate goals that just happen to not get in each other's way."

"Or Lord Nightmare's way," Marx added quickly. "After all, it was he who set us up in the positions we now occupy."

"True." The witch turned back to her thoughts. "Like I said before, I'm busy, so take whatever it is you want and be gone."

The purple creature seemed to have no intention of leaving. "It seems to me your problems have all occurred because you went about things far too fast. Had you taken the time to figure out who your opponents were and what they were capable of, you could have come in with a plan of action and been long finished with your goal."

The sorceress gave a nasty chuckle. "Like that strategy's done you any good. You've been here, what, six years? How much closer to Stormholt are you?"

Marx scowled for a moment, before switching right back to his sarcastic smile. "Yes, I've had to struggle and wait for a while, but my patience is paying off. I have both the Warp and Flight Stars, and I've gained some knowledge on my opponents. I'm dealing with two Erranite agents who go by the names Parm and Memu. They've been laying low, so I don't know just where they are, but that's what I'm working on right now." He laughed dryly. "For a while I thought the Cabinet Minister and his wife might be the creatures I was looking for. However, they proved far too oblivious to be my targets."

"And how many of those filthy natives did you have to kill to get that info?"

He gave a cruel grin at that question. "Enough. To give the Children of Erran their due, they are incredibly hard to find once they've gone into hiding. Once I've caught them, however, it's easy enough to make them talk." He took off his hat and pulled a long, thin knife out of it. "The last one I caught thought giving me that info would save his life. I relieved him of that foolish notion."

The witch rolled her eyes. She had to admit, Marx's scheme had gone farther than she would have supposed, but such waiting would have driven her insane, especially if her target might very well be mythical. Furthermore, the Jester's attitude got on her nerves. If he wasn't a valuable spy for Nightmare, than she would have considered dealing with the little pest herself.

However, before Drawcia could say something in response, she sensed something. It was through the connection that she held with the creatures she had sent out. They had found something.

"As much as I am enjoying our little chat," she commented simply, "I do believe my targets have actually been found. If you'll excuse me, I am going to retrieve my prizes. Enjoy your…waiting." With that, she rushed out of the window to where her creatures had found the prey.

Marx watched as she left, casually slipping the weapon back into its hiding place. The witch was powerful, but too impatient to really amount to anything. If Nightmare didn't need her for whatever scheme it was he was cooking up, the jester sorcerer might have considered dealing with her and taking her power. Oh, well. He had bigger prey to catch.

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Once Mr. Curio had finished his tale, a silence pervaded over the listeners. Certainly, there had been speculation over where strange creatures such as the artist twins had come from in the first place, but no one had ever entertained any idea like what they had heard before.

It was Adeleine who broke the uncomfortable silence. "So, we came from another world with our mother, because we were attacked by Drawcia and another witch?" The statement wasn't a question, just a vocalization of what she was thinking.

"And these brushes are our natural powers, just taken out of us by our attacker," he twin added in the same stunned tone of voice.

"I'm sorry I never told you girls before," Mr. Curio said apologetically. "I just never knew how to put it. I had hoped that Drawcia and Paintra were long gone and wouldn't come around to bother you, but, well, we can all see how well that went."

There was another silence. Upset to see his friends unhappy, Kirby did his best to roll out of the art bag. He was rather uncoordinated, but he succeeded in reaching Ado. "Don' be sad," he said, doing his best to nuzzle against her side. "It all gonna be okay!"

The girl gave a small grin. "Thanks Kirby. I'm sorry you ended up in the crossfire because of us." She patted the Puffal on the head as she spoke.

After she had done so, a bright look came into her eyes. "Wait a minute!" she declared excitedly. "I know how we can fix everything!"

The others gather eagerly around her. "What do you mean?" Tiff asked.

"It's simple, really," Ado said, grinning brightly. "If 'Leine and I are the same type of creature as Drawcia, than maybe we can paint everything back to normal!"

"It's worth a try," Lololo agreed.

Quickly, Ado whipped out her paintbrush. Without a moment's hesitation, she began painting two arms on either side of Kirby, followed by two feet. It took a moment to kick in, but much to the group's delight, it worked! The Puffal's own limbs soon blinked into view, and it was like he had never missed them in the first place.

He happily jumped up, pleased to be able to move on his own with ease once more. "Poyay! Got's a'ms 'n' legs 'gain!" The little one then eagerly ran over and hugged Ado. "T'ank yew, poyah!"

"You're welcome," Ado laughed as she gently pushed the cuddly baby away.

While this was going on, Adeleine quickly painted Ribbon's wings back. "Now that we know this works," the artist said happily, "we know how we can stop Drawcia."

"And change Cappy Town back to normal," Lololo commented.

Before any celebrations could be started, however, there was a scratching came from outside. Everyone inside became completely quiet, and Lalala floated over to see what it was. When she saw what had made the sound, he eyes grew wide. "Don't look now," she called as she flew past into the back, grabbing her twin's arm as she past. "We've got company!"

The kids were only just able to stand up when several of Drawcia's paint monsters rammed into the room. The huge, dog-like creatures snarled as they turned to the young ones.

"I'll hold them off!" Curio called out, lifting up what had once been a chair but was now a half-eaten banana. "Go outside the back way!"

"But we can fight back!" Tiff cried back.

"Poyo he'p!" Kirby added.

"There's no space!" the adult responded, shaking his head. "They'd reach you before you had an opportunity to attack! Get out into the open!"

The kids did not like the order, but had to admit that there was sense to it. Quickly, the rushed out of the deformed museum and into the field that was situated right behind it.

Inside, Mr. Curio did his best to hold off the creatures. He fought back valiantly, but ultimately, the old Cappy just wasn't fighting material. The monstrosities brushed him off rather easily, and the only thing that saved his life was that the single minded creatures were pursing the kids. He could only watch in terror as the beasts headed to the back after the children.

The young ones had succeeded in escaping the trap in the museum, but their adventure was far from over. As they rushed out into the field, they scanned desperately for anyone or anything that might have been of use. However, much to their disappointment, it was clear they were on their own.

"Well, well, what have we here?" a mocking voice said. "Some children, lost and helpless. It would be terrible if something bad was to happen to you."

They looked on in horror to realize that their path had been intercepted by Drawcia. The witch herself was blocking their route ahead, and from the sounds of snarling and snapping, any retreat back was out of the question.

The witch sneered at them as she approached. "You know what I want, brats," she said in a dark voice. "Hand them over quick, and I'll consider letting your little friends make it out of here in one piece."

The kids were afraid, there was no denying it. However, they knew they were going to have to face her eventually, if things were every going to be set to right. As this was the case, they gathered together and stood their ground.

"You can just forget about us handing over these paintbrushes!" Ado called out, wielding hers aggressively. "We know you'd do bad things with them!"

"Yeah!" Adeleine added. "Our mother resisted you until the end, and so will we!"

"Poy poyo bad!" Kirby added, waving his little paw in a fighting stance.

"So, you choose to fight?" Drawcia's tone said she was not impressed. "Then you choose to die!" With that, she painted out an energy ball and launched it at them.

However, the artist twins were ready for the attack. As soon as the enemy had her brush out, they began painting up a shield. The energy ball hit the shield with a loud crash, and was deflected back at the witch, who only dodged it in the nick of time.

Not about to be undone, she quickly recovered, and quickly painted several more of the dark creatures to do her bidding, as well as directing the old ones to attack. The creatures leaped to do their mistress' bidding.

The kids only had a short moment to prepare for the attack before the beasts struck. Moving fast, they fought back as hard as they could, using whatever makeshift weapon that came to hand. It was slow going, however, and the monsters didn't back down easy.

However, the dark creatures were eventually forced back and attention could once again be turned to Drawcia. Just in time too, as the witch had already prepared her attack: a huge paintball which was now hurtling towards the kids.

This one was too close for Ado or Adeleine to respond with a paint attack of their own. However, it was enough time for Kirby to start inhaling. Quickly, the little Puffal began inhaling as hard as he could. It was hard going, but he succeeded in pulling the attack in. With a quick movement, he finished the inhale and copied the attack.

There was a bright flash, and Kirby transformed! When he was finished, he had a dirty purple-grey baseball cap, which he wore backwards. In his right paw was a can of bright multicolored paints and in his left paw was a thick paintbrush, already dripping with multicolored paints. He had become Paint Kirby!

He looked down for a moment and was a little disappointed to see he didn't have any roller blades this time, but soon recovered. Now fully armed by his copy ability, the little Star Warrior was ready to join into the battle.

Just in time, too. Unlike the pink Puff's companions, Drawcia hadn't paused to see what was happening with him. Instead, she had already prepared her next attack. Huge jets of fire shot out, threatening to roast the young companions alive.

Kirby responded fast. With a swift movement, he dipped his paintbrush and pulled it out quickly. In response, a giant wave was formed, and the water of the wave dowsed the fire without any problem.

The witch responded fast by sending out several shots of lightning. When the strikes landed, however, they hit the ground harmlessly. While they had still been hidden by the spray of water, the kids had hurried off.

Now that she was disoriented by their quick escape, the kids had the opportunity to attack. Ado jumped out first, painting up a swarm of bright stars and directing them to their target. These made their mark, striking the sorceress full force. This forced her to land, which was just what the kids wanted. Once she was on the ground, she ended up stuck in a mud pit that Adeleine and Kirby had been painting. Now that she was stuck, the duo quickly made some adjustments, turning the mud to stone.

Drawcia was not about to be beaten that easily. She waved her own weapon quickly, causing long, large cracks to form in her prison. This was enough to allow her to pull herself free. She then pulled up the stone shards and turned them to ice. These she flung at her opponents, who could only dodge to avoid the large pillars of ice that formed where the shards landed.

This didn't slow them down, however. They moved fast in response, and the three of them were able to move into a formation where each of them could attack the witch from a different angle. Using this as an opportunity, all three struck out with their own attack, Kirby shooting out several bright blasts of lightning, Ado a steady stream of fire, and Adeleine a barrage of small arrows.

This had wounded the witch somewhat, but she pulled herself back up. She was prepared to launch another attack, but was stopped by a dark voice in her head. "There has been enough of these games for today. You are to return to the center base right now."

She scowled when she recognized the voice as Nightmare. "With all due respect, sir, I can finish this. I'll come back when I'm done."

Once she had said this, however, she soon regretted it. A splitting pain overtook her as the warlock repeated his command. "You do not have a say in the matter, hag! You will return immediately, and you will never disobey my orders ever again!"

She gritted her teeth as the command went out. "Y-yes, master. I am sorry for questioning your judgement. It will not happen again."

"See that it doesn't," was the dark reply. "I have a use for you, witch, and one that you cannot fulfill dead."

The pain soon faded, and Drawcia pulled herself back up. The kids had been confused by her sudden change, but once they saw her recover they prepared to attack again. Much to their surprise, however, she began to retreat. "Don't get to comfortable," the enemy called as she left. "You might have won today, but the war is far from over. I'll get those paintbrushes." With that, she vanished.

Much to the young one's relief, once the witch was gone, all her bizarre changes and barrier vanished too. The surroundings reformed themselves back to their proper forms, and the comforting scene of Cappy Town as it is supposed to be returned.

The relief that everything was back to normal soon flooded the group, especially once the other children joined the trio who had faced the witch.

"That was awesome!" Tuff declared as he ran up. "I didn't know you guys had that sort of power!"

"Neither did we," Adeleine laughed. "Once we started up, it just kind of flowed naturally."

"Hey, kids! What the heck went on in here?" The group turned when they heard Sword calling out to them. Meta Knight and his followers had been attempting, unsuccessfully, to find some way to pierce the wall, when all of a sudden, it just up and dissolved on its own. Now that they had made it in, they were very confused as to what had gone on.

Seeing his mentor, Kirby eagerly rushed up to explain. "Medikni! Hi, Medikni! T'ere was a mean wit'h, an' she made ev'yt'ing wook all funny! We twied to fight 'gainst her, but she taked Kaabii's paws and foots an' Wibbon's wings! Bu' Ado and Ad'leine got t'em back! Then we fought t'e mean wit'h and she goed 'way! Kaabii was paint Kaabii! See!"

The warrior's eyes turned a bright shad of pink as he addressed his student. "Yes, I see. Well done." The tot practically beamed at the praise.

"Now," Meta Knight said, turning to the older children, "could one of you explain what happened a bit slower?"

"Well, that's gonna take a little while," Tiff said, rubbing the back of her head. "Maybe it's best that Mr. Curio helped us out."

"Oh!" Adeleine exclaimed. "We forgot about him! He's still in the museum!"

Ado nodded. "Let's hurry then." The kids took off in the direction of the museum, followed closely by the band of warriors. They found the archeologist shaken up but not hurt. He was just relieved to see that they were alright.

They quickly began explaining everything that had happened that day. From Drawcia's reveal and chaos, as well as the reveal of Ado and Adeleine's own backstory, everything was detailed out.

As he listened, as feeling of apprehension filled Meta Knight. So, the Prisoner Portraits were real? That would explain a lot. It also said that it was likely that Nightmare was rebuilding his army. The warrior closed his eyes. He couldn't shake the dark feeling that things were going to get very difficult, very fast. He was going to have to work hard to make sure everything was ready.

To be continued…


	27. Home Sweet Home, Part One

The pathway between Cappy Town and its nearest neighbor, the Onion Garden Village, was typically a peaceful walk. The little pathway, which connected the two areas, was not very long in length, and allowed for rather enjoyable travels. The walk would be a little over two and a half miles round trip, and offered rather scenic views of the river that flowed down Dynablade's mountain into the Onion Ocean. All in all, it was a pleasant route that was often taken by the inhabitants of both places.

This was a very good thing, as they two small towns were rather dependent on one another. While Onion Garden was slightly larger, bother areas were rather small, and each contained different shops that the other did not have. As a result, travel between the two places was rather common, and the two acknowledged each other as sister cities.

Usually, if one moved constantly and did not stop too often, the round trip travel would take a couple of hours. This was usually done in quiet, where the traveler could walk by and enjoy the soothing sounds of nature that played constantly. As a result, on most days, a hiker could expect to take a trip to enjoy the singing of the birds, the rush of the nearby river, or the buzzing of the various insects as they flew by.

Today was not one of those days.

"Are we there yet?" Tuff asked as he pulled a wagon along behind him. He, his sister, and the artistry twins had been asked to make the trip to pick up some supplies earlier. The idea with taking a long trip just to run a couple of errands had not appealed to the young boy in the slightest.

"Like I said ten minutes ago," Tiff said, doing her best not to snap at her younger brother, "It'll still be a while. Asking multiple times will not make it go any faster."

"Awww, why do we have to go out to pick this stuff up?" the boy asked again, not content to let the subject rest. "What are we picking up anyway?"

"Let me see," Adeleine said, pulling the list out of her bag. "It says here we need to pick up several boxes of nail, some bags of cement mix, about four 2' by 6' planks of wood, and some white paint." She folded up the list and slipped it back into its compartment. "Everything we need to finally have Kirby's house built."

This was true. The little Puffal and his siblings had been staying with the Ebrums since the destruction of the little dome by the Collector, and while they were most certainly welcome, it was starting to feel a bit cramped. Because of this, several of the adults of Cappy Town had agreed to come together to start building a place for the youngsters to live.

Right at that moment, the older members of the construction crew were back at the palace, coming up with the right place to build. The older location was out of the question, since it would not hold a house large enough for eight Puffals, and the new location was the topic of interest.

While this was going on, Rick, Coo, and Ribbon had been sent out with the little ones themselves. They had agreed to take the babies out to an outing in the woods to keep them distracted while the grownups were at work. Meanwhile, Poppy and his family would be on hand to help with clearing out and preparing for the new location of the house, once the location was selected.

That just left the four who were chosen to go pick up the supplies that they were missing. However, the knowledge of what they were doing still did not make the trip any more enjoyable.

"I just wish there was something to do!" Tuff said, stretching out his arms as they moved along. "Just walking is sooo boring!"

"Well," Ado said in response, "Adeleine and I could tell you the latest Meta Knight stories we found."

Tiff raised an eyebrow. "You found more? I thought you said all the entries after Nightmare came were all war related?"

"Most of them are," Adeleine answered. "We try to skip over those, because they are either very confusing or horribly boring. However, there is the occasional story about young Meta around in there."

"Alright then!" Tuff declared, at least happy that there was something interesting to talk about. "What happened next?"

"Well, it might be a bit confusing," Ado commented. "The stories go over a period of years, so we are still missing periods of time. However, even alone they can be rather interesting."

Adeleine nodded quickly. "Yeah, like how the first one mentions Sir Meta Knight's four siblings."

"He had siblings?" Tiff commented. "Huh, I never would have guessed it."

"His brothers must have been awesome!" her brother commented.

"Well…" Ado laughed, before beginning her story.

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_Meta sat anxiously outside of the ship med-bay. This place had always made him a little nervous, ever since he had first been here to get his first booster shots. Despite his apprehension, however, he waited patiently to be called in._

_Not that he himself had anything to worry about, at least for today. There wasn't anything the matter with him. However, last night, while he had still been asleep, his mother had gone into something called "labor." He was still a little fuzzy on what that meant, but the explanation he had been given made it clear, at the very least, that this had something to do with his new siblings. Maybe labor was something that happened before babies arrived? Oh, well. Maybe he'd figure it out when he was older._

_He rather wished that Daroach, Jecra, or Garlude could have waited out here with him. However, it was the middle of a school day, so they had to stay behind and continue the training. He, however, had been excused because of the labor issue. He kind of wished he hadn't been, as he would have preferred to be out practicing his sword play rather than sitting in the med-bay waiting room. However, it was always allowed that squires skip training when their mother had labor, so he just waited calmly._

_To make matters a bit more frustrating, his father was not waiting out with him. He had been there with Meta before, but then one of the nurses, a young woman of the same race as Jecra and Garlude, came out and said that Heavy Knight could enter the delivery room. When this had been announced, Meta eagerly got up to follow, hoping that the delivery room would be more interesting than the waiting room. Much to his disappointment, however, he had been informed that he needed to wait further. He obeyed, but after a few minutes, he asked why he couldn't go into the delivery room with his Mama and Papa. The nurse had just smiled and said that those rooms just weren't for little boys. He sat down and crossed his arms. He wished labor could have happened somewhere where he wouldn't have had to be alone._

_After what felt like an eternity for the little blue Puffal, the nurse came back. "Meta, everything's done now," she said. "Would you like to join your parents now?"_

_"_ _Poyo, yes!" he exclaimed happily. He eagerly rushed past the nurse and several others of the staff and ran up, looking for the room where his family was._

_It took a few moments, but the nurse led him down a long hallway that was lined with bright silver doors. He couldn't see anything, but there was a lot of crying coming out of the rooms that these doors led to. Meta couldn't think of a reason that there would be so much crying, but he soon forgot that train of thought when the nurse came to a specific door and opened it._

_Inside the room, Lady Rosalyn lay in a bed, looking tired but happy. Nearby, Heavy Knight sat, gently rocking a cradle that lay by the end of the bed. Now that he knew where his parents were, Meta ran over, happy to be with them once more._

_"_ _Meta, would you like to see the babies?" Rosalyn asked as the tot ran up to join his parents._

_He grinned broadly. "Poyo, yes!" he exclaimed as he rushed over. "Medda see baby brotahs!"_

_Heavy Knight chuckled as he picked his little son up. "Well, I'm happy to see that you are excited about your siblings, but there is one thing that you should know about them."_

_The blue Puffal barely registered what his father was saying. He eagerly leaned over to get a look into the cradle that held the newborn Boxin pups. They were tiny, even to little Meta. Four little bundles of fur which had been wrapped in blankets. Each had a different fur coloring which separated them from their siblings. Their blankets also distinguished them, as each blanket had a different flower printed on it._

_Meta looked confused at the blankets before turning to his parents. "Why fwowers?" he asked. "Medda don' have fwowers."_

_"_ _Well," Rosalyn chuckled as she answered her son's question, "these blankets were made special for the babies. Look closely. They have azaleas, peonies, chrysanthemums, and sunflowers. Each of these are the flowers that will be your sisters' names until their christening."_

_The little one looked up in shock before turning back to the babies. Sisters? He hadn't been expecting any sisters, none the less that all his siblings would be girls. He turned back to his parents, somewhat confused. "No brotah?"_

_"_ _No," Heavy answered. "Just get to know your sisters. I know they'll love you very much."_

_The little Puffal nodded at his father's words and peered once more into the cradle. Within, one of the babies had woken up. She was the smallest of the babies, was wrapped in the sunflower blanket, and had white fur with a brown spot pattern. She peered up at Meta with wide, wondering eyes and reached a little paw up to him._

_In response, Meta reached back, taking little Sunflower's paw. Inwardly, he decided that maybe he would like having little sisters after all._

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Inside Castle Dedede, nearly everyone was hard at work. Meta Knight had gathered together a group to plan for the construction of the new house for Kirby and his siblings. This group, composed of himself, the Ebrums, Mayor Len, Mr. Curio, Sword, and Blade, worked at setting up some sort of blueprint that was practical and allowed for set up nearby. Meanwhile, the rest of the volunteer builders eagerly awaited something to do.

There was one individual who had not been invited to all the happenings that were going on. In fact, no one had even bothered to alert King Dedede that anything at all was happening. As such, the Pengu was in for a massive shock when he woke up that morning at about ten thirty to the sound of commotion outside.

"What's a guy gotta do to be able to get some shuteye around here," he grumbled under his breath as he forced himself from his bed. "Who do these weirdos think they are, making such a ruckus at this hour?" He moved over to the window to have a look at what was going on.

Several of the Cappies who had arrived to help had gathered around the Fountain of Dreams to wait for some sort of news on what was about to happen. While it was strictly against the rules to touch the fountain, it was not uncommon for folks to gather around it to chat and admire as the flow of dreams came steadily out. This had stopped for the most part when Dedede built his palace around the site, but whenever Cappies had the opportunity to group within the palace wall, some sightseers would come, and small talk and admiration were bound to happen.

Occasionally, Dedede liked this, as it gave the impression that he was the owner of such a magnificent landmark. Right now, however, he was severely annoyed. "Hey!" he yelled out at the group who was now standing around the Fountain, "what they heck are all you Cappies doing down here? Don't ya'll know what time it is?"

Most of the creatures ignored him, happily continuing their chats and games. Hohhe's mother, however, smiled up cheerfully at Dedede. "Oh, good morning," she called back. "I think it's around ten thirty or eleven."

The Pengu scowled, realizing that the Cappy had taken his question literally. "No! I mean why are ya'll in my palace! This place is by invite only!"

"Oh, so that's what you mean!" was the good-natured response. "Well, Sir Meta Knight invited us here. We're going to be building Kirby's new house soon, don't 'cha know? Once we know where we'll be building, we'll all head out to begin."

"Meta Knight," Dedede growled to himself as he backed down from the window and began to change. He should have known. That blue puff had always taken it upon himself to decide what was going on. It was his fault that Kirby and those smaller puffballs were here in the first place, after all. Enough was enough. Dedede was going to march down to that soldier's room and make sure he knew who was king around here.

As he moved through the hall, however, Dedede remembered that he had not had breakfast yet. Quickly amending his plans, he turned down another hallway and went to the kitchen. He'd get some food first, and then berate his overstepping captain of the guard. No use coming up to a confrontation on an empty stomach, after all.

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Back on the pathway to Onion Garden, the kids were still conversing about Meta Knight's recently discovered past. "Four sisters!" Tuff declared in shock once the first story had been finished.

"And what is wrong with sisters?" Tiff asked quickly once the comment was made.

"I mean, there's nothing wrong with sisters," he explained when he realized what his sister was thinking, "but a guy can only have so many before he wants a brother or two."

"Well, you have to keep in mind," Adeleine added, doing her best to avoid any sibling rivalry, "that there's a difference between older and younger sisters. Sir Meta Knight's sisters seemed to admire him a lot, especially the youngest."

Tiff took a deep breath, trying to ignore the previous comment. "Well, go on," she said, changing the topic back to the story. "What happened next?"

"Well, it took a little while for us to find the next story," Ado explained as she picked up. "Most of the ink was pretty faded for quite a few pages. As a result, it looks like the next story took place years later, though we're not sure just how many years it was. Furthermore, it's not very long, but it is kind of cute.

"What we can tell is that no matter how long it was, there were some things that just hadn't changed…"

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_"_ _Come on! We're going to be late!" Garlude called out. The girl had eagerly rushed up to one of the large windows of the main hub ship looking out into space. Behind her, Jecra, Daroach, and Meta were trailing behind, not quite certain what they had been woken up at nearly three o' clock in the morning to see._

_"_ _We're coming, we coming," Daroach called out. "Now, what's going on? I was having a good dream, and being shaken awake to look at stars isn't my idea of a good way to start a day."_

_"_ _After all, we're in space," Jecra pointed out. "If we wanted to, we could just see stars at lunchtime."_

_"_ _Yes," the girl nodded, not taking her eyes off of the main window for a moment, "but we'd be missing this!" She pointing out the window._

_For the first time, the boys peered out to see just what was their friend was so excited about. Outside the ship, smaller asteroids passed by. It didn't seem like all too much to look at, to be honest. Just a bunch of floating rocks._

_"_ _What exactly are we looking for?" Meta asked, genuinely confused as to why Garlude was so excited about these rocks._

_"_ _Haven't you been listening to what the adults have been talking about?" the girl asked. "Sir Percival was doing some scouting out here to make sure that none of Nightmare's goons were out here, and he discovered this asteroid field. It looks like it might have traces of keinomine."_

_That got her companion's attention. "Keinomine?" Jecra said excitedly. "As in, one of the three metals used to forge the sword Galaxia?"_

_"_ _And the Duciel Bow," Daroach added quickly, rushing excitedly to look out at the scene._

_"_ _Whoa," Meta said quietly. The very fact that they might have found one of the materials that were used by Photron to make the famed weapons of Metian and Erran was major. Of course, there was still the fact that it might not be what they thought it was, but that possibility didn't come to the children's minds._

_"_ _If that is what we think it is," Jecra said, excitement growing in the boy's voice, "than maybe we can use it to make another weapon like those two!" He rapidly began rubbing his nose, a tick he did when he got excited. "If we were able get something like that, then there's no way Nightmare would ever stand a chance!"_

_"_ _Well, we probably wouldn't be able to make another Galaxia," Daroach pointed out. "Even with all these asteroids, there probably is only enough metal in here to make an arrowhead. However, we could use it to try to find the original blade!" The young mouse grinned broadly. "Wouldn't that be something, huh, Meta. Maybe you'd be its chosen wielder."_

_The young Puffal shook his head. "Nah, I'm not good enough with a sword. Galaxia would definitely choose someone better than me. It'd be kinda neat just to know where it is, though." He turned back to the window. "Do you really think we'll ever find it?"_

_"_ _Well, legend states that the Blade of Evil's Bane will always find a bearer of pure heart to drive the darkness away," Garlude commented. "We'll find it, eventually, I'm sure."_

_The kids' discussion was then interrupted by a quiet voice. "Why Medda 'wake?" The quartet turned and realized that two of Meta's sisters, recently christened Naominne and Alivea, were standing in the hallway._

_"_ _Why Medda up?" Alivea, previously Sunflower, questioned as she rushed over to her brother. Naominne, a little red furred Boxin pup followed closely, the same look of questioning in her eyes._

_"_ _Mama and Papa said I could go when Garlude arrived," Meta explained, taking his sisters by the paws. "How did you get out here?"_

_"_ _Wanna go wiv Medda!" Naominne declared happily._

_"_ _Medda do fun stuff," Alivea added, nodding as if she had said something very profound._

_In the background, Jecra, Garlude, and Daroach couldn't help but chuckle. Each of them had come from different backgrounds, as Daroach was an orphan, Garlude an only child, and Jecra the youngest of six. However, in their small group, they were almost like siblings themselves, so seeing Meta, who had always been the smallest, taking the role of big brother was a bit funny._

_The young Puffal ignored the barely covered laughter. "Come on, guys," he said, trying to lead his younger sisters back to the apartment. "You need to get back to bed. I'll be back in a while, but Mama and Papa won't like it if you're out of bed for long."_

_"_ _Wanna stay!" Naominne declared, pulling away from Meta and dashing over to the window. "What ya looking at?"_

_"_ _No, Minney," Meta said, picking up Alivea and reaching over to grab his wayward sibling. "You need to get back to bed. Come on."_

_The two little Boxins struggled in their brother's arms as he did his best to get them back to their apartments. "I'll be back in a few minutes, guys," he called out over squeals of protest._

_"_ _I remember being that position," Jecra laughed as soon as the siblings were out of sight. "Of course, I was better at getting away."_

_"_ _Maybe you should give Meta's sisters some pointers," Daroach commented._

_"_ _Yeah, and then face the wrath of Meta because you just made his job harder," Garlude responded._

_At that, the two boys burst into laughter at the thought of calm, shy Meta having a fiery burst of rage. Garlude looked on in disapproval for a moment, before breaking down at the idea._

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Dedede gulped as he stood outside the door that lead to Meta Knight's apartment. While he had been griping to himself, he had felt totally confident about what he was attempting to do. Now that he actually stood outside the warrior's door, however, such confidence fled him. It was one thing to complain in one's own mind about the things that are going on; it is quite another to actually bring it up, especially to one like Meta Knight.

Truth be told, Dedede was rather afraid of the mysterious warrior. True, the Puffal wasn't known for violent outbursts, but he also wasn't known for taking direct orders very well. Furthermore, there was some sort of aura about the veteran that made one cautious about angering him, though you had to work long and hard to do much more than annoy him. Still was probably best not to try to find a sensitive issue.

For some reason that the Pengu couldn't fathom, no issue seemed to be more sensitive to the seasoned fighter than Kirby. Meta Knight seemed to consider that pink puff to be his responsibility, and thus if anything was going to happen relating to that little pest, than Meta Knight had to go sticking his nose into everything. Also, if Dedede told him to do something, and it came in conflict with Kirby's interests, than Dedede was the one to get blown off! This miffed the Pengu to no end, and he had a long list of complaints he would bring to Meta Knight's attention.

Someday. Maybe later.

Right now, however, the actions of the warrior was bringing loads of commoners on to castle grounds, and that needed to be dealt with immediately. Dedede stood, doing his best to work up the nerve to barge in and bring up his complaints when the door opened on its own.

"Oh! Your majesty!" Bandana Dee said in surprise. "I'm sorry. I didn't see you there. Did you come to help with the planning?"

"What are you doing here!?" Dedede declared angrily when he realized who was standing right in front of him.

"W-well, sire," Bandana started, somewhat startled by the questioning tone, "we were all getting together to start building a house for Kirby and the other baby Puffals. I was just going to get-"

"So you all knew about this," the Pengu snapped, quickly grabbing the shy little creature, "and you didn't think to tell me anything about it?!"

"Uh, you don't really like Kirby, so we just assumed that you wouldn't want to have anything to do with a project related to building him a house," the Waddle Dee explained, doing his best not to faint. "Please will you put me down? I kinda need to go get something."

Dedede frustrated pushed the little creature aside. "Alright, just get out of here," he growled. "You're not the one I gotta deal with anyway!"

Bandana Dee watched nervously as the Pengu barged in. This was not going to be pretty.

"Meta Knight! Where are you! I gotta bone ta pick with ya!"

The warrior closed his eyes in frustration when he heard the called. Meta Knight had supposed something like this was going to happen while they were working on Kirby's house, but he had rather hoped that it would happen a bit later in the day. That way, there would be a bit less that he needed to do and the interruption would not get as much in the way.

The other members gathered together could sense the Star Warrior's frustration. "Would you like me to go try to reason with him?" Mayor Len offered.

Meta Knight shook his head. "No, I deal with it. He'll only become more problematic if we try to push this off. Besides, I think I know what to say to calm him down."

He got up and went to the corridor that lead from his dining space to the entrance to his apartment. "Yes, Dedede, I can here you. Now, what would you like?"

"Did you call all those Cappies out there?" Dedede asked accusingly, pointing towards an opened window.

"Yes, indeed I did," Meta Knight answered calmly, his tone never changing. "I realized we were going to need some help if we were going to get this project finished."

"Then why didn't ya tell me anything about this before you began?!" The Pengu, confusing calmness for intimidation, grew bolder in his accusations. "Everything that happens in this palace needs to go through me, and you know that!"

"I did not wish to bother you with the details of a project that you clearly would want done, but would not be interested in yourself," the warrior responded, once again without any shift in tone or attitude.

"And why would I want a project set to build Kirby a house to be done?" Dedede scowled at the idea.

"Well, I just assumed that since you protested Kirby and his siblings living here you would be glade that their own house was being built. After all, it would mean that you wouldn't have to worry about them being in the palace anymore."

"Yeah, but, uh," the Pengu said, trying to think of something to say. Honestly, he hadn't thought of it that way. Yes, there might be some of those Cappies on the grounds for a while, but Kirby would be out of his palace once again. To add in to the benefit, those little Kirbies would be gone too, so everything would go back to the way it was before.

"Fine," he said after a few moments of weighing his options. "Keep working on the little pest's house. Just make sure that no one bothers me." With that, he turned to leave.

Meta Knight nodded in response. "As you wish, sire."

In the kitchen, the other planners couldn't help but chuckled at what had happened. Once again, they had been able to get exactly what they needed, and kept Dedede happy by making him think it was his idea. Hopefully, things would run more smoothly this way.

In a nearby hallway, Marx stood, having heard the entire conversation. He could not help but laugh a little at the situation. So, the Star Warrior and his allies wanted to keep Dedede out of trouble for the time being so that their plans would run smoothly? Well, there was a way to get some fun out of this, and he wouldn't even need anything from NME this time. His own magic would be all he would need.

To be continued…


	28. Home Sweet Home, Part Two

_It had been about three days since they had observed the asteroids. Training had started up again, but the four were no longer attending the classes taught by Lady Almethea. Indeed, it would not be long before they would be starting their private training as knaves. As this was the case, they were now in one of the last courses, where they would finally be trained in actual warfare and prepared for the battle field._

_The quartet, along with the rest of their classmates, thus waited within a large gymnasium like building. All around, battle scarred training items sat in waiting, almost begging to be used. However, the kids had been told that they were to sit and wait until their instructor arrived. As such, they waited for the class to begin, although not all were very patient._

_"_ _When's he gonna get here?" Jecra complained, leaning back against the far wall. "It feels like we've been here forever!"_

_"_ _It's only been about ten minutes," Daroach commented. "I can't say I disagree with the sentiments, though. It does seem like we have been waiting longer than we have had to with past instructors."_

_"_ _Do you know who's doing the training this year?" Meta asked. "I saw the announcement, but I kinda forgot his name."_

_"_ _Now that you mention it," Garlude said in response, "I don't remember myself. I know his face, but his name escapes me. I know he's not a Star Warrior, but he is a highly respected GSA member."_

_"_ _He's not a Star Warrior?" Daroach asked, his voice skeptical. "I wonder why they'd have us being trained by a GSA soldier."_

_"_ _Well, he's very well respected and he's been doing this a long time," the girl answered as she redid her ponytail. "From what I've heard, Sir Arthur was in his first class."_

_"_ _So he trained Sir Arthur, huh?" Jecra commented. "Well, then he probably knows his stuff. I just have to wonder where he is."_

_"_ _Attention!" a voiced called out, as if responding to the boy's comment. "Faces forward, right now!"_

_"_ _Looks like we'll be finding out pretty soon," Meta said quietly as the students took their places._

_The class turned to see a small hairy man taking his place at the front of the classroom. He wore a green hat bearing the insignia of the GSA on it and had a wooden sword in one hand. He definitely looked old enough to have been the one to have trained Sir Arthur, and some of the kids were wondering if they were really in the right place._

_The man, however, seemed quite confident in his role. "Alright now, cadets," he called out in a firm voice. "Let's get somethings clear right here and now. Today, hypothetical training ends. As of now, you are in preparation for combat, and you will respond to me like you are in combat. My name is Sgt. Dakonyo Cosmos, and I'm sure you've heard some of your superiors call me Kit. Well, I'm going to let you all know very well that you are to address me by none of these names. As long as you are in this training hall, I am Sargent, Sgt. Cosmos, or Sir. Do I make myself clear?"_

_There was a halfhearted murmuring among the students who weren't quite sure what to think. As such, Sgt. Cosmos responded by slamming his wooden sword down, causing an echoing crack. "I said do I make myself clear?!" he bellowed._

_This time, the response was clear and unanimous. "Sir, yes sir!"_

_Sgt. Cosmos nodded, as if accepting that reply. "Good. Now listen up! As I said, earlier, as of today, you are all soldiers. Out there, Nightmare and his monsters are doing everything they can to take as many planets that they can, and we, as the GSA, are all that stands in their way. Make no mistake, he will spare nothing when trying to tear us down. As such, I will spare nothing as well. From now on, you do what I tell you, when I tell you. Understand?"_

_Once again, a resounding "Sir, yes sir!" rang out. This time, however, Daroach couldn't resist the temptation to throw in a cheeky mock salute in, thinking he wouldn't be noticed. He was wrong._

_"_ _So, we have a class clown, do we," Sgt. Cosmos said, his tone making it clear that this would not be tolerated. "What's your name and position, cadet?"_

_"_ _Squire Daroach, apprentice to Sir Galahad," the mouse answered quickly._

_"_ _Well, Daroach, care to explain why you seemed to think this training is a joke?"_

_"_ _Well, with all due respect, sir, we've all been trained since we were little. How much more can we need to know?"_

_The sergeant frowned at this answer. "Get up here, squire."_

_Daroach obeyed, moving up to the front of the classroom. Once he was there, Sgt. Cosmos tossed as second wooden sword to him. "Alright, if you're so confident, disarm me."_

_The mouse grinned at the challenge. Taking the sword, he charged at the teacher, brandishing the sword so as to strike this hilt of his opponent's weapon. While he was focused on this, however, Sgt. Cosmos moved quickly, dodging around the younger warrior and thrusting his sword so that the squire was tripped up. Once he was on the ground, the sergeant easily kicked the mouse's weapon away._

_"_ _And that, squire," he commented when he was finished, "is why there is more you need to learn. Now, get up and give me sixty laps around the room. You others, too, this is all a group effort! Come on!"_

_On a balcony chamber from above, several of the senior members of the Star Warriors watched what was happening. Made up of a gathering of the parents of the children, they had gathered together in several groups to discuss their children's development._

_"_ _Looks like Old Kit's got 'em scared to death," Heavy Knight chuckled as he observed. "Remember when that was us?"_

_"_ _If I remember correctly," Lancelot answered, "it was you who had been in poor Daroach's place. How often did you end up getting us running laps? Twenty, thirty times?"_

_"_ _Twenty seven." Armon chuckled at the memory. "It almost felt like we did nothing but run because of something Heavy had done."_

_"_ _Allegedly done," the Boxin added quickly. "Kit never had any definite proof."_

_Galahad laughed. "Knowing that apprentice of mine, your record might be broken soon."_

_"_ _Oh, be nice," Rosalyn scolded. "The kids will do fine."_

_"_ _After all, we came out alright," Delmina agreed._

_"_ _We will just have to watch as their training goes on," Arthur commented, turning back to the sight of the youngsters. "Hopefully they will take well to their training. They are currently the hope for the future."_

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Right now, Dedede was trying desperately to think of something to do. He had been placated about the commotion outside by the news that, once this project was done, Kirby and those siblings of his would be out of the palace. However, this did leave the Pengu at one major disadvantage: everyone was busy. Nearly everyone had been working on the house project, which meant that for all intents and purposes, Cappy Town was taking a holiday. This means one thing for Dedede: he was bored.

He was wandering around his throne room trying to think of something to do when he was startled out of his thoughts by the sound of someone coming up behind him. "Are you still in here sire?"

Dedede turned quickly to face the person who had spoken to him. It was Marx, who once again had come into the room near soundlessly. "Are you staying in today, sire?" the jester asked, a tone of curiosity in his voice. "I heard all the commotion going on outside and would have assumed that you would have been in the middle of all the action."

"Nah, that's Meta Knight's business," the Pengu answered quickly. "He's gotten all of Cappy Town together to go build that Kirby a new house. I'm still kinda upset that he started all of this without giving me any sort of clue, but at least once their done, that li'l pest will be out of here once and for all."

Marx's expression changed to one of shock. "They organized all of this without giving you any consideration at all. Why, that is very surprising, your majesty. I would have expected that they would have wanted you to head the project."

"Head it?" Dedede asked, his curiosity peaked but not yet totally convinced. "What do you mean?"

"Why, only that one such as you would be the obvious choice to begin any venture." The Jester grinned as he explained. "After all, you are the king of this very land. You would need to be very wise and experienced to make the decisions for a whole country, and building a single house for a group of children would be extremely easy by comparison. You would be able to make sure that everything ran smoothly, and certainly no problems or issues would be able to slip past your very observant notice."

"You know what, you're right!" The Pengu king plopped down on his throne, a look of eager anticipation coming clear in his face. "I should be out their heading the project. Why, they would be able to do way more if I were in charge of the whole ideal."

"Indeed they would, oh majesty, but there is one issue," Marx replied, bowing deeply. "It is only that Sir Meta Knight is rather unsure of his own ability. He wished to keep this all a secret from you at first so that he could prove his own abilities, without being overshadowed by your greatness. Perhaps you had best leave this project to him. His pride would be greatly damaged if he knew of your intention to aid the project."

"So what do I care if he's got ego issues?" Dedede asked a tone of annoyance in voice. "This is my kingdom, and I'm the one who should be in charge of everything going on over here! If some no count warrior has got an issue with that, well, he'd just better learn to deal with it!"

"Too true, too true." The purple creature nodded as if something very wise and sage had been said. "Still, it would be best if you did not breach the subject to him quite so soon. Perhaps it might be better if you started things on your own. After all, if you brought it up to Meta Knight beforehand, then he would raise and argument and everything would derail. Why not instead start things off yourself? The group has already decided on an area to build and are gathering the supplies needed to start the job. It is rather near here, in a clearing on the other side of the south wall. If you were to, say, begin clearing out the area first, then the people would certainly see how you industriously began the job before anyone else, and all would have to submit to your leadership."

The Pengu king liked what he was hearing. "You know what, that sounds like a great idea! I'll head out right now!" With that, he sprang up and prepared to rush out of the throne room.

"Before you go, sire, why not take these?" The Jester tossed over a small silk bag over. "You might have a use for them."

Dedede caught it swiftly and looked within. "Pebbles? Why would I need pebbles?"

"Oh, these aren't pebbles, your highness, they're seeds." Marx took on up, showing it off as he explained. "They are an invention of my own work. Just plant a single seed, and in a moment, it will sprout up into a helping vine. It doesn't need water or anything, only light and it will grow. Once you are done with it, it will simply wither away once the sun sets, leaving nothing for you to have to do afterwards."

"Really? Well, that sounds does sound right useful." Dedede quickly took the sack and shoved it into his pocket. "Thanks for the tip."

As the Pengu turned to go, Marx called out one warning. "Just be certain, sire, that you do not plat too many in the same area. These do not work well in large clusters, and a lot of trouble could be caused if they are used improperly."

"Yeah, yeah, just be careful," Dedede called back, his tone making it clear he was not listening. He was rather eager to have another attention grabbing scheme, and he didn't want to waste any time with any more discussions.

Now on his own, Marx laughed at the plan he had set into action. Knowing that fool of a pretender, Dedede would not be able to resist planting too many of the vines in one area. True, this would not be the lethal attack on those warriors that would be the ultimate plan, but it would be very amusing to watch the Star Warrior do his best to clean up after that bungler.

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In Onion Garden, the four kids sat at the bank of the river, enjoying a packed lunch that they had brought along for the trip. They had already picked up the needed supplies and had decided to take their brake before they began to make the return trip to Cappy Town.

"So that was the training regimen for Star Warriors?" Tuff asked as he tossed a small pebble into the rushing water. "Wow, sounds like it was kind of rough."

"That tends to happen a lot with armies," Ado responded. "Because they are training to go out to war, they have to be prepared for all manner of bad things happening. As such, their teachers can't go easy on them."

"Still, I not sure I'd want that Sgt. Cosmos as my teacher." The Dreamlander boy couldn't help but chuckle at the idea. "Still, it would be funny to have seen Sir Meta Knight's early years of training. Who would have thought that the most awesome fighter in all of Pop Star once had problems in his training years?"

"It takes a lot of practice to get good at anything," Tiff said as she finished off her own lunch. "Nothing else can replace long practice sessions for getting skill in a particular area. So, shall we be heading back?"

Adeleine began gathering up supplies. "That's not a bad idea. The others have probably chosen an area, so we'd best hurry up.

As they four kids set out, the two artists began once again retelling the story they had gleaned from the old journal.

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_"_ _Ugh," Jecra groaned as he flopped back on a bench while the students were taking their lunch break. "I'm never gonna catch my breath."_

_"_ _Oh, I'm so going to die," Meta joined in. "Say goodbye to those who knew me."_

_Daroach took a long drink of his water before agreeing with his companion. "Boy, was I a fool as a kid for cutting gym."_

_Garlude mopped at her brow before picking at her food rations. "Sgt. Cosmos is pretty tough," she commented. "I thought those sword exercises were never going to end, and after all that running. Thanks for that, Daroach," she commented, shooting a glare at the mouse._

_"_ _At least we're done with the physical training for now," Meta commented, doing his best to avoid an argument. "What's next on the list?"_

_Jecra pulled out a slip of paper that had the schedule printed out. "Look like we got lucky. We're all going to be headed to navigation class with Sir Lancelot. It least we'll be able to sit for that class."_

_As the quartet discussed their schedule for the day, something happened that caught Meta's eye. It was a strange group of men passed by the cafeteria. They were all garbed completely in black and had their hair tied up high on the top of their heads._

_"_ _Hey, who are those guys?" Meta asked, almost absentmindedly. "I don't think I've seen them around here before."_

_"_ _Huh? Oh, you mean them." Garlude took another bite of her lunch before answering. "That's a local ninja clan from the planet of Neo Star. Sir Arthur wanted to talk with their chieftain about them joining up with us in the fight against Nightmare."_

_"_ _So those are ninja, huh? They don't seem all that tough to me." Daroach leaned over to get a better look. "Of course, since much of their tactics deal with misdirection, that might be the point. You think they'll help us?"_

_"_ _Of course they will," Jecra commented bluntly. "Nightmare and his goons would turn the whole galaxy into a wasteland if they had their way. Nobody wants that, so who wouldn't help us in the fight?"_

_"_ _It's more complicated than that," Meta answered, a tone of sadness in his voice. "Some people believe it would be best to try to reason with Nightmare first. They hope that peace could be achieved through compromise."_

_"_ _Compromise my foot-paw," Daroach said sharply. "The only choices the enemy will give you are either grovel or die. There's no way he'd allow for any sort of peace to exist. All good creatures must stand to resist his kind of evil."_

_"_ _That's why we're here." Garlude grinned brightly as she brandished her plastic knife as if it was a sword. "We, as Star Warriors and members of the Galaxy Star Army, are the ones to resist, along with those who would stand with us in the good fight."_

_The boys smiled and nodded in agreement. They were proud of the roles they had chosen, and had firm faith that it was the right move. After all, someone would need to stand up for those who couldn't fight. Re-energized by the excitement of the life they would live once they were knighted, the other three lifted their knives as well in excitement._

_"_ _Well, I hope they do join us," the Puffal said, the light of excitement in his eyes. "Nightmare's not going to be a pushover, but he'd better watch out. There's no way the Star Warrior's will ever fall to his power!"_

_A loud bell rang, signaling that the rest period was over and that it was time for the squires to move on to their next set of lessons. The four friends quickly got up and began clearing their places before heading off to their navigations class._

_They had not been aware of it, but their discussion had not gone unheard. One of the ninja, a prominent member named Yamikage, had heard when his tribe was mentioned and stuck around to hear what the training warriors were thinking of. He couldn't help but laugh at their enthusiasm. Of course warrior kids would be idealists. Warriors in general were. Holding the ideas that battle could be waged with any amount of honor, as if it were possible to come out of a battle both alive and with honor intact. Still, their made very valuable allies, and now that his tribe had chosen to side with the Star Warriors in the battle, those very children might come in handy someday._

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Meta Knight casually folded up the finished sketch for the blueprint, slipping it into the bag of supplies he had been packing. The group of adults had recently finished discussing the plans and location and each had headed quickly back to their own homes to gather what was needed. Now that the plans had been drawn up and the location decided upon, the task now fell to begin the actual building of the house. This would not be a difficult task in the least. The house's designs were very simple; just the dome that Kirby had before the abduction, made slightly larger to accommodate for the new tenants. It would be located right outside the south wall, where the young Puffals would have a quiet area to themselves, but also be near enough to contact if they were in need of help.

Hopefully, the job of building would be a task that could be finished with relative ease. There were some trees there, though these did not belong to Whispy Woods, so there was no risk in angering the wood's ruler by clearing a couple away. The little ones themselves were off on a day trip so that they would not get underfoot of the workers, and Dedede had been quelled, so he would not be causing trouble for the workers.

As it would be a little while before the others were ready, the Star Warrior decided to take a bit of a stroll through the palace halls before he headed out. His eyes turned to a soft green as he casually sank into his thoughts. He knew this place wasn't very old and had been built by Dedede's commission, but he had to admire the grand architecture of the place. The Waddle Dees who had built it were very skilled in their craft. Waddle Dees typically were skilled in non-war related endeavors, only gaining their reputation for uselessness through the attempted use of them as soldiers.

As the veteran was thinking these things to himself, he briefly stopped watching where he was going. Thankfully, he had caught himself before he collided with the Ebrum parents, who had come from around the corner.

"Oh, excuse me," he said with a polite bow. "I was not watching where I was going."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Sir Ebrum commented. "Actually, we're rather glad we found you."

"Yes," his wife said in agreement. "There is something we have needed to ask you about."

"Ah. So what is it you wish to ask of me?"

"Just the other day," the Dreamlander man answered, "during all that craziness about the witch, Tiff mentioned that she and her brother had been in the Dreamlandian Ruins during that actual spell casting. What is this place?"

"You haven't heard?" Meta Knight asked curiosity clear in his voice and green eyes. He knew Thomas Ebrum and Lisa Like-Ebrum usually didn't comment about village gossip, but the question still surprised him. "It is a large overgrown grotto area located in an area in Whispy Woods just past Dynablade's Mountain. It appears to have been once populated by a large Dreamlandian population, but there is really not much to see there. I am surprised you have not heard of it. The discovery of this place has caused quite the stir recently."

"I'm afraid Thomas and I have been rather busy as of late," Lady Like said, as if to answer the warrior's thoughts. "Some relations of ours from a distance off have been having some trouble, and we had been attending to family matters. So, you are certain that this is just a large overgrown garden?"

"Completely," the Puffal answered. "I have been in the area several times myself. It holds some interesting clues to the past of this area. However, there is not much there other than the ruins themselves."

"Ah, then there's nothing to worry about," Sir Ebrum commented, sharing a look with his wife that seemed to closely resemble relief. The blue Puffal was going to comment on the oddity of the statement when something happened to distract the adults from their conversation.

"Oh! Help! Gosh! Sir Meta Knight! Thank goodness I found you!" The group responded to the call in time to see a panicking Bandana Dee rushing up. The Waddle Dee seemed quite flustered about something, and he had apparently been tugging on his bandana hard enough that it had half slid off his head.

"What is it, my friend?" Meta Knight asked.

The little orange creature leaned heavily on his spear, panting heavily as he spoke. "I was *pant* making certain that the area by the south wall was ready for the work we were going to do over there! Then *wheeze* several large vines sprouted and started tearing everything apart! I tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them!"

"Oh, dear!" Lady Like said once he had finished his explanation. "That sounds terrible!"

"It is," Bandana said, nodding. He turned once more to Meta Knight. "That's why I came looking for you. I hoped you might have an idea about what was going on."

"I'm afraid I do not," the warrior answered. He gripped Galaxia tight in one hand. "We will find out, though. Lead me to where these vines are." Bandana nodded in agreement before hurrying off to show them the way.

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_Several weeks' time had gone by. The kids were on their last few days of training before they would graduate to the level of knave. The excitement of just what this meant was not lost on the youngsters, who sat eagerly awaiting for their lesson to begin._

_Indeed, anticipation was even higher today than it had been on that first day, as today was the day when each squire would chose the weapon type that they would specialize in. Of course, they had been trained in the art of handling many types of weapons, but this day would determine which one they would personally bear for much of their career._

_By now, the kids had gathered together in groups, eagerly talking about what weapon they were going to choose._

_"_ _I'm taking a sword!" Jecra said excitedly. Today, the four friends sat in a little larger group that had two other children._

_"_ _Of course you're taking a sword," a Star Jumper Puffal named Iliana commented. "Most everyone here is going to choose a sword of some sort. The question is which one."_

_The blond boy thought for a moment. "Uh, I hadn't really thought about it. I guess I'll try out several before I choose one."_

_"_ _That's what most people do," Ephraim, commonly known as Ri, said. He belonged to a race that closely resembled the Cappy, but was somewhat taller and thinner, and his eyes were shaped differently. "You can never really tell just what is going to work for you until you've tried several out."_

_"_ _I guess that's what we'll be doing today," Meta said. He leaned against one paw, staring off out a nearby window. "To think, after this, our lessons will be over and we'll actually be able to go out there and actually help in the war effort."_

_"_ _Well, yes and no," Daroach pointed out. "We won't actually be fighting yet. We're just going to begin out private training with our master. That does mean will get an idea of how things are run around here, and we'll finally be able to carry a weapon with us, but we won't actually be do much besides training until we've been knighted."_

_Meta sighed before turning back to the other kids. "Yeah, your right. Hey, Garlude, isn't your family headed off somewhere once you graduate?"_

_The girl nodded. "My parents are headed off with a troop to Ripple Star to make certain that everything is alright over there. The Fairy Queen has been having problems with lower level monsters stalking around, and considering her planet has a Fountain of Dreams, it would be pretty bad is Nightmare got a hold of it."_

_The other five kids nodded solemnly. They were very rare, but the power of a wellspring of dreams was well known. On their own, there sources were just supposed to deliver dreams to the people of their world. However, if one was to become corrupted, it would be one of the fastest ways to bring a world to its knees. The psychological attacks that the people would have to endure would be terrible, and there would be little that could be done. Furthermore, each fountain could act as a portal to another world, as long as that world also had a fountain. If the warlock could take a Fountain of Dreams, the result would be devastating._

_Any more discussion was cut off by the sound of the doors opening and several carts being pushed in. Kit Cosmos stood at the front, strolling into the room, his wooden sword in hand as usual. Behind him, several older knaves were pushing in some large carts, each carrying a large amount of weapons._

_Inwardly, Meta groaned and felt like sinking down into his chair. One of the knaves was Galacta, and the red Puffal had caught sight of him. That couldn't mean anything good._

_"_ _Alright, cadets, listen up!" Sgt. Cosmos called out. "You all know what we are doing today, so I don't feel the need to tell you things you are already aware of. Understand that once you choose a weapon, the rest of this class will be devoted to improving you in your area of choice. The Knaves to my right have all agreed to assist in your training. You will respect their authority. Do I make myself clear?"_

_"_ _Sir, yes sir!" the class called out._

_The man grinned at the promptness. "Good. Now, if you are ready, we can begin."_

To be continued…


	29. Home Sweet Home, Part Three

Meta Knight raced out to where the trouble was located. When Bandana Dee had told him of the coming trouble, the warrior had thought that it might be a more minor issue than the messenger claimed, as the timid creature was prone to exaggeration. However, once they actually made it out to the designated area, he found that it was not an overstatement.

The whole area was covered in thick vines, which were moving in and of their own accord. They were tearing up the trees of the surrounding land, causing large pits to form around. The clustering of greenery so thick that whatever was going on inside the circle of trouble could not be seen. Nearby, groups of Cappies clustered around each other, not quite sure what to do about the odd situation.

Seeing no other option, Meta Knight lunged forwards and began hacking at the plants with Galaxia. Every time he severed on of the plants, it withered away, giving him hope that he could have this mess cleared up soon. He had made some headway into the job when the vines seemed to notice him, and responded by striking at him and trying to tangle him in the strands before lifting him into the air.

He fought hard against the entwining plants, struggling hard to escape the constricting embrace. Nearby, several groups of Cappies and Waddle Dees race forward to attempt to help him escape the troublesome plants, but the effort was no good. The vines, seeing the newcomers as threats that needed to be dealt with, began to reach out to grab them as well.

"It's no good!" the Star Warrior called out, trying to keep others out of the mess he currently found himself in. "Don't try to help! I'll figure something out!"

The veteran continued his struggle, doing his best to escape from the vines. However, as did so, someone else took notice of what was happening. "Hey! What's going on here?"

The plants in a nearby patch parted, revealing Dedede, who had been watching over the progress of the plants. The Pengu glanced up to see the still tangled knight doing his best to escape his imprisonment. "Meta Knight? What are you doing in my plants?"

"Enjoying a perfectly lovely view," the Puffal responded, sarcasm dripping from his voice. His eyes turned a light red with impatience and annoyance. "Now, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to get down from here."

"Alright, alright, hold your Wheelies," Dedede responded. "You there, vine guys. Yeah, just put him down." The plants responded in turn, releasing the knight from his aerial imprisonment. However, they did not set him on the ground first, and the Puffal was deposited on the ground in a rather undignified heap.

"Sire," Meta Knight said, pushing himself out of the rather uncomfortable and embarrassing position, "do you have anything to do with these plants?" The warrior closed his eyes, already knowing the answer.

"You bet they are!" Dedede said grinning brightly. He held out the pouch containing the rest of the seeds for the vines. "Got 'em from Marx so I could start taking charge of this project. He pointed out that this whole scheme needed some sort of guidance for development, and who better to take charge than the king himself! Heh heh!" The Pengu grinned, clearly pleased with himself. "With me in charge, there's no way anything's going to go wrong!"

Meta Knight covered his face with his paws. Of course this was what happened. What had been thinking, leaving Dedede unsupervised like that. Oh, well. There was no way to go to the past and fix those problems. Better to just to restrict the damage right now.

"Are you quite certain that you should be using these plants, your majesty?" the knight asked, motioning towards the chaos. "They do not seemed very safe."

"Oh, they're perfectly safe to use," Dedede responded. "Marx just said something or other about the amount to use, but these things wouldn't hurt a fly!"

Meta Knight was about to point out how said vines had just caught him with the intent of constriction, but Dedede cut him off. "Well, now that you can see that I've got everything under control, you'd better me moving alone."

The Pengu than turned to the observers. "Hey, all you Cappy folks! You guys go get everything together for the building. I'm almost ready for ya!"

There was a bit of commotion in the group. Something about this just felt wrong, like something bad was going to come of this.

Meta Knight was in agreement with them. "Sire, I think it would be wise if I took a closer look at those seeded before we went any farther," he said, reaching out to take the bag. "It would be best to do all we can to avoid any unnecessary injury."

"I'm the king around here," he said, moving his arm in emphasis to what he was saying. "I'll make the decisions around this place!" He jerked his arm up on the last word, both to move the pouch out of reach of the shorter creature and to emphasize his power. However, upon doing this, the bag slipped out of his hand, spilling its contents out over the grass.

It did not take long for the seeds to react, sinking into the ground. After a few seconds, they sprouted, causing even more of the vines to appear. In the crowded area, none of the vines could move in anything like an organized pattern, and they began thrashing violently every which way.

At this point, everyone glared darkly at Dedede, who could only grin awkwardly. "Uh, oops?"

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_The testing started promptly, each child picking out the weapon they wished to test. As Iliana had pointed out, most of the weapons were swords of some sort. However, there is a large variety of what swords are available, from the thin, light rapier, to the easy to handle short sword. Other weapons were also available. Many of them were along the same lines as the swords, being bladed weapons of some sort. Spears, axes, and knives were lined up in a row, their blades gleaming brightly. More blunt weapons, such as clubs, maces, and flails stood in waiting. Long, short, and cross bows were lined up for testing, quivers full of arrows sitting nearby._

_Weaponry of a more modern variety were also present. Blasters and Tasers sat on shelves, their safeties still on so that no overeager student could fire them in the wrong direction. A number of weapon that none of the kids could identify were also present and lying out, just waiting to be tested._

_The group clustered together surveying the options and waiting for one of the knaves to call them over. Much to Meta's relief, the person who called them over to begin was not Galacta, but an older girl from the planet Pipi named Marina._

_"_ _Alright, little guys," she said, smiling brightly at the youngsters, "it's time for you kids to pick out a weapon to try out. So, we'll go eldest to youngest. Jecra, that means that you go first."_

_"_ _Nice!" The blond boy rushed over and looked over at the rows of swords laying out. Despite the common portrayal of each and every sword being alike, there are different types of swords with different purposes to them. Star Warrior weapons are especially unique, as each one is hand crafted and unlike any other piece._

_It didn't take long for Jecra to select his weapons. "These!" he declared excitedly as he hefted up his pick._

_The other children in his group could only stare, and Marina attempted to stifle a laugh, as the blade he had picked was almost as big as he was. "Uh, are you sure you want a claymore and shield?" she asked, still fighting back the urge to laugh. "Those can be rather difficult to learn how to use."_

_Jecra strapped the blade and sheath to his back and held the shield firmly out in front. "These are definitely the ones I want," he nodded, doing his best to look fierce and dignified. This was a difficult task, as the claymore dragged on the ground even when it was sheathed._

_Marina swallowed the last few giggles. "Alright then, I hope that works out for you. Garlude, you are up next."_

_The girl nodded and stepped up to the sword cart. She examined the occupants for a while, going over in her mind which on would work the best for her. After a few moments, she spotted the weapon she would use._

_"_ _This one," she said, brandishing a light, elegant sabre. She gave the blade a few practice swings before sheathing it and strapping it to her back._

_"_ _Nice choice," Marina said with approval as Garlude came back to the group._

_Iliana and Ephraim went next, selecting a cross bow and quiver full of arrows and an intricately carved spear respectively. The teen watching over them nodded in agreement before turning to the last two kids waiting to go. "Daroach, it's your turn, and Meta, you're after him."_

_Daroach headed over to the weapons rack and examined them, but found nothing really to his liking. He walked over to the tray holding the blasters, but once more didn't see anything that really caught him. A trip over to the one with the more experimental weapons, however, produced a different result._

_"_ _Hey, what are these?" he asked, pointing over to three cane-like weapons that lay in a row. Each looked similar: a long thin rod with a block on the top. The tops each had a star imprinted on the sides and several switches cleverly hidden along the side. The only major difference was that one was a bronze color, one silver, and one gold._

_"_ _Those? Oh, those are a new type that some of the weapons-makers came up with," Marina answered. "The bronze one is the Solo Star, the silver one is the Dual Star, and the gold one is the Triple Star."_

_"_ _Really?" the mouse said, lifting the Triple Star up to examine. "Why is it called that?"_

_The teen girl grinned. "See that target over there?" she asked pointing out a nearby dummy. When Daroach gave the affirmative, she continued. "Well, press the right hand switch and swing the rod."_

_The young mouse did as he was instructed to do, aiming for the dummy and swinging hard with the weapon. As soon as he did so, three bright gold stars shot out in an arch. They hovered around, taking different paths around the dummy before moving in all at once to crash into the object._

_"_ _Whoa! Awesome!" Daroach grinned brightly, glancing back down at the rod. "Let's try this one too!" He quickly moved the switch on the other side and swung. The Triple Star unleashed a bright blue flash, and when the kids looked up again, the dummy had been frozen solid._

_The mouse grinned at the golden rod. "Oh, yeah. This one's mine." He gave it one more twirl before heading back to the group._

_Now that it was his turn, Meta stepped up to the sword tray. He didn't even have to glance at any of the other weapons. He knew exactly what he wanted._

_The young Puffal reached out and grabbed a gleaming long sword. It wasn't much to look at, but it was well made. It would serve him well._

_"_ _This one," he said, strapping on the sword belt._

_"_ _Nice chose," Marina said, nodding at his pick. "So, little guys, now that you've got your weapons, how about we do a bit of a spar?" She pulled out her own weapons of choice, a light staff with metal coverings at both ends and a thin but strong net. "So, who wants to go first?"_

_However, before anyone could volunteer, Galacta stepped forward, cutting her off. "I'll take on the blueberry over here." He brandished his lance and smirked over at Meta. "Unless, of course, he's scared."_

_Marina frowned, knowing the two Puffals' history well enough. "Not now, Galacta," she sighed. "We actually have serious work to be doing here."_

_"_ _And I am doing it," the red Puffal said in response. "Of course, if the little baby's too scared, we could always wait."_

_Marina was about to answer, but Meta spoke up first. "I'm not afraid!" he piped up quickly. "I'll take you here and now!"_

_"_ _Alright then," Galacta said, motioning towards the ring. "Let's see if you are as good with that sword as you are with your mouth." He lifted his lance and charged. "En guard!_

_Meta responded fast, withdrawing his sword as quickly as possible. In a moment, sword met lance with a loud clash. Both were skilled with their weapon of choice, but Galacta had age and experience on Meta. It didn't take long for the red Puffal to knock Meta down._

_He was about to continue the attack, but Marina stepped in the way first, deflecting the lance with her staff. "He's had enough," she said darkly. "Why don't you go help somewhere else?"_

_The teen put away his lance and shrugged. "I was just about through with the little shrimp anyway." He turned to go, but smirked at Meta before leaving. "See you next time, bluey."_

_Meta watched in frustration. His friends had come over to see if he was okay, but he could barely hear them. Inwardly, he promised to never stop practicing with his sword. One day, he'd beat Galacta at his own game._

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"Well, that sound like a rough first day," Tiff said. The kids had been discussing this on the way back from the market. It was early afternoon and they had nearly made it back to Cappy Town.

"Yeah," Tuff said in agreement. "I'm sure glad we don't have to deal with anyone like Galacta here."

"Well, we all know how Sir Meta Knight turned out," Adeleine commented with a smile. "It's kind of hard to believe that he was once the quiet little guy the journal describes."

"People change as they grow older," Ado said, shrugging. "I suppose we'll be different when we grow up too. The experiences we have shape who we are."

"And Sir Meta Knight's experiences were about to change," Adeleine said, preparing to start the next story. "It all started when Sir Arthur approached Sir Heavy Knight with a new mission."

Tiff was about to comment on the last statement when she spotted something in the distance. "Hey, what is that?"

"What is what?" Adeleine asked, straining her eyes to see what was pointed out.

"That green stuff, over there by the castle." The Dreamlander girl pointed off in that direction. "It's moving like it is alive."

"I think I can see it now." Ado veered out towards that castle, trying to get a good look at whatever it was. "It looks like some sort of plant."

"A plant? That can't be right," Tuff commented. He quickly clambered into the wagon and on top of the heavier items to get a better look. "It does look like a plant! What the heck is going on over there?"

"Let go hurry and find out," Adeleine said, taking up the handle of the wagon once the boy had climbed down. The other children nodded and they raced ahead to find out just what was happening.

At the palace, it was total chaos. The vines, planted far too close to one another, could not sense what they were supposed to do. As a result, they lashed out and attacked at everything around. It didn't matter if it was trees, rocks, people, even the south palace wall itself. The crazy plant life even began attempting to grab on to and fling away itself. Everything was immediately grabbed and either tangled or flung away.

The kids, wanting to do something to help but afraid to approach the writhing mass, tried to figure out some way to get closer. However, every time they got within a few feet of the mess, several tendrils reached out and tried to grab them. After several close calls, it became frustratingly clear they would not make it inside the problem.

"Hey!" Tuff called out, desperate to do something. "Is anybody in there? What's going on?"

Within the tangled mass, just about everyone who had been standing anywhere near the plants had been tangled up and were now being tossed around. Inside, Meta Knight still attempted at cutting away the offending greenery, but what had once been a difficult task was now an impossible dream.

Upon hearing the cry, he immediately responded. "Stay away from here!" he called back.  
"These things are out of control!"

At that moment, the four had to scatter to avoid some of the tendrils, which had come creeping out towards them. "Ugh," Ado said as she just narrowly dodged another one. "Where did these things come from?"

"They were brought by Dedede," the knight explained. "He was using them in an attempt to draw attention to himself once again, and things got out of control."

Tiff dodged aside and grabbed a putty knife that had been lying close at hand. "This is Dedede's fault?" the girl commented as she fought the offending plants off. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Hey, I already said I was sorry!" the Pengu declared. He, too, had gotten entrapped by the greenery and was struggling to get out. "Besides, if _someone_ hadn't attempted to take the seeds from me, than everything would have gone O.K.!"

"Please stop fighting!" Adeleine called out. She painted up a wave of hot coals, which succeeded in driving the attacking plants back. "This isn't helping anyone and we need to figure out how to stop these things!"

Meta Knight racked his mind, desperately trying to come up with a way to stop these mad growths. Maybe it was water. After all, everything would need water to survive. "Do you think you can come up with any way to dry these out?" he called. "Maybe that would get rid of them, or at the very least weaken them."

"That wouldn't do anything!" Dedede responded, a tone of slight annoyance in his voice. "These things don't need water, only light!"

"That's it!" Ado called out. "We need to block off the light! Come on, 'Leine! I have an idea!" She then rushed into the palace, her sister close behind and ready to help.

Once they made it inside, they ran up to the south wall, splitting up so that they came to the damaged section from two different directions. Quickly, they worked together to paint over the gap, filling it in so that they could run over the mass of entwining ivy. Now over the source of the problem, they worked fast to paint up a large tarp. It wouldn't last forever, but hopefully, it would do the trick for now.

Once painted up, the tarp took form and fell over the mass of vines, draping over them entirely. The plants struggled underneath for a few moments, but after a while the fighting died down. A few more moments, and all became still for the time being.

The peace was broken by Galaxia cutting through the tarp. Meta Knight quickly crawled out of the hole, just relieved to be free of the entangling mass. Slowly but surely, the rest of the people who had been caught up by the vines followed suit, climbing out from under the tarp into the open air.

By the time that the twins made it back from the wall, the tarp had begun to evaporate, revealing the withered remains of the vines. The plan had worked, and once the plants had been cut off from the light source, they had all died off. All remained silent for a few moments, trying to process what had just happened.

"Well," Dedede said, trying to break the definitely uncomfortable silence, "that wasn't too hard, huh?" A dozen angry eyes turned on the Pengu. "What?"

"Sire, next time we have some sort of project to do and we do not ask you to do anything," Meta Knight said, his patience stretched very thin, "Don't. Do. Anything."

Dedede got the picture of what was going on and decided to hightail it. Now alone, the group tuned back to the damaged area.

The vines were dead, but the damage they caused was still present. A large gap had been torn in the wall, revealing bits of piping and wiring for the rooms that had once been present in the structure. This would have to be repaired. However, it did give the warrior an idea.

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After a pleasant day in the woods, Kirby and his little siblings hurried rushed back to the castle, eager to have their supper. However, when they reached the palace, there was a surprise for them. All their friends had gathered around the south wall, and there, embedded into the wall, was a large dome house! Across the top of it was a banner that read "Welcome Home!"

The pink Puffal's eyes widened in delight. "Kaabii house back!" he cried out happily. He rushed forwards, followed closely by the little Puffalings.

"Yep," Tiff said, patting the little one on the head. "We thought it was about time you guys got your own place again, and this time, you're closer than ever!"

Now that the guests of honor had arrived, the group broke out to having a small celebration. Most everyone enjoyed themselves tremendously, but there was something that still made Meta Knight uneasy. He glanced over at the vines, which had been gathered up for burning later. Dedede had said he had gotten them from Marx. How on Pop Star had the jester come up with something like that?

He shook his head as he tried to streamline his thoughts. Producing such things was not proof of any dealings with Nightmare. Still, something was off about Marx, and the Star Warrior had felt it for a while now. He'd have to keep a close eye on the magician.

His thoughts were broken by the sound of someone tramping up. It was Dedede, who was carrying a large box with him. "I'm not too late for the party, am I?" the Pengu asked, setting the box down nearby.

"I'm surprised you'd show up, after all the trouble you caused today," Tiff snapped.

"Well, I'm not staying, if that's what you're insinulating," he responded huffily. "I just wanted to give Kirby something to say good riddance."

The little Puffalings gathered together and watched curiously as Kirby opened the box. The four sides fell apart with a thud, and the young ones were quiet delighted to see what it was.

It was a refrigerator! The little ones opened it up to find that it had already been stocked with a variety of foods, mostly fruit, but with bits of meat and sweets also lined up. "I supposed Pinky and the smaller ones would need something to keep their own food in," Dedede explain as the little ones happily dug in.

Meta Knight glanced over in bemusement. "This is oddly…generous of you, sire."

Dedede crossed his arms. "Yeah, well don't get used to it. If this'll keep all them Kirbies out of my kitchen, than it's worth the investment."

Kirby happily looked up from the present. "T'ank yew, Dededededededede!" he declared happily, rushing forward to give the Pengu a hug.

"Hey, I told you already!" Dedede snapped as he shoved the youngster off. "It's DE-DE-DE." He brushed himself off and crossed his arms. "You welcome, by the way."

That night, as everything was winding down, Tiff and Tuff remembered something that had been forgotten in the excitement of the afternoon. They crept over to where Ado and Adeleine were sitting. "Hey," Tuff said as quietly as he could, "you mentioned something about Heavy Knight getting a new mission. What was that?"

"Oh, yeah," Adeleine said in realization. "Come on; let's go into the woods a bit and we'll explain." Once the kids had gone a ways away to where they wouldn't be overheard, the twins explained the tale.

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_It had been several evenings after the promotion of the squires to the level of knave. Currently, Meta had been away with his friends, enjoying the expansion of freedom they had gained with the promotion of level, and the girls were out enjoying some time with their own friends. As such, Heavy Knight and Rosalyn were enjoying something they hadn't had in a long time: a quiet apartment._

_They were taking advantage of the situation to enjoy a nice date night together when their dinner was interrupted by a knock on the door. Supposing that it was one of her children who had come home to retrieve some forgotten item, Rosalyn went to answer the door. Much to her surprise, however, the person who stood outside was not one the kids._

_"_ _Sir Arthur," she said, greeting the head of the Star Warriors, "what a surprise. Please, do come in." She motioned for him to enter into the living room._

_Hearing the greeting his wife gave, Heavy Knight rose and made his way into the room. "I wasn't expecting to see you tonight, Arthur," he said, holding out his hand to his friend. "To what do we own this honor?"_

_"_ _No good news, I'm afraid," the green Puffal answered. "As you know, Nightmare's been moving farther and farther along in the Gamble Galaxy. We're doing our best to keep him away from the more populous areas, but this task is getting harder and harder as time goes on."_

_The two Boxins nodded. "He's growing in power," Rosalyn commented darkly. A shadow came over her face. "I just wish we knew where all these new recruits he's getting are coming from."_

_Arthur nodded in agreement. "We're looking into that problem as we speak, but there are other concerns I wished to speak with you about. Heavy, you originally came from the planet of Aqua Star, right?"_

_"_ _Yes," the Boxin warrior answered. He had been born on Aqua Star, but had been recruited to the Star Warriors at a young age. "I believe my brother and his family still live there. Why do you ask?"_

_"_ _I'd like you and your family to go there and make certain that world is ready, in case an invasion occurs."_

_Heavy Knight nodded. "We will go. When shall we go and how long do you wish us to be there?"_

_"_ _As soon as possible and for few years or so." Arthur gave a small smile. "I know it's not exactly a desirable circumstance, but we must be prepared for an invasion on all sides."_

_The two nodded. "We will go on the next flight." Rosalyn got up to begin to prepare for the journey. "It will be nice that the children will get to know their uncle and aunt. Shame it has to happen because of a maniac," she added with a rueful smile._

_Now that the decision had been made, Sir Arthur rose and prepared to leave. "I thank you for your cooperation," he said. "Good luck. I hope things turn out well," he added before he left._

To be continued…


	30. Transformation Trauma, Part One

The morning was bright and clear. It was a bit nippy due to the fact that the sun had only just risen. However, the crisp air was rather refreshing, just about right for an early morning flight, which was just what the birds of Dreamland intended to do. As such, it was opportune time for a birdwatcher such as Dedede to be up and about.

This was the one morning a month when the Pengu could actually be seen up and about before the sun had risen. He moved as quietly as he could, following his targets closely to keep track of what he could find. To his credit, Dedede was cautious not to watch the wrong type of bird. He had once mistakenly stalked Coo's sister for an entire morning before the owls had found out. The Pengu had been given a swift lesson after that, and now he was very careful to only observe non-talking birds.

Much to his delight, there seemed to be an abundance of these kinds of birds out this morning. Moving around with much more stealth than his girth seemed to suggest, the so-called king crept up, eagerly marking down when he saw a rare form of bird.

"Sire, please wait up!" Bandana Dee followed behind, bringing a well packed knapsack with him. It was clear that the Waddle Dee was struggling to keep up. "I can't move as fast as you can, especially with all the supplies!"

Dedede turned on his servant with annoyance. "Shhhhhh!" he hissed, raising a wing to his beak. "You're gonna scare 'em all away!"

"Oh, sorry, your majesty." Bandana moved up to join his king. "I'll try to be quieter."

"See that you do," the Pengu said shortly before turning back to his bird watching. "It's a really good day for this, too. I mean look at all these varieties! A Yellow sided Nuthatch, a Blue Flash Wind wing, a…huh? What's that?" He put down his binoculars for a moment, rubbed his eyes, and looked out again, just to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing.

"What is it, sire?" Bandana asked, leaning forwards to see what it was that the Pengu was staring at. When he spotted it, however, he couldn't believe his eyes. "What the heck?"

There, swimming around carelessly in the river, what looked like a group of strange amalgamations of birds and fish! They were moving through the water lazily, just enjoying the fresh morning air.

The oddity of this discovery could not be overlooked. "Come on!" Dedede said, waving for Bandana Dee to follow him. "I'm getting a closer look."

"But sire, wait!" the Dee called out, struggling to lift the heavy knapsack once more. "Do you really think this is such a good idea? They could be dangerous."

"Dangerous? Ha! That's a laugh!" The Pengu pointed out to where the creatures were moving around in rather lazy circles. "Those things don't look like they could hurt a fly, even if they had the energy to, which I doubt they do." He flicked a pebble into the water, causing all the creatures to become frightened and scatter. "See what I mean? That all big fraidy-cats. Err, fish. Err, birds. Ah, whatever they are!"

Bandana cautiously leaned over to examine the strange creatures. "I've never seen anything quite like this before," he said, nervousness clear in his eyes. "How do you think they got this way?"

"Who knows?" Dedede responded. "All I know is that this discovery's gonna make me famous!" He turned triumphantly and prepared to go. "C'mon! Let's go get a camera so the whole world can know of my marvelous discovery!"

"Alright, sire." Bandana attempted to turn to follow his king. However, he was standing on a small incline, and the weight of his knapsack was difficult to manage on the edge. As a result, he move a little too quickly, which caused him to tumble head over feet down to the bottom of the hill.

Dedede had walked on a few feet before realizing he was alone. He turned back to see where his servant had gotten to and found him lying upside down in a berry bush. "Hey, Bandana! This is no time to by laying around! We've got work to attend to!"

"Sorry, sir," the Waddle Dee responded, doing his best to get out of the embarrassing position. "I'm just kind of, uh, stuck."

"Alright, all get you out of there," Dedede sighed. He slid down to the bottom of the hill and pulled his trapped servant out of the bush. He was about to scold the little Dee for lollygagging when the berries caught his eye.

"Hey, those look pretty good," he said. He quickly tossed a much disoriented Bandana Dee aside and eagerly began picking off the berries.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Bandana asked, looking cautiously at the fruit.

"Ahh, don't be such a worry-wart," Dedede responded quickly, shoving a handful of the berries in his mouth. He then tossed some over to the Waddle Dee. "Try some. They're good."

Bandana looked cautiously at the fruit for a moment before eating one. This action did startle the king as he observed it. "How do you little guys do that?"

"Do what, sire?"

"Eat. I mean, you don't have any mouths. How do you get food in there? For that matter, how do you talk?"

"Well, we just do. I've never really thought about it. We don't need mouths to eat or talk, so we just have never looked into it."

"Well, it's weird." Dedede popped another berry in his mouth. "I just think that-ugh!" He cut himself off, gripping his stomach.

"Sire!" Bandana cried, rushing to his king's side. "What's wrong?!"

"I'm not feeling so hot," Dedede moaned.

Bandana attempted to help him back up, but ended up bent over double himself. "I'm not feeling so good either. It must be those berries."

Dedede was about to respond, but a wave of nausea overtook him, and he fell over, unsure of what the strange fruit was doing to them.

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As the last story had ended on quite the interesting not, Ado and Adeline had wasted no time in getting back into Sir Heavy Knight's journal. A part of them were worried that the segments of the journal would be worthless, and for the most part, this dread proved true. However, much to their relief, one of the first stories had been spared from being degraded over time. They eagerly jumped into the tale of the past, eager to see just where this journey was going to go.

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_The primary landing base on Aqua Star was a rush of people and personnel. Everyone was rushing to and fro, hurrying to finish one job or another. All of this was rather overwhelming for Meta, who had certainly not expected such a hubbub when he had been told that his family would be staying on the oceanic planet for a while._

_Heavy Knight, meanwhile, had gone to make certain that everything had been set up for their arrival. He had just finished discussing his families living arrangements when he heard someone calling out to him._

_"_ _[Hebinaito! There you are!]" The Boxin warrior turned, initially startled, for he hadn't expected to be addressed here in the Boxin language. However, when he recognized who the speaker was, his face brightened._

_"_ _[Tieronpescador!]" he greeted his brother, easily slipping into his native language. "[It has been a long time, hasn't it?]"_

_Tieron, a big Boxin with orange tinted fur, eagerly gripped his brother's hand. "[Too long. I'm glad you were able to come down for a visit, Hebi. They still calling you Heavy up in that space ship?]"_

_"_ _[An accident like that tends to stick, but I don't mind.]" He waved the question off. "[Did you come alone today? Where is Lilana?]"_

_"_ _[Back at the house, making sure everything was ready. You know how she is when it comes time for guests.]" The orange Boxin shrugged. "[It works out for the best anyways. I know you Star Warriors do a lot of good in the galaxy, but hardly any of these Nonboxshuri newcomers even try to learn about even the most basic level of the culture, or even the language. Watch.]" Tieron turned, spotting a young, rather lost looking young Puffal. "Hey!" he called out, waving the youngster over._

_The young Puffal ran over. "Yes, how may I help you?"_

_The Boxin grinned at his brother before continuing. "[Do you happen to know where the main landing bay is?]" he asked, waiting for the youngster's look of confusion._

_However, it didn't come. Instead, the young boy shrugged. "[I'm sorry, sir,]" he answered in accent free Boxin. "[My family and I have only just arrived, and I'm not quite certain where anything is in here.]"_

_Tieron looked at the young Puffal in surprise, but Heavy Knight just laughed. "[It looks like you chose the wrong target, huh?]" he commented once he had calmed down. "[This is my son, Meta. I'm sorry I hadn't mentioned it before, but Rosalyn and I adopted him when he was young.]"_

_"_ _[So, you're the famous Metanaito, huh?]" the orange Boxin asked once the embarrassment wore off. He held out his paw to shake. "[Well, pleased to meet you. I'm your Uncle Tieron. Welcome to Aqua Star.]"_

_Meta took the paw warmly. "[I am pleased to meet you as well. I'm sure I'll like it here.]"_

_"_ _[Meta, please go see if you cannot find your mother and sisters,]" Heavy asked once introductions were through. "[We're going to spend the evening at your aunt and uncle's house, so we had best be on our way.]"_

_"_ _[Yes, sir,]" Meta answered before heading out._

_"_ _[That's a fine son you have there,]" Tieron said once Meta had left. "[A good sport too.]"_

_Heavy Knight smiled proudly. "[He's becoming a fine Star Warrior. Just keep an eye on him. I'm certain he'll be making history.]"_

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The morning had not even yet begun for Dedede's two cronies. Escargoon was still asleep in his own room, as he was always promptly in bed at exactly the same time every evening. Magolor, however, had chosen to stay up last night, working on a project of his own. As such, that morning found him fast asleep amoung sheets of papers and discarded bits of this and that. He was still sleeping soundly when he was rudely woken by a sudden shout.

"Escargoon! Magolor! What the heck are you two doing!?"

This startled the Halcandrian awake. "I'm sorry I don't have any pickles!" he said quickly, not quite out of his dream just yet. He blinked a few times, trying to figure out just what was going on. The answer came rather quickly.

"You two bums better pick up right now!" Dedede threatened through a nearby radio. "We've got an emergency!"

Magolor yawned before picking up the radio. "Yes, sire?" he said sleepily. "What's going on?"

"What's going on is that we're having a major problem," the Pengu answered. "You two need to head over to the river by the palace to meet me right now!"

"It's going to be few minutes, I'm afraid." The alien turned to retrieve his coat, which had been draped over a chair the night previously. "I just got up, and Escargoon is still asleep."

"We don't have a few minutes!" Dedede snapped. "You get down here right now!"

"Yes, sir." Magolor sighed before going down the hall from their lab. He knocked on Escargoon's door to get the scientist to wake up before continuing down to his own room to pick up some supplies. "We've got to go down to the river right now. King's orders."

Escargoon scowled as he forced himself out of bed. It was way too early to have to be dealing with any nonsense. Whatever the king wanted done this morning, it had better be really important.

The duo stared in shock when they arrived at the ordered place. Sure enough, King Dedede was there, just as he had said so. Bandana Dee was there as well, which was no surprise either, as the Pengu often took him whenever there was some project or other that had caught his attention. What was surprising was the state the two of them were in. They were fish.

Or, more accurately, Bandana was a fish. Dedede appeared to have been turned into some sort of whale creature. Either way, neither of them was their own correct species.

Escargoon was the more shocked of the two. "What?! How!? Huh?!"

Magolor was also at a loss for words about what had happened to the two. "You're fish?" he asked, looking more confused than startled. "What happened?"

"Of course we're fish!" Dedede snapped. "We were just minding our own business out there when we saw some weird bird fish things, and then we found this berry bush nearby." He then turned to the Waddle Dee fish. "Show 'em the berries."

Bandana nodded quickly, spitting out a mouthful of bright purple berries onto the shore.

Hearing this, Escargoon buried his face in his hands. "And you just had to eat them without having any idea whatsoever about what they were."

"I said it wasn't a good idea," Bandana added quietly, but no one paid him any attention.

"Well, what else are berries good for?" the Pengu whale asked quickly. "All I know is that I'm enjoying myself one minute, and the next I've got fins!" He angrily slapped the surface of the water. "Now what are y'all gonna do about it?!"

"All right, all right, calm down," the scientist said. "There has to be some reasonable way to fix this."

"I know!" Magolor exclaimed cheerfully. "First, we'll need to find and defeat Mr. Dooter. Once we've got his treasure, we can-"

"I said a reasonable way!" Escargoon interrupted. "You know, reasonable, as in, not entirely dependent on finding a genie."

"Hey! Mr. Dooter is a djinn, not a genie," the wizard snorted. "Furthermore, these fish berries seem to be more in the realm of magic than of science, which means they are more in my area of expertise anyway."

"Well, than, did you have any role in planting them?"

"No, of course not! Just because they are magic doesn't means that they are not natural."

"Well, there aren't too many magic users in Dreamland," the snail quickly pointed out. "Your assumption could only point to you and-" He froze when he realized the name he was about to say. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Magolor asked, not quite ready to back down yet.

"Marx!" Escargoon answered quickly. "The only other experienced magic user currently in Dreamland who could set something like this up is Marx!"

Magolor was about to argue, but then thought for a moment. "You know what? I can't believe I'm saying this, but you're right! He does have experience with plant magic. Remember that vine issue?"

"What? Marx couldn't be behind this," Dedede dismissed, shaking his head. "He's the most trustworthy person I can think of."

"Still, it might be a good idea to question him." Escargoon quickly grabbed a handful of the berries. "There's a good chance that he might know what was going on."

With that, the duo headed back up to the palace. "We'll see what we can find out and call you when we learn something," Magolor called back.

"Just be quick about it!" Dedede yelled. "I don't intend on going swimming all day!"

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_"_ _Meta, Meta, look at this!" The blue Puffal had been shaken awake by his younger sister, Rhiennan. The little brown Boxin, who had shared a bench with her brother on the trip to the island where their family live, had been eagerly pointing out various interesting facts about Aqua Star wildlife for most of the trip there. Now was no exception. "It says here that it was originally assumed that the wild Gaw-Gaw had red eyes because they were red every time scientists saw them, but we now know differently! In fact, the Gaw-Gaw's eyes change color with emotion, but it was thought to be red since they only open their eyes when they are angry."_

_"_ _Mm-hm," he responded, barely listening. He leaned a little over to stick his paw in the water. "That's nice." He loved the feel of the cool ocean water, and was almost tempted to jump in. However, as they were almost at their destination, that would cause much more trouble than would be worth it. The peaceful sight got to him, and his mind began to drift._

_"_ _Meta, are you listening?" Rhiennan asked, catching the far away tone in her brother's voice._

_"_ _What? Oh, yeah, I'm listening," he said quickly, snapping back to reality._

_"_ _No he wasn't," Minney giggled, leaning back from the seat in front of them. "He was off in the oceans, weren't you?"_

_"_ _What are you talking about?" he responded, giving a small smirk at his younger sibling. "I always have laser sharp focus."_

_"_ _Until there's something better to think about," his fourth sister, Kasailee, said smiling. "Especially if it has to do with the war."_

_"_ _So what were you thinking about this time?" Alivea asked, curiosity clear in her voice._

_"_ _Well, you were kind of right," he commented, giving his sisters a small grin. "I was thinking about the war." He gazed over the horizon once more. "This world is just so beautiful. It makes me sick to think that Nightmare could want to destroy a place like this."_

_Any further conversation was cut off by a loud call. "[Ahoy! Welcome Naito family!]" The kids turned and realized that they had reached their destination. A white furred lady Boxin was standing on the shore waving, and there were a lot of smaller Boxins around her._

_Once they made shore, the woman greeted them. "[Hebi! Rosalyn! It's been far too long!]" She grinned brightly at the collection of young ones dismounting the boats. "[You must be the children. I'm your Aunt Lilana. I'm so pleased to meet you!]"_

_Meta, being the eldest, stepped forward and held out his paw. "[My name is Meta, and these are my sisters. Thank you for inviting us, ma'am.]"_

_Much to his surprise, she didn't shake his paw. Instead, she pulled him into a hug. "[There's no need for the formalities, youngster,]" she said grinning. She released the surprised youngster and motioned over to a simple house nearby. "[You can all get comfortable. Children, come over and see your cousins!]"_

_After this, the adults went over and began talking among themselves. Seeing that all of his cousins were his sisters' age or younger, Meta had resigned himself to just being the babysitter that night. However, the kids seemed to have other plans in store._

_One of them, a small boy with sandy colored fur named Natien, looked at him intently. "[Are you really our cousin?]" he asked, disbelief in his voice._

_"_ _[Yes, I am,]" Meta answered. "[Why do you ask?]"_

_"_ _['Cause you don't really look like us,]" was the response. "[You look more like Lynette.]"_

_"_ _['Cept he's blue,]" another little boy, Jerin, added._

_"_ _[An' older,]" a girl cousin, Jessilee, chirped in._

_"_ _[An' a boy!]" the youngest of the cousins, a girl named Iliah, called out._

_Meta chuckled. "[And who is Lynette?]"_

_"_ _[She's our friend,]" Natien answered. "[You'll get to meet her tomorrow. So, how do you know you're our cousin?]"_

_Before he could answer, Alivea stepped in. "[Meta was 'dopted,]" she said quickly. "[That means that Momma and Papa found him when he didn't have any parents and took him home.]"_

_"_ _[Ohhh!]" the younger children said, amazement in their eyes._

_"_ _[Can you swim?]" Jessilee asked, toddling over to him. "['Cause we go swimming all the time!]"_

_"_ _[Yes, I can swim,]" he answered, chuckling at the abruptness of the question. "[However, I think it's a little late for a swim, isn't it.]"_

_"_ _[Well,]" Jerin said, still looking curiously up at Meta, "[what else can you do?]"_

_Before he could answer, Rhiennan chirped in. "[Meta tells really good stories!]"_

_"_ _[Really? Please tell us a story!]"_

_"_ _[Yeah! A story! A story!]"_

_"_ _[Pllleeaase!]"_

_The Puffal laughed at the enthusiasm in the young Boxin. "[Alright, I'll tell a story.]" He paused to wait for the cheering to die down. "[Now, what story should I tell?]"_

_"_ _[Oh! Oh!]" Minney called out, raising her paw high. "[Tell the one about Kirby, the Hero of Popopo!]"_

_"_ _[I'll tell that one, but everyone's going to need to be quiet.]" Eight little ones immediately became stone silent, looking up eagerly for the story to begin._

_"_ _[Well, this story begins on a planet far away from here, called Popopo. It takes place long ago, when this world was brand new, and all the Puffals who lived there only came in shades of grey and white. During this time, the Puffals were still all ruled over by the chieftain, Tinkuru Popo. This came after the Great Disaster, and while the Puffals were safe with their new abilities, they still struggled with many enemies.]"_

_"_ _[It was during this time that one of Tinkuru Popo's sons was hatched. This child was notably different from all other Puffals in one major area: he was pink. The idea of a Puffal having color at this time was nearly unthinkable, and many Puffals were uncertain of what to think of the baby. His father, however, was proud of his son's strange appearance, and made it clear that the little one was to be accepted.]"_

_"_ _[The child, who was given the name Kirby, continued to be different as he grew older. He was notably quieter than most young ones his age. He still ran and hunted with the other boys, but he was often treated badly because of his odd coloring. As a result, he would usually spend his time observing and studying the plants of that world. As he grew older, he devoted more and more time to cultivating and tending to a Pep Berry grove he had planted. All in all, a good amount of the young Puffal's time was spent alone and in the quiet, and he rather enjoyed this.]"_

_"_ _[However, all was not well in the forests of Popopo. Recently, a new terror had arisen and begun striking out to destroy the Puffal colony. It was a wicked ghost by the name of Tedhaun. Tedhaun was a vile and cruel creature, enjoying nothing more that creeping up on little ones and stealing them away to his lair, never to be seen again. He could steal away as many children as he wanted at a time, and there would be nothing that could be done about it.]"_

_"_ _[One night, Tedhaun attacked the Puffal tribe, stealing every pup that he could find. When their families awakened the next morning, there was a great cry of anguish and dismay. Not a single pup was left in their beds! All the families of the tribe came together, fearful that they would never see any of their children ever again.]"_

_"_ _[Kirby, however, as determined that hope had not been lost. He bravely set out to find the lair of the ghost Tedhaun. It took a lot of hard work and struggle, and there were times when he thought he wouldn't make it, but finally, the young prince succeeded in finding the dark cave that was the fiendish ghost's lair.]"_

_"_ _['Tedhaun!' he cried out in a fierce voice, 'come out and face me!']"_

_"_ _[It did not take long to receive a response. 'Who is it that challenges the great and terrible Tedhaun?' the ghost asked, flying out of the cave.]"_

_"_ _['It is I, Kirby, the son of Tinkuru Popo, who challenges you!' the pink Puffal answered bravely. 'You have stolen the children of my people, and I have come to reclaim them!']"_

_"_ _[Now, Tedhaun had no power to take adult creatures by force, and thus had no intention of handing the children over to the prince. However, he didn't fear Kirby, either, and supposed he would have fun with the Puffal. Furthermore, he saw a way of keeping the young prince his captive, and such a prize was irresistible to the ghost. So he said, 'I shall make an agreement with you. Face me in combat. If you win, I will return the children to you. If you fail, the children may still return, but in exchange, you must stay as my slave for all your life.' He said this for he knew that he could easily steal the children away again.]"_

_"_ _['I agree to your challenge!' Kirby responded boldly and he rushed to face the ghost. They two fought for a long time, but the prince was unable to receive any advantage over his opponent. Finally, Tedhaun struck, causing a wound that would kill Kirby on the mortal plain.]"_

_"_ _['You have lost,' the ghost declared triumphantly. 'Now you will remain my slave forever!']"_

_"_ _[Kirby bowed his head, knowing he had been defeated. He waited to be taken from the sunlit lands for good.]"_

_"_ _[However, before the monster could take his prize, a great light shown out. It was the Grand Nova himself, interceding on the behalf of young Kirby. 'Tedhaun, I have observed everything that has gone on," Nova said fiercely. 'For too long you have menaced innocent creature. The brave young one has stood up to you, and was willing to sacrifice his freedom for the good of his people. Because of this, I make this decree. From now on, you will be confined to your own dark kingdom, never again to bother the people of the surface!' When he had said this, a bright light shown, and the ghost was force back into his own dark world, never to emerge again.]"_

_"_ _[Once that was done, Nova turned to Kirby. 'As for you, young prince, your courage has saved your people. Look up.' The Puffal obeyed and saw to his delight that all of the children had been returned to their rightful homes.]"_

_"_ _['Now, I am afraid there is a problem for you,' the great watcher continued. 'You may never return home.]"_

_"_ _['Why can I not?' the young one asked, distress in his voice.]"_

_"_ _['It is your wound,' was the answer. 'The moment you step foot in the mortal realm, you would die. I can offer you two options, though.']"_

_"_ _['Yes?']"_

_"_ _['You may pass on, and move on to the Land of Unending Sunlight. You will be at peace there, and no trouble will ever touch you. However, if you wish to continue aiding your people, you may work as a defender of your kind, and bring them to the Land of Unending Sunlight when it is their time.']"_

_"_ _[Kirby agreed to take on the role of the guardian of his people, and thus he began to attend to Puffals, who claim to have seen him either preparing to take them after death, or to protect them, especially with children.]"_

_"_ _[Furthermore, the Pep Berries that he had attended in his life began sprouting everywhere, and their color and taste was better than anywhere else. Upon eating them, the Puffals soon found that their children began to be born with color, and to this day forwards, all Puffals are brightly colored, though no other pink Puffal has ever been seen.]"_

_"_ _[The end,] Meta finished, and there was a cheering among his audience._

_"_ _[That was really good!]"_

_"_ _[Oh, tell us another!]"_

_"_ _[Another! Another!]"_

_However, a different cry broke through and interrupted any further story telling. "[Children! Time for supper!]"_

_Eagerly, the kids rushed up to the house to join in the meal time. Meta followed behind at a slower pace, the story he had just told still somewhat clinging to him. Sometimes he wondered if these old fables were true, or if they were just made up. Well, both way, they taught their lessons of courage and goodness, and thus he would keep telling them._

To be continued…


	31. Transformation Trauma, Part Two

Wanting to figure out some way to fix King Dedede's problem quickly, Escargoon and Magolor charged into the palace searching for Marx. Thankfully, it did not take too long to find the jester, who had been finishing up the last details on a project of his own. "Hey, Marx! We've got a bone to pick with you!"

The sorcerer turned, surprised by their sudden appearance but unconcerned with their apparent anger. "Oh, hello, you two," he said casually, as if trying to shrug them off. "If you don't mind, I am rather busy at the moment. If you would like, I can address whatever issue it is you are having later."

"This can't wait for later, bub," Magolor growled. "What did you have to do with those weird berries that turned King Dedede into a fish?"

"I beg your pardon?" Now, this really did surprise Marx. He had played his hand in all sorts of strange and unnatural experimentation, but in this case he really had not played any role.

However, the others weren't buying it. "Don't play dumb," Escargoon said shortly. "Every time something strange happens with the King, you seem to be behind it. The Walkies, those strange vines from last week, and now this fish thing! Now, speak up!"

Marx shrugged. "Honestly, I could claim the same thing about you. Remember that 'monster' you two built?" He turned his back as if still moving on. "I really do not have any idea what you are talking about."

"Then what are these?" Magolor asked, shoving a large handful of the berries into the jester's face.

Casually picking one up, Marx examined it closely. "Well, it looks to be some sort of fruit, probably distantly related to a blackberry. I really don't know what you are accusing me of. Being a serial horticulturalist, perhaps?"

"Yeah, well, if you're so certain it's safe," the snail responded darkly, "why don't you eat one?"

By now, Marx did suspect something was going on, even if he was not the one at fault for it. As such, he had no intention of risking himself with whatever this strange fruit was. However, he did see a flash of pink, which gave him an idea.

"Well, as you see, gentlemen, I have already eaten my breakfast and am not very hungry. However, I do see someone who might enjoy this gift." He turned rapidly and threw the fruit. "Hey, Kirby! Catch!"

The little Puffal, who had been wandering the halls of the palace searching for Meta Knight, only had a brief time to react to the call. However, once he had turned, he spotted the fruit sailing through the air and eagerly jumped up, catching it in his mouth. He swallowed it quickly, grinning brightly. "T'ank yew!" he called back, waving, before eagerly running back to his search.

"Well," Marx said simply after the little Puffal walked away, it appears that your worry over this issue has been entirely unfounded. As you can see, nothing has happened to young Kirby there."

Suddenly, there was a cry from down the hall. "He'p! He'p Kaabii!"

The three men responded quickly, rushing to see what had happened to the little Star Warrior. However, once they made it there, there was no Puffal to be seen. Instead, a little bright pink and red dolphin was lying on the ground. "He'p!" the little creature cried. "Kaabii stuck!"

"Is this nothing!?" Magolor snapped motioning to the dolphin Kirby.

"Huh, fascinating," Marx said, examining the struggling youngster. "It appears that the berries have the ability to transform whoever eats it into some sort of marine life."

"That's what we were saying!" the other two yelled in frustration.

"Ah, well, calm down, calm down," the jester said, straightening his hat, which had been knocked askew. "As I said before, I have had no hand with these berries, and I have no idea how to fix this problem. However, I do have an idea about who might know. Why don't you find some way to get Sir Meta Knight to figure a way out? He's well-traveled, and might just have an idea about how to fix your little problem."

"Well, that could work," Escargoon commented, "except he doesn't exactly know about us."

"Well, then find a way to make it worth his while." The jester motioned to Kirby, who was still struggling to move with his new dolphin body. "Perhaps if his young students were suddenly afflicted he would certainly get to work on developing a cure. You already have one right here."

As the two specialists looked at him in consideration, Marx turned to go. "Now, if you excuse me, I have work that I must attend to."

"You know, that's not too bad an idea," Magolor said after a moment's thought. "If we got those Sword and Blade guys to transform, then Meta Knight would have to try to find some way to change them back."

"Then it decided," Escargoon commented, handing his berries to the Halcandrian. "You go figure out some way to get those guys to eat these."

"And what are you going to do?" Magolor asked suspiciously.

"Go get him in the water before he dries out," Escargoon responded, picking up the still struggling Kirby. "Sir Meta Knight's going to be fuming when he finds out just what happened. Better to make sure things are worse in the long run."

Magolor wanted to argue, but had to admit there was sense in what was said. "Alright, but you'd better be back to help me plant the evidence. I don't want to get caught with this." The two of them nodded in agreement and headed off to fulfill their plans.

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_"_ _[Alright, son, you're doing well,]" Heavy Knight said as he worked on training young Meta. "[Just keep your paws up, that's right!]"_

_They were currently standing in the middle of a boxing ring which was located within the Star Warrior's base on Aqua Star. Boxing was a sport near and dear to the heart of the Boxin culture, especially in the traditional Boxin style, and Heavy Knight had decided that the trip back to his old home town was the perfect time to begin training his son in the ancient tradition._

_Boxin boxing is a specific style of fighting, with more of an emphasis of knocking your opponent out of the ring rather than knocking him out. As this was the case, little Meta would be at a disadvantage, but he seemed to be very good at compensating for his extremely low size and weight._

_Nearby, several youngsters watched as the practice went on. They were mostly Meta's younger sisters and cousins, but some other children had joined up with their group. One of them was the young Lynette, a little white Puffal who was a little bit younger than Meta, but slightly older than his sisters. She had struck up a quick friendship with Kasailee, as both of them were in training to be doctors rather than warriors. However, the moment she spotted Meta, she couldn't take her eyes off him._

_Not that he noticed, of course. He had more important things to focus on than a little girl's crush._

_"[_ _That's it,]" Heavy Knight congratulated as the young Puffal succeeded at pulling a difficult maneuver. "[Keep out of your opponent's reach and use their size against them.]" The teen nodded, ducking quickly and moving around to the side, throwing a few punches as he moved._

_However, a loud ruckus came from outside, breaking his concentration. "[What's that?]" he asked, stopping for a moment to try to peer out of the door. This proved to be a fatal mistake, as this gave his master the opportunity to catch up to him and easily knock him out of the ring._

_"_ _[You were almost there,]" Heavy commented as he himself exited the ring. "[You just need to keep focus on the task at hand. Distractions will always be in abundance, so you need to be able to pick out the stimuli that are important out of the stimuli that are not.]"_

_Meta nodded bowing respectfully, as it is supposed to be done when a match is finished. However, by now, whatever it was that was making such a commotion was growing louder and becoming much harder to ignore. What was being said, however, was much more worrying than the volume._

_"_ _[What should these Nonboxshuri troublemakers, these 'Star Warriors,' do?]" one voice declared loudly._

_"_ _[Go away!]" a crowd responded._

_"_ _[When should they leave?]" another voice added._

_Once again, the crowd responded. "[Now!]"_

_Hearing these cries, Heavy Knight went out to see what the trouble was, followed closely by Meta. Outside, it was chaos, as a group of Boxin had congregated outside in the streets, calling out in protest. They seemed to be led by two Boxins who were standing at the head of the crowd. They stood out because they were both wearing masks in the shape of Galbos. One mask was red and had the mouth formed into a smile, while the other was blue and frowning. Other than this, the two seemed to be indistinguishable._

_"_ _[These creatures have no business here!]" the first one, who was the one in the red mask, went on. "[They hold no respect for the Boxshuri way, interloping in matters that they have no affair in!]"_

_"_ _[And what is their excuse for it?]" his brother added. "[Why, that some boogieman name Nightmare will come to get us if they leave. I'll bet this Nightmare doesn't even exist, and they are using this to intrude on the grand workings of the Boxin people!]" The crowd erupted into cries of angered agreement._

_Heavy Knight shook his head. He had heard foolish people like this before. Some of them were honest, believing that they were doing their planets some amount of good, but more often than not, they were just attention hogs eager to grab the spotlight. He was prepared to turn and just ignore the protest._

_Meta, however, was not as eager to let these cries go unanswered. "[That's a lie!]" the teen called hotly, pushing into the crowd. "Nightmare is real, and he wishes to destroy us all! We must fight back!]"_

_The two ringleaders took notice of him when he called out. "[Ah, so one of the outsiders wishes to defend himself]!" the blue masked one called out. "[So, if you so knowledgeable, what proof do you have of this 'Nightmare'?]"_

_The young one scowled, prepared to launch into an argument, but froze when he felt a paw on his shoulder. "[Not now,]" Heavy Knight said, pulling his son back. "[These riff raff aren't worth it.]"_

_"_ _[Ah, so the traitor dares to call us riff raff!] The masked Boxin did not seem to want to let this go. "[And who are you, sir, to make this judgement?]"_

_"_ _[I could ask you the same question,]" the older warrior responded._

_"_ _[You ask who we are?]" the red masked one said with a flourish. "[Very well, we will tell you! I am Thalio, and this is my brother, Melpo, thespians extraordinaire!]"_

_"_ _[And the voice of the Boxshuri!]" Melpo added, just as dramatic as his brother._

_"_ _[We are leading a protest against the invasive influence that is the Star Warriors,]" Thalio continued. "[We will not stop our efforts to expunge this plague from the planet of Aqua Star until we no longer have to listen to outside influences.]"_

_"_ _[And when Nightmare comes?]" Meta asked quickly._

_"_ _[As we have pointed out before,]" Melpo responded, "[You have no proof he exists, other than the claim that he has corrupted other worlds.]"_

_"_ _[And even if there is an individual known as Nightmare who has corrupted worlds, what is it to us? We Boxin have no stock with other races,]" Thalio said, picking up from his brother._

_Meta's was quickly becoming more and more frustrated. He would have liked to continue the argument, but once again, his father pulled him back. "[Not now. It isn't worth it.]" In obedience, the youngster turned and left._

_Behind him, he could hear the troublemakers continuing. "[See how they flee from us! They know we hold the superior facts and do not wish to face us!]" Inwardly, Meta growled. There was something about those two, something familiar and rather ugly, that he didn't like. He would leave now, but he intended to look into those two later. He'd figure out just what their game was._

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It had been a harder morning of training than Meta Knight had first supposed it was going to be. Even though he didn't have any training with Kirby this morning, he had still gone out with Sword and Blade, who were still only knaves themselves. The duo was very skilled with their weaponry, but sometimes they would grow cocky, which would make training difficult. Thus, upon arriving back at his room, he was prepared to just relax, at least until his knaves returned from the weapon cleaning they had to do.

He had eagerly crawled into his hammock to take some well-deserved rest. However, he had not closed his eyes for five minutes when there came a knock at the door. He really wanted to ignore the knock, but whoever was there was extremely persistent. Finally, just to get some peace and quiet, the warrior got up and answered the door.

Standing outside was a single Waddle Dee. The creature was holding a plate containing a single item on it. Once the Star Warrior had opened the door, the little creature immediately handed the plate up to him.

Not quite certain how to respond, Meta Knight thanked the little servant. The Dee nodded quickly before going off to receive other orders.

Now that he was alone, he gave a closure examination to just what had been brought to him. It appeared to be a tart of some sort, with a chocolate filling and garnished with a types of berry, a blackberry perhaps.

Meta Knight had no idea why it had been sent to him. However, and under other circumstances he might have just dismissed it. However, he was still a Puffal, and chocolate was a bit of a weakness to him. As a result, he ate the treat, quickly gulping it down in a way that would not be unfamiliar to Kirby. Once he had finished it, he then turned to go back to his nap.

However, sleep would continue to evade him as sharp pains came in wave after wave. He gripped tightly to the sheets, not sure what was going on but desperately wishing that the sensation would end.

As he went through the pain, it hit him where this was coming from. The tart! It must have been poisoned! He should have known better than to take something when he didn't know where it had come from.

However, the pain ended nearly as soon as it began. It faded away, leaving him disoriented and rather dizzy. Once the awful sensation left, he began to notice that his mask felt especially loose. He tried to raise a paw to adjust it, but found that he no longer had a paw! Instead, it had been changed into a flipper!

In panic, he realized that he had been transformed into some sort of dolphin. The warrior struggled to figure out some way to reach help, but it soon became very clear that as long as he was in this form on the land, there would be no way that he could contact anyone. He was going to have to wait for someone to find him.

Once he had calmed down, frustration replaced panic. Well, this was going to be a rather long morning. He might as well try to fit his nap in now.

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_That night, Meta sat awake under his blankets. Something was off about those two protestors that morning, he knew it. It wasn't just that they were riff raff and troublemakers. The teen Puffal had seen enough of those in his life, so that wasn't what was worrying him. No, there was something in those two that was frighteningly familiar. It was like there was something in them that he had felt before and never wanted to feel again._

_When they had returned that evening, Heavy Knight had explained what had gone down with those two. As it turned out, Uncle Tieron and Aunt Lilana already knew about those two. They were a set of scoundrels, known in this area as the Galbo Brothers because of those weird masks they wore. Even before the war had started up, they loved to attract attention to themselves by arranging for shocking and obscene performances. Once the Star Warriors had arrived, however, they soon decided that it would be better to try to get attention by openly protesting against the fighters and trying to arrange riots. Most of these could be rather easily contained, but they were becoming more and more harmful with every attempt._

_Meta tossed and turned, trying to think of something that he could do. He was not quite sure how to voice his worries, but he knew something was worse than even what was known. He'd have to find proof, though._

_As he could not sleep, he got up to get himself a glass of water. Moving quietly, so as not to wake up his sisters, he crept out of the room to go down for his drink. Once he had finished, he moved quietly back to the bedroom, expecting several hours more of sleepless turning._

_That was when he saw them. Outside of the window, he saw moving figures. Since they were in the main base of the Star Warriors on Aqua Star, there was no chance that these were just people taking a nighttime stroll. They wouldn't be guards, either, as the guards only came around every fifteen minutes, and Meta had heard them when he first got up._

_Moving to the window, he peered outside to see what was going on and was rewarded for his efforts. Just outside were the figures of two Boxin. This wouldn't have meant anything, but even in the dark, their distinctive masks could clearly be detected. It was them. The Galbo Brothers._

_Meta moved quickly, putting on his sword belt with his long sword, as he realized that his opportunity to obtain proof had come. They were sneaking around the Star Warrior base, which could only mean that they were up to something. If he could find out just what that something was, then they could be arrested and brought in._

_He was about to move out when he heard a soft voice. "Meta, where are you going?"_

_The teen froze for a moment, as hearing the words spoken in Common Tongue rather than Boxin had startled him. However, he soon realized that it was only Alivea, who had probably been woken up by his sudden movement._

_"_ _It those creeps from this morning," he responded as quietly as he could. "They are sneaking around the base, and I'm going to see what their up to."_

_"_ _Ohh! Take me with you!" the young girl declared. She quickly snatched up her own recently acquired weapons, a dirk and a belt of throwing knives._

_Meta shook his head in response. "Better not. You still are practicing with those, and this could be dangerous. Besides," he hopped up to the windowsill, "you can't float down like I can."_

_"_ _Alright," his younger sister said, conceding. "Just be careful."_

_"_ _When am I not?" he laughed, before heading out on his mission._

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Dedede had been waiting none too patiently for the two specialists to arrive ever since they had left. As a result, he had spent a good portion of the morning complaining about just about everything he could.

Eventually, even the ever enduring Bandana Dee felt his patience wearing thin, and had offered to attempt to collect the items that had been left behind at the sight of the berry bush. The Pengu whale had to admit that that sounded like a good idea, so the Waddle Dee pufferfish hurried away.

However, this meant that Dedede was now bored and lonely, meaning he was not in a very good mood by the time Escargoon arrived, bringing something pink and wriggling with him.

"Well, it's about time you got back," the so called king snapped. "Have you found out anything useful about those berries?"

"Other than it affects different individuals in different ways," the snail retorted, "we're still at a loss of anything to do." With that, he dropped the little bundle into the river. It was now that Dedede realized who it was.

"Kirby!" the Pengu whale declared in shock.

Hearing his name and mistaking it for a greeting, the little Puffal dolphin eagerly waved. "Hiiii, Dededededede! You eat a fis' bewwy, too?"

"Why the heck did you bring him here?" Dedede asked sharply, completely ignoring Kirby's greeting.

"We didn't have much of a choice," Escargoon responded, holding up his hands in a defensive stance. "While we were interrogating Marx, we let him have one of the samples to give it a closer look. However, the minute he took it, he turned around and fed it to Kirby. We couldn't just leave the kid stranded in the middle of the hallway."

"I guess not," the Pengu snorted. "Where's Magolor? He'd better be figuring a way out of this."

"Oh, he is," the scientist responded. "We're going to try to get a cure from Meta Knight. He'll probably know how to fix this. I'd better go see if I can't help." He then turned to go head back up into the palace.

"Just hurry it up!" Dedede snapped and went back to his brooding.

While this conversation was going on, Kirby had lost interest in what the grownups were saying. Instead, now realizing that he could move around freely again, the tot had taken to swimming around and exploring the river bed. Everything was so interesting, and now he could take a closer look at everything on his own. This was all so exciting.

As he explored, he soon realized that the river was flowing down towards the sea. Why, the sea was where Kine and Chuchu lived. If he followed the flow of the water, he could quiet easily go down and visit his friends. Wouldn't they be surprised to see him!

"Dedededededede," Kirby said, nudging the Pengu whale. "Kaabii wanna go see Kine and Chuchu. T'at 'kay?"

Dedede was not really paying attention to what was said, and was eager to send the little Puffal dolphin away. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," he said without even turning to the youngster.

"Dededededededede wanna come?" Kirby asked, not quite sure why his friend was being so short tempered.

"Just head out and leave me alone!" Dedede snapped.

Kirby was taken aback by this for a moment, but he soon recovered. "A'ight. Bye-bye!" He quickly waved before turning to swim off. Even the bad tempered Dedede wouldn't dampen the little one's spirits. He was off to have a grand adventure.

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_Meta moved as quietly as he could, doing his best to make certain that his targets would not detect him. They had left the Star Warrior base and began heading out around to a less populated area. The teen assumed that they would be heading out to their base to discuss some new plan of action, and quickened his pace to follow them._

_However, the longer they were on the move, the more the knave grew unassured of their destination. Indeed, the area where they finally stopped was rather devoid of anything useful. It seemed as if they had merely come out to a remote area just to be in a remote area._

_Once they had stopped, the two masked troublemakers paused and began whispering among themselves. Meta tried to creep closer to listen in, but their voices were too low for him to understand what was being said._

_Their conversation ended quickly, with Melpo nodding and heading off in another direction. Thalio began to set something up on the beach side. The young warrior gripped his sword tight in one paw, trying to get closer so he could have a clearer picture of what was happening. He didn't want to have a confrontation if it was avoidable, but he had no fear of facing these two if need be._

_Before he had gone too far, however, Thalio called out. "[Well, it seems as if you couldn't keep well enough alone, could you, Nonboxshuri?]"_

_Realizing that he had already been detected, Meta came out of the shadows. "[I know you are up to something,]" he said darkly, "[and I'm not about to let you hurt anyone.]"_

_His opponent laughed. "[So, you're a meddler, I see. You are one of those people who can't stay out of anyone else's business. Well, that really shouldn't be a surprise. Nightmare warned us that your family was going to be a problem.]"_

_Hearing this, the young knave whipped his sword from its sheath. "[So you are in league with Nightmare!]"_

_The red masked Galbo Brother laughed. "[Yes, you Naitos just have trouble written into your blood. In particular, that father of yours holds the reputation for being one of the few warriors to actually land a blow on the Emperor of the Spreading Darkness himself. Nightmare hasn't let that go, so he told up to return the favor to Sir Hebinaito.]"_

_"_ _[You will not come anywhere near my father!]" the teen growled, preparing to battle._

_"_ _[Oh, don't worry. We don't intend on doing anything to Sir Heavy Knight,]" Thalio laughed, a conniving grin on his face._

_Meta scowled darkly, trying to make sense out of what that meant. However, he was suddenly dealt a blow from behind, causing him to lose his footing and drop his sword. Quickly, both of the Galbo Brothers jumped forwards, catching the teen in a burlap sack and tying it closed._

_"_ _[As I said,]" he heard his captor say, "[we have no intention of attacking Heavy Knight directly. Though his only son, however? Well, that is another matter entirely.]" The knave suddenly understood what was being said, and he deeply regretted his rash actions. However, it was too late for regret to do any good, and all he could do was wait from within his prison and hope that whatever plan was in store would be defeated._

To be continued…


	32. Transformation Trauma, Part Three

"Is that him?"

"Of course it's him! He clearly ate the berries, so who else could it be?"

"I just mean which on is it? We don't know what Sword or Blade would look like transformed, so it could be either of them."

"Huh, I don't know. I guess we'll find out soon enough."

The peace and quiet of slumber was broken in just about the rudest of ways possible. One moment, he had been sound asleep and the next someone jumped him and began manhandling him. This was just about more than Meta Knight could bear.

His mask had been totally knocked off by now, so he couldn't see who his assailants were, but their voices soon gave them away.

"Hold him down!" Magolor cried out as he tried to grasp a hold of the struggling Meta Knight's tail. "He's moving too much for me to get a hold!"

"Easy for you to say!" Escargoon responded. "You aren't trying to grab the end that can bite!"

Meta Knight wanted to say something, but he mouth was being held shut by the scientist, who was not eager to be bitten.

It seemed that the room could not become more panicked, but then two more voices joined in on the fray.

"Sir Meta Knight, we-who the heck are you two and what the heck are you doing!" Sword exclaimed as he walked in on the strange sight.

"Is that Sir Meta Knight!?" Blade asked, rushing in after his brother. The two of them had just finished with their chores and they were going to receive their next orders. However, seeing two strange people they had never seen before in their lives wrestling with a marine mammal that closely resembled their master was the last thing they expected to see.

Magolor and Escargoon paused in shock. They had been convinced that the creature that they were currently wrestling with was either Sword or Blade, but now that the two knaves were standing here, clearly in their own form, the discrepancy hit them.

"Wait a minute," Magolor said in shock, "if you both are here, than who is this?"

Nervously, Escargoon released the dolphin's mouth. It did not take long to receive an answer. "What do you two think you are doing?!" Meta Knight snapped angrily. "You leave a trap to transform me and abduct me against my will!"

Hearing their master's voice, Sword and Blade rushed over to where he lay. "Sir Meta Knight, what's going on?" Sword asked as he and his brother assisted the veteran into a more comfortable position.

"I was given a dessert that appears to have been some sort of trap," the Puffal dolphin explained, he was still very ticked over what had happened, but he was doing his best to keep a cool head. "After the transformation occurred, these two here jumped me and attempted to take me against my will!"

"Hey, we weren't trying to get you," Escargoon said quickly. "We were trying to get one of these two here so we could get the cure from you!"

There was a tense moment of quiet as Sword and Blade look in shock at the blatant admittance that they had been the intended kidnapping targets. Meta Knight's eyes turned from milky white to blood red as he spoke. "You have ten seconds to explain yourselves," he said darkly.

Without waiting another minute, both scientist and wizard began quickly doing their best to explain what had happened with Dedede and Bandana Dee, how they needed to find a cure for this condition, and the recommendation Marx had given. They did, however, conveniently leave out how Kirby had been transformed as well.

Meta Knight sighed, deeply wishing he had a hand to face palm into. "Did it never dawn on you to simply ask for help? I would not have refused."

"Well, you didn't know about us then, and we weren't about to do introductions," Magolor explained.

"Who said I didn't know about you?" Meta Knight said quickly. "I've been keeping tabs on you ever since you arrived here. After all, one wants to keep an eye on two of the most skilled wanted men in the Galaxy."

Before the duo could give voice to their shock, the veteran continued. "I will still help with this predicament. Lead us out to where the king is and I will see what I will do. Hopefully this has not gotten to the point where it cannot be mended."

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_The next morning dawned in a state of panic for the Naito family. When everyone had woken up, it was found that Meta was gone and could not be located. Furthermore, his sword had also been taken, and there was no sign as to what had gone on in the night. When questioned about it, Alivea was hesitant to give away her brother's nighttime leaving, but upon learning that he hadn't returned and there was no trace of him, she quickly told them what had gone on that night._

_The story, though it told them how Meta had gone missing, still did not help to ease the nerves of his worried parents. So the young boy had gone off on his own to follow a lead he had no proof would go anywhere, following two people who may or may not be dangerous. Upon learning this information, every available warrior had armored up and went out to find where the stray knave had gotten to._

_It was on one of these searches that Heavy Knight was currently on. The anguish of a father dug into him, as concern for his son's well-being mingled with anger at him for doing something so foolish. He could only hope that the youngster was not in trouble for the time being, because as soon as he was found, he would be in much more than he could ever imagine._

_As this was running through the Boxin warrior's mind, he was approached by two individuals. It did not take long for him to identify them as those two troublemakers from the other day, the Galbo Brothers. He was in no mood for any hassling, so he continued on, trying to ignore them._

_Much to his disappointment, however, it seemed that they were quite determined to catch up to him. He said nothing, hoping they would move on and leave him to search for his son, but there was no such luck._

_"_ _[Halloa, Star Warrior,]" the one with the red mask called out. "[Come here for a moment. We have something to tell you about.]"_

_Heavy Knight continued in what he was doing. "[I'm afraid I'm rather busy at the moment,]" he said, doing his best to keep his tone calm and level. "[This holds importance right now, so please go bother someone else.]"_

_"_ _[This important business wouldn't happen to do with the whereabouts of your son, the young blue fellow, now would it?]" the blue masked one asked. "[If it does, I'm afraid we have some dire news.]"_

_The soldier spun around quickly. "[What do you know of my son?]"_

_The red one took off his mask and pulled something out of a bag by his side. "[I'm afraid that the young lad is no more.]" He held out an item for Heavy Knight to see, which the warrior took quickly. It was Meta's longsword._

_"_ _[We were out enjoying the nighttime air,]" the blue one said, removing his own mask, "[when we met the youngster on the road. He had been certain that he had seen some monsters around the area and was scouting out to deal with the vile beasts.]_

_"_ _[Well, my good brother and I knew that it could be dangerous to go about if you did not know this area well, so we warned him to go home soon, but he wouldn't listen to us. He just went on ahead, so we stopped trying to warn him and went on our way.]_

_"_ _[Not long, after, however, we heard him cry out, and there was a lot of noise that sounded like a fight. We rushed ahead to find out just what was going on, but we were too late. The young one had already been killed by a wild Gaw-Gaw. As the beast had already made the kill, there was nothing we could do, but we came back several hours later, and all was gone of the boy but his weapon.]"_

_"_ _[We are quite sorry about all that happened,]" the red one said, picking up where his brother left off. "[I know we haven't been on quite good terms, but know we are sorry for the boy's death.]"_

_"_ _[Yes, thank you,]" Heavy Knight said. He was in a state of shock. A part of him didn't want to believe this story, but he had lived on Aqua Star for too long to totally believe that hope. Gaw-Gaws, though shy, could be incredibly dangerous, and if one was caught alone with an angry one, death was almost inevitable. He clutched the sword close before turning to bring back the news._

_As he left to head back to the base, the Galbo Brother's silently smirked to each other in congratulations. The old fool had bought it. It wouldn't take long now. Nightmare would surely reward them for their clever scheme._

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"When are they gonna get here?" Dedede snorted with impatience as he sat by the riverside.

"Please be patient, sire," Bandana Dee responded. He had arrived back a few moments ago and had found out from Dedede about the plan ahead, though he had been left in the dark about what had happened with Kirby. "They'll be here soon, and I'm sure Sir Meta Knight will be able to figure something out.

Inwardly, the Waddle Dee pufferfish was dreading that time. He was a little afraid of the dark clad warrior, even though he knew he was a good person, and was especially anxious since the Star Warrior would likely be in a foul mood, what with his apprentices transformed and all. Bandana inwardly decided to stay as much out of the veteran's way while he was at work.

After a few minutes more of waiting, the patience, or the lack there of, was rewarded. A small group was coming up to the river from the palace. Two of them were clearly Escargoon and Magolor. Behind them was Sword and Blade, who were carrying something between them.

It wasn't until they reached the river that it became very apparent about what had happened. "You transformed Meta Knight?" Dedede snapped. "I thought you said you was gonna get one of his servants so that he could help in finding a cure."

Before the two specialists could answer, Meta Knight stepped in. "Plans often change, your highness. While I question the wisdom of what was made with this plan, I'm afraid the circumstances arose and things had to be changed." The Puffal dolphin moved to a place where he could rest, feeling his way since he still couldn't see without his mask. "Now, explain what has happened."

Between the two of them, Dedede and Bandana Dee told what had happened this morning, about the strange bird fish creatures they had discovered, and how they had been transformed. There wasn't much to know about the story, so it did not take all too long to explain everything.

"So, now that you know what happened to us," Dedede said as their story was finished, "how are we gonna fix this little predicament?"

Meta Knight had closed his eyes, and was thinking about what had been said. "I'm afraid I do not know."

"What!" the Pengu shouted. "How can you not know?! We're in a severe predicament here and you seriously don't know what to do?!"

"I have never run into a situation like this before," the blind warrior replied calmly. "This is a problem, and one that will take more time to solve."

"How much time will it take to get the four of us changed back?!" The moment the words had come out of Dedede's mouth, he regretted it. Meta Knight, his two knaves, and Bandana Dee looked at him in confusion.

"Four of us?" Blade asked confusion in his voice. "I only count three of you."

"Uh, I have to go. I, uh, forgot to go, uh, iron my dog. Bye!" Magolor said, hurrying off.

"Oh, yeah, right, and I have to, uh, go write my mother," Escargoon responded, rushing after him. Neither had any desire to be nearby when the truth came out.

Ignoring the fleeing duo, Meta Knight turned back to Dedede. "Explain what you mean by 'the four of us'."

"Uh, well, just so you know, there was one more person who was changed," the Pengu stuttered out, trying to think of the right words to say. "It was me, and Bandana, and uh, you, and, well…"

"Yes," the warrior said darkly, his eyes turning a bright shade of red. "Go on."

"And, well, Kirby."

"What!" Meta Knight growled. The fact that Kirby had been changed too was bad enough, by the toddler's absence was now more of what was worrying him. "Where is Kirby now!?"

"He, uh, well, said something about wanting to see his friends, what's-his-name the fish and what's-her-face the octopus, and that he was gonna go see them."

"So let me get this straight," Meta Knigth said, anger showing clearly in both eyes and voice, "you not only get a small child transformed and into this predicament, but you also allow him to go, unsupervised I might add, to go search for his friends in a tributary river that belongs to not one, but two different oceans!?"

"Uh, yes?"

"Do you have any idea of what you have done?! [Oh, gosh, how are you even alive!?] Kirby is a child! He has never been in the deeper parts of the ocean, none the less all on his own! Who knows if he'll be able to find his friends! It's more likely that he'll get hopelessly lost! That's not even counting the creatures that live here that might do him harm! [Oh, you stupid, stupid excuse for a pretender!] You might have gotten him killed! Do you even understand that!? [He might be dead!]"

There was a moment of complete silence, broken only by the sound of Bandana Dee puffing up with fear.

Meta Knight sighed before turning to Sword and Blade. "Go to the berry patch and see what you can find out about these plants. I will go and see if I cannot find Kirby." With that, he turned and swam off in the direction of the two oceans.

Dedede and Bandana Dee watched him for a moment before swimming off after him. He might have been furious, but it would probably be best to keep close. The three hurried off, looking for the lost youngster.

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_That night, the four remaining Naito children sat up in their bedroom, unable to sleep. There had been a lot of commotion over Meta's disappearance. The source of the information in regards to the young Puffal's demise pulled the whole matter into question, but many of the adult warriors were still out searching for two reasons: one, if the Galbo Brothers were lying and Meta was still alive, than they might be able to find him somewhere, and two, if it was the truth, than there was a crazed animal out there somewhere that needed to be dealt with._

_As a result, the four squires were pretty much left to themselves that night. "Something's fishy about this whole matter," Rhiennan said after some moments of silence. "Gaw-Gaws are typically shy and try to avoid contact with other creatures."_

_Kasailee nodded in agreement before adjusting her glasses. "Then there's the guys that said that Meta was dead," she added. "It was those weird clown guys from earlier. They were causing trouble earlier. I wouldn't put it past them to have done something to him."_

_"_ _Never trust clowns," Minney added. She had never been fond of clowns and was not afraid to voice her opinion on them. "No one who wants to do any good would ever dress like that."_

_"_ _And Meta went out in the first place to figure out what they were up to." Alivea rubbed her chin, thinking hard. "He said he saw them lurking around the grounds and looked to be up to something, so he would go out and figure out what they were up to."_

_"_ _Maybe they caught him, and they did something bad to him," Rhiennan muttered nervously. She carefully pawed at her weapon, a bright silver bow with blue stones imbedded in the handle, as if waiting for an attack to happen at any minute._

_"_ _All I know," Alivea said, strapping on her knife belt, "is that us sitting here and discussing what happened isn't doing Meta any good." She quickly picked up her dirk and headed towards the window._

_Minney grabbed her sister's shoulder. "Where are you going?"_

_"_ _Where do you think?" was the quick reply. "I'm going out to find out where Meta is. Those clowns clearly aren't trustworthy, which means he probably isn't dead. I want to figure out what really happened to out brother."_

_"_ _I'm going too," Riennan put in, grabbing the quiver that lay nearby._

_Alivea shook her head. "No, I'll go out alone."_

_"_ _Isn't that what Meta said?" Minney responded quickly as she picked up her own weapons, a blaster and arm shield. "Look what happened to him. No, you're going to need all the help that you can get. We're coming too."_

_Kasailee nodded in agreement. As she was training to be a doctor rather than a warrior, she didn't have a specialized weapon, but she did have a small standard issue blaster for self-defense. "Between the four of us, we should be able hand whatever is out there, be it beast or Boxin."_

_"_ _Alright then, but let's hurry," Alivea responded after a moment's hesitation, "but let's do hurry. Meta might be in severe trouble, and if he is, we'll need to make it to him fast." The others responded in clear agreement._

_Rhiennan shot out an arrow with a rope attached and the other end was quickly fastened to the windowsill. Thus, the four young Boxin, moving as swiftly and as silently as they could, hurried off into the shadow covered forest, hoping desperately to find some trace of their missing brother._

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Kirby was enjoying his own little adventure immensely. As he moved down the river he found that the pace of the water somewhat quickened, allowing for him to move faster with less effort. Furthermore, the sights of the riverbed changed the closer it got to the delta.

This delta, called the Dreamland Delta, was rather unique as it was connected to both of the oceans that surrounded the continent where Dreamland was located. If one was facing south, all the water to the east would be the small but turbulent Onion Ocean, and to the west was the vast and more peaceful Orange Ocean. This was an interesting point, as it was the only area where these two bodies of water met, and thus the only area where life from both oceans could be found.

Of course, the little Puffal was completely oblivious to this fact. All he knew was that the closer he got to the beach, the closer he got to finding Kine and Chuchu. Kirby couldn't help but laugh a bit to himself as he swam along. Wouldn't they be astonished to see him? He had never gone to the deeper areas of the ocean before, so they would be surprised to see him have come all that way, and all by himself, too! The little one was feeling quite proud of himself.

As luck would have it, one of his friends happened to be near the delta the moment he arrived there. Chuchu had been resting on a small undersea rock just beyond the river flow, enjoying the sun. This was a pleasant spot, as the cooler waters from the river kept the water from getting too warm, but the distance away meant there wasn't any turbulence to knock her off. As a result, the flapjack octopus was able to get some peaceful sunning time.

Or, at least she thought that she would. "Hiii! Chuchu, hii!" The girl was startled awake by the sound of someone calling out to her. "Chuchu, wook! Kaabii come ta pway!"

"Oh, hello Kirby," she said, initially unsurprised by the toddler's appearance. However, as soon as the word had come out of her mouth, she realized something was wrong. Kirby had never been here before, and even if he had been, Chuchu doubted that he would have been able to talk underwater.

"Kirby?!" She exclaimed, turning to him. This did not help all that much, since his new form only meant that the situation was all the more confusion. "What the heck happened to you!?"

Not noticing her alarm, Kirby grinned brightly. "Kaabii tu'd in ta 'a fish!" he exclaimed happily. "Mr. Snail guy t'en put Kaabii in wa-wa wiv Dededededede, bu' Dededededede din'in wanna pway, so Kaabii go ta wook for yew an' Kine." He glanced around for a few moments after his explanation. "Whe'e Kine?"

Chuchu's mind was racing. Kirby's explanation got a few details out, but most of it was still a jumbled mess in the young octopus' head. All she had gotten was that Kirby had been turned into a dolphin, brought to the river by some sort of snail, and that Dedede was tied to this somehow. She shook her head, still confused by what was said.

Finally, the young octopus girl made up her mind. She'd have to go on land to find help in dealing with whatever had gone down. However, Kirby couldn't come with her, as his new form didn't exactly allow for land mobility.

That was okay. She could leave him with Kine. The sunfish would definitely help them. "Actually, I do know where he is," she said after a while. She then turned and began swimming off in the direction of the Onion Ocean. "We'll just have to find him and tell him what happened, now won't we?"

Kirby nodded eagerly. "We go find Kine!" he exclaimed happily, clapping his fins together and hurrying after his friend. "T'en we pway!"

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_The black shadows cast by the trees were not doing anything to help the mood of the young searchers. As the four young Boxin girls moved through the trees, they huddled close together, not eager to become separated and meet with something nasty alone._

_"_ _Well," Kasailee said after a few moments, "we should probably make our way to the sea shore. After all, the more dangerous things that live on the island are more likely to live in the more jungle like areas. We should have no problem as long as we can see the water."_

_"_ _Alright than," Alivea responded. She had her dirk in one paw and a throwing knife in the other. "So where is the water? We'll follow you."_

_Kasailee strode ahead, looking for any sign that might lead them to a beach. After a moment's thought an examination, she turned back to the way that they had been walking. "We are on an island," she said, still examining the floor, "so it's likely that the beaches will be located on the more worn out pathways. All we have to do is follow the paths that look like they are used a lot, and we should find a beach at one end or the other. Even if we go in the wrong direction, it should lead to a village instead." Seeing no better ideas, the four turned and began looking for a pathway that appeared to be used._

_It took a little while, but after a good amount of searching, the four girls were able to locate what appeared to be a recently used pathway. Without a moment's hesitation, they rushed down the pathway, eager to find any sign of civilization. What they found, however, was not anything near what they needed._

_It was indeed a pathway, but not to the ocean or too the village. Instead, it led to a large cavern, where loud sounds of snoring were coming out of it._

_"_ _[Hello!]" Alivea called out, hoping that whoever was within could help them. "[My sisters and I are looking for the beach. Could you please tell us where we need to go?]"_

_They waited for a few minute, quietly listening for a response. The snoring did indeed stop, but it was not followed by a response. Instead, an uneasy silence covered everything for a short time, followed by the sound of footsteps._

_"_ _Maybe they're going to so us the way?" Minney said hesitantly, a bit of nervousness in her voice._

_It became very apparent when the owner of the cave came out that they would receive no help. "Th-that's a nruff," Kasailee said nervously, pointing to the big creature. "They're wild animals that are known for being very aggressive and highly territorial."_

_The creature pawed at the ground angrily, staring the frightened children down. "Is it going to attack us?" Alivea asked, prepping one of her knives in case it came to fighting._

_The answer came from the animal itself. It charged ahead, aiming its tusks lows. Alivea quickly released one of her knives, but much to the girl's distress, she threw it wrong, and while it struck the pig-like creature on the forehead, it hit on the wrong end and bounced off. Likewise, Minney fired with her blaster, but her fear clouded her aim, and she missed several times._

_The attack attempts failing, the girls then turned to their other option: they fled. Thankfully, the attempts at fighting had done one thing in the children's favor. It had made it so that the nruff wasn't looking where it was going, and the beast charged headlong into a rock. However, that didn't slow it down for long, and it got up again and attacked once more._

_This time, the Naito sisters decided that it would be best for them to just run away. The collision with the boulder allowed them a few moments of a head start, but not enough that they could simply outrun the half crazed creature. Thankfully, however, they were able to make it to an old tree, which they dashed up as quickly as they could._

_This gave them the advantage in that they could now keep themselves above their attacker, but they wouldn't be able to get away. The nruff planted itself at the base of the tree, every now and then bumping it to try to knock the young sisters down. It was all they could do to merely hang on for dear life._

_However, just when it seemed that time was running out for them, something attacked the nruff. They couldn't exactly see what it was, but had rushed in and knocked the nruff aside. The pig-like creature responded in turn, attacking the newcomer head on. They rolled into some nearby foliage and disappeared from sight. There were the sounds of a tussle for a few moments as the two opponents face each other and then all went silent. It was clear that the fight was over._

_Cautiously, the girls crept down from their hiding place to see what had happened. On ground level, the outcome of the fight became very clear. Lying near the base of another tree was the nruff. It cuts and bite-marks lining its body, and it was dead. The other competitor was a big, dark, furry thing that stood over its opponent. It, too, was injured, but not nearly as badly. It turned around and once they realized what it was, the sisters became more frightened than before._

_"_ _It's a Gaw-Gaw," Rhiennan said fearfully. Sure enough, it was a huge Gaw-Gaw with bright red eyes. For some reason, when it turned to look at them, its eyes turned blue. This was a curiosity, but the young archer wasn't risking another attack. She quickly knocked an arrow to her bow. "N-not another step," she warned, though she doubted the creature understood her._

_However, the Gaw-Gaw did something odd. Its eyes flashed green for a moment and it got down and began clawing something in the dirt. It worked quickly, and once it was done it moved away, motioning for the girls to see what it had drawn._

_Alivea turned to the others. "I think it wants us to take a look," she said quietly._

_"_ _Yeah," Minney responded quickly, aiming with her blaster as well, "so it can eat us like it ate poor Meta."_

_Alivea, however, was persistent. "I'm going to take a look at what it is," she said firmly. "You guys can keep aiming, but it's trying to tell us something and I'm going to find out what."_

_The others were clearly nervous about this decision but agreed, keeping their own weapons aimed as she walked forwards. The Gaw-Gaw, for its part, stayed back, as if not wanting to bother trying to face against the weaponry._

_Alivea wasn't sure what she was going to see, but she had a couple of ideas. Maybe it just wanted to make it clear that this was its territory, and that they should leave. Or maybe it wanted to help them get back, and it left a marker to indicate the presence of a village. She certainly wasn't expecting what she saw._

_There, scrawled in the dirt, were the words, "I am Meta."_

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It didn't take long to locate Kine. Those who knew the sunfish were aware that he was a creature of habit, and thus was often found at a couple of local areas, where he would either be relaxing alone or be in the company of one or two friends.

At the moment, he was enjoying as pleasant date with his fiancé, another young sunfish named Mine. The two were well matched, as they both were rather quiet and preferred to relax rather than go out for an adventure. As a result, neither was prepared when Chuchu swam up to them, followed closely by a strange little dolphin.

"There, you are!" the young octopus said quickly to Kine. "We've been looking all over for you! We're having an emergency here!" She then seemed to notice the female sunfish, so she nodded quickly. "Hi, Mine."

"Hello," Mine responded sweetly.

"Chuchu, please calm down," Kine said, responding to the little octopus' urgency. "What happened? What emergency. Who is your friend here?"

"Well, I don't really expect you to believe me, but this is Kirby," she answered, pointing a tentacle at the pink dolphin.

Kirby waved happily in response. "Hiii, Kine! Hiii, Mine!" He turned a quick underwater flip. "Wanna pway?"

The two sunfish could only stare in response, so Chuchu took it upon herself to explain what she knew about the circumstances. Admittedly, that wasn't a lot of information, but at least they would understand it a bit better than if Kirby attempted again.

"So you see," she said as the finished off the tale, "Kirby somehow ended up like this, and we're not really sure how to change him back. I was going to find Meta Knight to see if he can figure something out, but Kirby's not going to be able to come with me in his current state. I was hoping you wouldn't mind keeping an eye on him until we can get help."

By now, Kine had recovered sufficiently from the shock. He nodded quickly after hearing the strange story. "Of course Kirby can stay with us," he responded.

"Poor little fella," Mine said, shaking her head. "Imagine getting transformed like that. Hopefully we'll be able to figure out some way to set things right."

"That's what I'm hoping Meta Knight will have an idea about." Chuchu quickly adjusted her ribbon before swimming off. "I'll move as fast as I can on come back with help." With that, she left the three, all of them hoping that they could find some way to change their friend back to his proper form.

To be continued…


	33. Transformation Trauma, Part Four

_"_ _Meta?" Alivea could hardly believe her eyes. However, there was no questioning what had been written down. An ordinary Gaw-Gaw would not have been smart enough to pull off anything like this._

_The Gaw-Gaw seemed to nod, moving its head sadly in response. Seeing this, the girl turned to her sisters. "Put down your weapons!" she called out. "We found Meta!"_

_The other three looked at her for a moment, confusion clear in their faces. "What do you mean?" Rhiennan asked, lowering her bow only a slight amount._

_"_ _Take a look at this." The spotted Boxin pointed out the scrawling in the dirt. "Normal animals can't write, and even if they could, how would it know about Meta? This has to be him."_

_The four studied the writing. This, combined with their sudden, unexpected rescue, clicked in their minds. This was certainly their brother. Without wasting another second, the girls swarmed around him, eagerly hugging their brother._

_"_ _Oh, Meta! I'm glad you're okay," Kasailee cried, hugging on to his neck._

_"_ _We've all been very worried about you," Minney added. "Those weird clown guys said that you were dead! They claimed that a Gaw-Gaw had killed you, and even brought your sword back as proof, but we could tell that they weren't telling the truth."_

_"_ _They were the ones who did this to you, aren't they?" Alivea asked. "They caught you when you tried to face them and they turned you into this."_

_His current form made speech impossible, but he could still emote very clearly. Meta nodded sadly and his eyes flashed a bluish grey in shame. This color passed quickly, however, and was replaced by red. He leaned down and wrote another word in the dirt._

_Nightmare._

_"_ _I knew it!" Minney declared, pounding her fist into her opened paw. "They were in league with Nightmare this whole time, and were staging the protests to keep the citizens of Aqua Star from being able to resist them!"_

_"_ _But why would they turn Meta instead of killing him?" Rhiennan asked._

_Meta wrote once more. "Revenge. Papa."_

_"_ _But wouldn't killing be just as good as revenge?" Alivea said, looking down in confusion at the writing. Meta shrugged in response. All he knew was that his transformation had been done in revenge for how Heavy Knight had been the only warrior to land a blow on Nightmare. Other than that, he had no idea what sort of twisted plan the warlock and his minions held in store._

_"_ _Well, we had better get back fast." Alivea pointed out to the horizon. "It's almost dawn, and Mama and Papa are going to want to know what we found out."_

_They prepared to strike off back home when they realized that none of them knew the way back. The girls looked awkwardly at each other, and were about to breach the subject, when Meta cut in first. He sniffed the air quickly, picking up the scent that differentiated from the surrounding woods. Once he picked up on a trail, he began moving quickly down the trail, pausing only a moment to motion for his sisters to follow._

_The young Boxins nodded, hurrying to catch up. The five travelers hurried fast, hoping that they would be able to arrive back at the base and explain everything that had happened before trouble occurred._

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Much to Dedede and Bandana Dee's surprise, Meta swam a lot faster than his pudgy dolphin form would suggest. He moved rapidly through the water, aided somewhat by the current, with his mind focused on finding Kirby before something bad could happen to the toddler. He was caught without his mask, which meant that for all intents and purposes he was completely blind. However, he found, much to his relief, that this form also contained a type of echolocation, and one that rather stronger than the one he had with his wings. This allowed him to plow through the water, even though he couldn't exactly see where he was going.

Behind him, the other two transformed creatures were doing their best to keep up. However, his sheer determination, mixed with the fact that he was in much better shape than either of them, made it rather difficult to follow him through swimming force alone. As a result, they had to swim as hard as they could to keep the Star Warrior in sight, and the idea that they could every keep pace with him in speed was laughable.

"Hey, Meta Knight!" Dedede called out, doing his best to be heard past the rushing water. "Slow down, why don't ya! A guy could have a heart attack trying to keep up!"

Meta Knight did not hear what had been called, which was probably for the best, as it would have only triggered another enraged scolding with even more sections in angered Boxin. As it was, the Puffal turned dolphin merely kept swimming ahead with a single minded determination, paying almost no heed to anything that did not assist in his search.

This almost resulted in him having a collision with another swimmer, who was headed in the opposite direction that he was. He only just noticed the young octopus in time to dodge to one side, sending himself flying headfirst to the riverbed and the other swimmer directly into Dedede.

"Hey, watch where you're going!" the Pengu tuned whale yelled in annoyance.

"I could say the same thing!" Chuchu responded, fixing her bow, which had been knocked askew by the collision. "I have to get somewhere very soon. This is an emergency!"

As soon as she had said the words, Meta Knight recognized her voice. "Chuchu, is that you?" he asked, swimming over to where the young octopus was still setting herself right.

"Yes, it's me," she answered. "Like I said I have to find-" she suddenly cut herself off as she recognized the dolphin's voice and realized that he was vaguely familiar. "Sir Meta Knight? What happened to you? Never mind, it happened to Kirby too."

"You know where Kirby is?" Meta Knight asked quickly.

"Yeah, I met up with him in the delta that this river empties out into," she answered promptly. "He was in this weird dolphin form, just like you are now, though he didn't seem to be all that concerned about it."

Relief flooded through the veteran's system as he heard that his apprentice had been found. "Where is he now? Is he safe?"

"Perfectly," Chuchu responded. "I knew that something had gone wrong and that I was going to need help, but I also knew he'd have to stay with someone until I could find you, so I left him with Kine and Mine."

Meta Knight nodded. He knew Kirby would be safe with the two sunfish. "Good. I'm glad to hear that you had sense enough not to leave him alone." Here he glared at Dedede. "We had best rejoin with them as soon as possible."

"Their this way," the pink octopus responded, motioning for them to follow her. "We had best hurry so we can get this weird adventure over with."

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_"_ _We're almost there!" Alivea said excitedly. She pointed ahead, motioning out to the clearing of trees that separated the village from the woods. "Once we get there, we'll be able to explain everything and find a way to change Meta back to normal."_

_It did not take too long for the siblings to reach the edge. Once they had done so, the little girls raced ahead. They were so excited about making it back that they almost didn't notice that their brother was not with them._

_Upon noticing the absence, they turned and attempted to get him to follow them. "C'mon!" Minney called out. "We're almost home."_

_"_ _We need to get Momma and Papa," Kasailee added._

_From his hiding place, Meta nodded calmly. He pointed to the girls and nodded, but shook his head as he motioned to himself._

_"_ _What do you mean you're not coming?" Rhiennan asked._

_In response, he opened his mouth, motioning to his teeth. The message itself was clear enough._ I can't come _, it meant._ It would cause a panic.

_"_ _I guess you're right," Alivea sighed. "We'll go explain everything to Momma and Papa and bring them back here. You'll wait for us here, right?"_

_Meta nodded quickly the affirmative, and comforted by this confirmation, the little Boxins rushed off to go get help._

_Once they were gone, the Puffal turned Gaw-Gaw settled down, deciding to rest a little while he waited for his family to return. However, as he relaxed, as familiar and unwelcome scent came to him. He jerked up and prepared to run or fight, but it was too late. The tendrils of a spell came out and entwined into his mind. He fought, but the power was too strong for him. After a moment, he was under the complete control of the spell._

_Now that their spell had been cast, the Galbo Brothers emerged from hiding. The knave had escaped from them once, but that mistake would not be repeated. Now that he was under their control again, the fun could really begin._

_Heavy Knight and Rosalyn had only just gotten back from a search party. There was still no sign of any mad creatures in the woods, but the search had to be kept up. Inwardly, the two warriors held the lack of any indication of the creature as a sign of hope. Hope that Meta was still alive out there; that their son could be rescued. However, as time went on, even that hope was becoming slimmer and slimmer._

_They were discussing the next course of action with the head of the Aqua Star base when they were interrupted by several loud cries._

_"_ _Momma! Papa! We found him!" Alivea declared as she rushed in._

_"_ _We know what happened to Meta!" Kasailee added, rushing to join her sister._

_"_ _He's outside in the woods!" Rhiennan cried._

_"_ _Those bad clown guys transformed him!" Minney declared._

_The statements of the four youngsters intermingled, making it rather difficult to understand. "Alright, alright, calm down!" Rosalyn declared, calming her brood down. "Now, what are you girls doing out of bed?"_

_"_ _We went out to find Meta!" Alivea said excitedly. "We went into the woods and-"_

_"_ _You went out into the woods?" Heavy Knight said, shock in his voice. "Girls, you know better than to do that! Especially after what happened with your brother!"_

_"_ _Yeah, but we found him!" Rhiennan put in. "He was in the woods, and he had been transformed!"_

_The two Boxin warriors were going to continue questioning their daughters about what was going on when a new messenger ran up. It was a young Boxin from the village. "[Sir! There is an emergency!]" he said in panicked Boxin. "[We need your help right now!]"_

_"_ _[Alright, we'll be with you in a moment,]" the warrior responded._

_He quickly turned to his daughters. "This conversation isn't over," he said sharply, in that tone of voice that every child knows means you're in trouble. "Now, go to the apartment. We'll discuss what is to happen there." The girls became silent and obeyed, knowing that it would be best to wait to try to explain._

_Turning back to the messenger, Rosalyn asked quickly, "[What is wrong? What has happened?]"_

_"_ _[There's a beast!]" the young Boxin declared quickly. "[A huge Gaw-Gaw! It's gone mad and is destroying everything! No one has been hurt yet, but no one can stop it!]"_

_"_ _[We'll go to deal with it,]" Heavy Knight responded, pulling his armor on. He and Rosalyn's hearts turned heavy at this news. This almost certainly meant that Meta was dead, and the beast that had killed him had gone mad with blood-lust. There was only one thing that could be done with a creature like that. They would have to kill it._

_Before he left, he turned to his wife. "I can deal with this," he said calmly. "Could you find out what the girls were going on about? They seemed to be in quite the panic."_

_Rosalyn nodded. "Sure. I'll join you once everything is clear." She gave a small mischievous smile. "Just don't hog all the fun to yourself."_

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For the most part, watching over the now-dolphin Kirby was rather easy. The youngster was fairly eager to please, and thus he did his best to do as he was told. However, danger can come in other forms than the ones that are immediately obvious.

Sweet Stuff was on the prowl. The large angler fish always moved around as quietly as he could, since his reputation was well known in the oceans. He couldn't approach fish directly, since they knew well enough that getting too close to his jaws would end in disaster. However, if he could get them to look at his lure, than he would be able to lull them into a hypnotic like state. Once that happened, than it would be no problem in getting them to come a little bit closer; then it would be time for dinner.

He glanced around at the area. This was a common feeding area for a lot of different kinds of fish and other sea life. Nothing available caught his interest, though. It was just the same scattering of fish, Blippers, Squishies, and the like. They made a satisfying enough meal in a pinch, but Sweet Stuff was looking for something a bit rarer, something he didn't see every day.

That was when he spotted it. The baby dolphin. Of course, he had seen dolphins before, but this one seemed different from the other ones he had sampled. For one thing, it was pink. He had never seen a pink dolphin before. Furthermore, it seemed a bit pudgier than more examples of dolphins he had seen before. Well, all the better for him to eat.

The hunter slunk back into a hiding place and examined the area for older dolphins. Babies usually meant that there were adults about somewhere, and dolphins have a tendency to travel in pods. They might be small and cute, dolphins were often proficient fighters, and Sweet Stuff had no desire to find himself face to face with a pack of angry adults.

Much to his relief, however, it appeared that the youngster was on his own. He was accompanied by two sunfish, but sunfish didn't worry the hunter. They were too big for him to hunt, but they weren't very good fighters. Now that he was confident that he could catch his target, he set out his lure.

Kirby had been vastly enjoying his time in the sea. Kine and Mine had been nice enough to show him around the area, and the tour had quite fascinated the little one. He was swimming past a collection of colorful coral when something else caught his eye. It was bright and glowing and really pretty. The child turned in fascination, looking at it for a moment before asking about it. "Kine," he said once he was certain that his own examination would give no answer, "wha' is t'at?"

It did not take long for Kine to identify just what the object was. He immediately swam forwards, nudging Kirby in the opposite direction. "Something very bad and very dangerous," he answered quickly. "It means that we need to get away from here right now."

The little Star Warrior looked back in confusion. He didn't understand how it could be dangerous if it was so pretty. However, he trusted his friend's judgment. "A'ight," he said as he turned to follow the sunfish.

Sweet Stuff scowled. He had been so close and would have caught his target if that fish hadn't gotten in the way. He'd have to figure out a way of separating the baby dolphin from his guardians if there was to be a chance.

He saw his opportunity soon enough. A school of Blipper came swimming by, and a large one at that. There were at least about twenty of them. If there were some chaos caused by their appearance, then maybe it would be enough for the angler to get close to his prey.

Making his move, he jumped out at the fish, startling them into a stampede and herding them toward where the sunfish and the dolphin were.

The swarm came as a shock to the trio, Kine and Mine soon lost sight of each other and of Kirby in the blur of red and white. In a panic, they began pushing through in an attempt to figure out just what was going on.

Kirby, however, for his part, was thoroughly enjoying this change of events. Sure, he was separated from his friends, but they'd catch up soon enough. In the meantime, he could attempt to make new friends with these new fish. He eagerly called out greetings to them, and was not put off by their lack of response. That only meant that he needed to try harder.

This was when Sweet Stuff saw his opportunity. The baby was separated and distracted. Now all he had to do was successfully sneak behind the little pink dolphin and he'd have lunch.

He, however, wasn't watching himself and failed to notice Mine, who had gotten herself clear of the Blipper swarm. She caught sight of the angler and was quick to react. "Hey, Kirby! Why don't you come over here and look at this coral?"

"'Kay," the little one called back cheerfully before going off to look where he had been directed. He moved just in time for this to interfere with Sweet Stuff's charge, causing him to careen out of control and ram teeth first into a rock.

Now he was fed up. The angler looked around, trying to find anything that might give him an opportunity to get rid of those sunfish. That was when he spotted a group of teenage Blish. That gave him an idea.

Blish, especially young Blish, were well known for being very contrary and determinate pranksters. All one had to do was give a Blish the idea that they were not supposed to do something, and they would immediately make it their goal to do so.

He swam casually by to set the bait. "Oh, those two sunfish look very, very busy," he said, loud enough that it caught the Blish's attention. "I do hope that no one bothers them. I'm sure it would make their duties very hard to preform if someone were to interfere." He sniggered to himself, pleased with his clever plan.

Sure enough, the group of green fish took the bait. As soon as they could, they swam over to where Kine and Mine were showing Kirby a set of flowering plants. The Blish positioned themselves so that they were right underneath the two sunfish and then let loose.

Sure enough, this did the trick. The sudden onslaught took the pair by surprise and knocked them away from Kirby. The little one turned when he sensed his friends' disappearance, but was soon distracted by another creature's approach.

"Why hello there, young one," a huge fish said as he approached Kirby. "What are you doing out here all alone?"

Kirby beamed at what he was certain was the opportunity for a new friend. "Hiii! I Kaabii. I's lookin' at t'is plan' over hewe. Wha' yew doin'?"

"Why, I was just about to go to lunch," Sweet Stuff responded. Oh, this was just too easy. "Would you like to come with me for lunch?"

"'Kay!" the little dolphin responded happily. "Kaabii wike wunch!" He eagerly swam around, not noticing as the angler came up behind him and began opening his mouth prepared for the kill. However, before the strike could land, Kirby called something out. "Oh, can Medikni come too?" he asked.

Sweet Stuff froze. Medikni? What in the Orange Ocean was a Medikni? That's when he saw the red eyed adult dolphin swimming right for him. "Oh, crud," he murmured as he realized that the adult was not going to leave the matter alone. Well, the angler decided, he wasn't in the mood for dolphin after all.

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_In the village, chaos currently reigned. The mad Gaw-Gaw was tearing through just about everything that was in reach. Despite resistance, the creature was too dangerous for the villagers to deal with, and most of them had taken to hiding wherever they could._

_As a result, no one had noticed two Boxin who had taken up a position on a nearby shop. From the rooftop, Thalio and Melpo had the perfect vantage point to watch the destruction they were wreaking. This was almost too much fun to end. However, this was taking up too much of their magic to last forever, and if it didn't end, than what sort of attack would it be?_

_Right on cue, Sir Heavy Knight made it out into the village square. As soon as he arrived, the Gaw-Gaw turned, its eyes a bright purple. Spotting the Star Warrior, it let out a squeal and charged him, its claws and teeth bared._

_The warrior responded quickly. He stepped aside as soon as he could, catching the creature by the fur and tugging it back. It thrashed in his grip, clawing at his arm to get him to release it. Even though he was wearing his armor, this tactic worked, and the Boxin was forced to release his grip._

_Now that it was free, the beast let out another cry and charged again. This time, Heavy Knight did not dodge. Instead, he lowered and steadied himself, so that when the creature launched itself at him, all he had to do was straighten up quickly to knock it off its balance. This was followed by a quick, hard blow to the gut with the hilt of his scimitar._

_This did the trick. The Gaw-Gaw, not expecting this sort of maneuver, was thrown onto it's back, waving it's paws in a panic into the air. However, this also made it difficult for the Star Warrior to get close, as the razor sharp claws were moving at a rate that was too fast to be dodged._

_Once again, the creature picked itself pack up and charged, prepared to attack once more. However, this time, Heavy Knight was through with the defense. This time, he charged himself, scimitar set and ready for the attack._

_The two met, and the outcome was very clear. Heavy Knight emerged, unharmed, and there was blood on his blade. Once they were away, the Gaw-Gaw collapsed. It had been injured, and the fight was now over._

_Heavy Knight turned to go pick up the animal's body, but much to his surprise, when he looked at where the Gaw-Gaw fell, there was no Gaw-Gaw. There was no beast to be found at all. Instead of the creature he expected, lying on his side next to a pool of blood was Meta._

_Without a second thought, the warrior rushed over to his son's side, tearing off his own helmet and praying that this wasn't what he thought it was. However, as he carefully moved the Puffal's body, it was clear that it was too late. There was the injury, right across the teen's middle. Heavy Knight worked fast, trying to bind the wound to staunch the flow of blood._

_"_ _C'mon, Meta!" he said in almost a whisper. "Hold on, it's going to be alright!" He worked hard, doing all that he could to try to save his son's life, but it appeared that all hope had been lost. The Boxin clutched the figure tight, feeling stricken, angry, and confused, but most of all, he was grieving._

_That was when he heard the mocking call. "[Well, well, so the Star Warrior's ways of violence have turned against him, have they?]" The soldier looked up to see the Galbo Brothers, who still held their perch in the rooftop above._

_In a quick moment, all grief was replaced by a blind rage. "[You!]" Heavy Knight cried out. "[It was you! What have you done to my son!?]"_

_"_ _[What have we done?]" Thalio repeated, feigning innocence. "[Why, what makes you think we played a role in this at all?]"_

_"_ _[Meta was suspicious of you,]" the Star Warrior said in a voice that was almost too low to be heard. "[He went out on his own to investigate what you were doing, and you transformed him to keep him from telling anyone.]"_

_Melpo clapped slowly. "[Bravo, very well done. It seems you have figured us out. Too bad it didn't happen in time to help poor Meta over there.]"_

_The Galbo Brothers turned to leave after this. The control that they held Meta in during the rampage had sapped most of their magic, but they hadn't supposed that would matter. They believed that the shock of the fact that he had just killed his own son to be so intense that Heavy Knight would not be able to do anything, none the less to capture them. This was why they had cast the spell in a way so that it would be broken when a lethal blow was struck. Thus, they supposed that their escape would be easy. A howl of rage and pain told them they were wrong._

_Heavy Knight sprang up, not bothering to retrieve his helmet or scimitar. His face was contorted in the anger, with his fangs bared and his eyes flashing fire. The warrior's sight was clouded by a red mist, and all his could think about was capturing the creatures that were responsible for his son's death._

_Thalio and Melpo realized their miscalculation, but by then it was too late. With an unnatural strength, Heavy Knight leaped up onto the building and caught the two rapscallions. For the first time since they had made their deal and gained their power, the duo feared for their lives._

_However, before anything that anyone would have regretted could happen, a weak cry interrupted the fight. "[Wait! I'm alright!]" Everyone froze, stunned at what they heard. After all that had happened, they couldn't believe that he would be the one to interrupt the event._

_Sure enough, however, it was Meta. He pushed himself up, doing his best not to slip. "[Well, maybe alright is a bit of a stretch,]" he said as he accepted some help from some bystanders, "[but I'm certainly alive.]"_

_Everyone looked on in shock, though their reasoning was different. Heavy Knight jumped down off of the roof top, and once he had secured the criminals to a nearby post, raced forward to embrace his son. "[You're alive!]" he declared through tear filled eyes. "[But how?]"_

_"_ _[It's that spell, I think,]" the teen answered, his eyes flashing green as he thought. "[It was set to reverse once a killing blow was struck, but what will kill a Gaw-Gaw and what will kill a Puffal are two different things.]"_

_"_ _[What happened to your eyes?]" his father asked, noticing the sudden change._

_"_ _[What do you mean?]" Meta asked, his eyes changing to a different shade of green. "[My eyes feel fine.]"_

_Heavy Knight shook his head. "[I'll explain later. For now, we'll need to get back. You'll need to get to the med-bay, and these two will be coming in for questioning.]"_

_Meta nodded, just relieved that this whole thing was done with._

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It had nearly been five minutes before the Blish finally lost interest, allowing Kine and Mine to escape from their rather frustrating incident. However, this had been enough time that Kirby had swum off, leaving his babysitters rather in a fluster to figure out where he had gotten too. They hurried to look for anywhere the youngster could have gotten himself lost or injured in.

Much to their relief, however, he was perfectly safe. By the time they reached him, he was happily swimming around the returned Chuchu and several newcomers who appeared to be sea versions of King Dedede and Bandana Dee. A little farther off, Sweet Stuff had been sent fleeing, pursued by a dark colored dolphin.

Kirby noticed their arrival first. "Kine! Mine! Guess wha'! Chuchu comed back, an' she bwought Medikni an' Dedededededede an' 'Dana Dee! Now we can pway!"

"Hold it there, Pinky," Dedede said in an annoyed tone of voice. "No one's doing anything until we figure out a way to change us back."

"You have no reason to be scolding him," Meta Knight responded in an equally frustrated voice as he rejoined the group. "After all, it is your fault we all ended up like this."

"Maybe you could explain how you changed in the first place?" Kine pointed out quietly. "It might help to figure out some sort of antidote."

Between the four of them, Kirby, Meta Knight, Dedede, and Bandana Dee clarified what had happened. During the explanation, none of the sea dwellers said a word. However, once they had finished, the trio look rather relieved.

"Oh, was that it?" Kine asked, looking a good deal more relaxed. "All that happened was that you found some Pisca Berries."

"What are Pisca Berries?" Bandana Dee asked, voicing what they all were thinking.

"They're a rare sort of berry that only grows along the water line," Mine explained. "Sometimes, land dwelling creatures eat them so that they can come under the sea for a while."

"So this has happened before?" Meta asked, his eyes fading to a periwinkle as he calmed down. "Good. Then there must be some sort of antidote."

"Well, not really," Chuchu said with a shrug. "There's no antidote, but the effects of the berries only last for a single day. By this time tomorrow, you'll all be back to your old selves."

The reaction to this news was rather mixed. While there was a relief that they would turn back, they were none too happy about the prospect of spending the rest of the day in this form. However, there was nothing else to be done.

After a moment of silence, Kirby spoke up one last time. "Now we pway?"

A laugh went around at the youngster's persistence. Well, if they couldn't change back immediately, they might as well enjoy themselves.

"Yes, Kirby," Meta Knight said, nodding at his young student, "now you may play."

The little one grinned broadly. "Yay!"

As he left, the warrior shook his head. He'd have to have a conversation with his student about running off later. That was not something to do in public, however, so it would have to wait.

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_Heavy Knight strode down the halls of the prison section of the base. As he walked down, his mind reflected on all that had happened._

_It turned out that, indeed, the Galbo Brothers had been working for Nightmare. They had been working to stir up resentment against the Star Warriors on Aqua Star in hopes that the fighters would leave, opening up the planet to invasion. Thankfully, they had been stopped before they went too far._

_Meta's injury was not too severe, but required time to heal and would leave a scar. Furthermore, even though the spell was broken, his eyes would still change color with emotion and it didn't appear that this would fade away. Thankfully, these were the worst of the effects he had taken, and he would be back to normal in no time._

_In the meanwhile, he and his sisters were grounded. Though they had discovered what was going on, they had still snuck out without permission, and had nearly gotten themselves killed in the matter. As a result, they were to be confined either to the barracks or to their Uncle's house for the duration of eight months._

_Now that all this craziness was done for, it was time to question the prisoners. The Warrior was only accompanying to record what was discovered so that he could report back to Sir Arthur upon his return. He remembered, much to his shame, that his emotional compromise almost caused him to taint his honor with revenge. He couldn't risk that again, so with him were two Star Jumper Puffals, Sir Orlando and Lady Gwyneth, who, due to Heavy's emotional tie to this fight, would be doing the actual questioning. However, when they reached the prison, they were in for a surprise._

_The Galbo Brothers were already dead._

_An autopsy revealed that they had died of some sort of stress induced shock, but how it had happened could not be discovered by any scientific means. However, it was not hard to deduce what had happened. Nightmare himself had intervened, preferring that his own minions die rather than his secrets be revealed._

_As the bodies were taken away, Heavy Knight shook his head, trying to think of what to write. They had already known that Nightmare's evil was spreading fast, but now they also knew that his servants could be almost anywhere. Things were looking grimmer every moment._

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Rock Star was one of the few places in the Gamble Galaxy that the criminal organization held a lot of sway. The planet was vacant, for the most part, of any native life, and had few resources of its own.

As a result, criminals flocked to these areas and set all sorts of places so that a thug could enjoy himself why trying to stay under the radar of the law. Bars, casinos, and other such establishments were often full of the riff raff of the universe, and it wasn't unknown for mob bosses to recruit their cronies inside these joints.

It was in one such area, a tavern called the Bumpin' Booler Bar and Grill, that the Collector was currently sitting. For once, she wasn't wearing a disguise, so she stood out in the group as a short woman with white hair. However, she had already earned a name for herself in this place, so no one ever bothered her.

Or at least, no one ever bothered her twice. The few unlucky goons who didn't know who she was often set an example for why she was respected.

She was currently staring into her glass of whiskey, trying to come up with a new scheme for how to take that warrior down. That last time she had almost succeeded, only to be thwarted by a baby with the attention span of a sugar hyped Scarfy. The huntress scowled at the memory.

Before she could go much more into her plotting, she was shaken from her thoughts by a newcomer sitting next to her. It was a very short man with slicked back hair. He was wearing a suit and some sunglasses. Quite frankly, he seemed a bit too white collar to be in an establishment like this.

When he motioned to the bartender and ordered a Black Velvet cocktail, she couldn't help but snicker. Oh, yeah, was he white collar. It was surprising he was even in here.

As he waited for his drink, the man turned to her. "Excuse me," he said in a tone of voice that reminded the Collector of a used star ship salesman. "You wouldn't happen to be the huntress known as the Collector, would you?"

"What's it to ya?" she said sharply. She had no time for some bourgeoisie busybody to get into her business.

"Oh, I have a very great interest in you, Aei'ah Rhinn," the man said, giving a fox like grin.

At the sound of her real name, the Collector spun around angrily. "Where did you hear that name!?" she snapped quickly, pulling out a knife.

The man raised his hands as if in defense, but his face held no fear. "Calm down there, calm down," he said, never losing that slick attitude of his. "I'm not going to tell anyone. As it is, I understand the need to keep one's identity secret. I just wanted to get your attention because I have a little proposition for you."

She set her knife down, though she didn't put it away, and smirked at what he said. "Oh, yeah, rich boy? What could you have that I want?"

"How about revenge on Meta Knight?"

She let out a laugh at the recommendation. "You really believe you can help me to defeat Meta Knight? That's hilarious."

"Well, not me, par say." The man took a sip of his drink before continuing. "My name is Honest John. Not my real name, of course, but as I said, I understand the need for anonymity. I represent Lord Nightmare of the Nightmare Empire. Your recent excursions against the Star Warriors have caught his attention, and he would like to discuss a partnership."

"What's the catch?"

"Excuse me?"

"I said 'what's the catch'?" The Collector began cleaning her fingernails with her knife as she spoke. "I know Nightmare's shtick. Offer a deal, make it look irresistible, and have them get caught in some sort of binding contract where they have to do something for Nightmare. It's trap setting 101.

"Luckily for you, however, I am willing to bite." She looked up and repeated her question. "All I want to know is what Nightmare wants in exchange."

The man laughed. "I see I can't get anything past you. What Lord Nightmare wants, along with your loyalty and services of course, is unlimited access to your collections, past, present, and future. In particular, your collection from the planet of Popopo is of special concern. In exchange, he will give you a share in his own power, as well as access to any and all resources he possesses."

"Well, if you know about my dealings, then you know that collection is currently space refuse."

"Don't worry about that. Nightmare has a way of getting a lot of use out of scraps." Honest John pulled out a contract and held it out. "So, what do you say?"

The Collector sipped her whiskey before answering. "I'd say you have a deal," she responded, taking the paper and shaking his hand.

Honest John gave a predatory smile. "Excellent."

To be continued…


	34. Coming Crescendo, Part One

Kirby once again stood in a strange area that he could only vaguely remember. It was a cradle like bed in the middle of what appeared to be a nursery. He himself was much smaller than he remembered being, with his head only barely peeking over the edge of the cradle.

He glanced out, trying to get an idea as to where he was. Much to his surprise, he was not the only creature in here. All around him were similar cradles, each holding an infant. These were from a large variety of different creatures, though they were mostly Puffals like himself.

He tried to puff himself up to fly out of the cradle, but found, to his dismay, that someone had draped a net over the top, as if preparing to keep him from doing just that. He floated back down and began searching for another way to escape his current confinement.

However, he would not have the opportunity. Almost as soon as he landed, there came to be a change in the atmosphere. The air turned unnaturally cold there was a stink that became incredibly prevalent. Kirby shook his head, trying to shake the feeling, but the unnatural disturbances continued. A black mist, which was almost slime, began to trickle into the room. A small tendril of it crept up into each cradle and quickly slunk back out, as if it was looking for something. When it reached the cradle that the little warrior was in, it ceased its search and instead let out a whistle.

Unnerved by this happening, the youngster slunk back, wanting desperately not to find out what the whistle had summoned. However, his wish was not granted, and a large, slimy looking orb floated into the room. When it came to his cradle, it stopped and began shifting in form. Kirby wanted to look away, but the horror of the situation held him tight, and he could only stare in shock as the orb finished its transformation, taking the unmistakable and unwelcome for of Nightmare.

The child desperately wanted to scream. He wanted to call out for help and hopefully someone would answer and come to his aid. However, no sound came out of him. He only froze, hoping upon hope that someone would come to his rescue.

Nightmare glared down at the little Puffal, a clear feeling of hate polluting the whole atmosphere. "I have you now, Guardian," he sneered down. "You will not escape me a second time!" With that, his hand shot down, tearing through the net and grabbing the youngster roughly.

Kirby struggled within the warlock's grip. Finally, he voice ceased to fail him, and he began crying out. His screams of pain and terror were so loud and panicked that he almost didn't notice when a second pair of hands began to shake him awake.

"Kirby!" A familiar and much more comforting voice called out to him. "Wake up, Kirby! It is only a nightmare!"

The little one blinked for a few moments, trying to get his bearings. He was outside, and the first few rays of morning were peeking out over the horizon. It had been Meta Knight who had woken him up. The older Puffal had apparently only just woken up himself, and his eyes flashed a bright orange with concern.

"I-I saw Nightmewe," the squire sobbed, doing his best to restrain his tears. He was somewhat ashamed that his mentor had seen him so afraid, but he still was suffering from the horrible dream. "He ha-had Kaabii caught, an' he squeezed weally, weally ha'd. It was weally scawy."

Meta Knight gently patted his apprentice's shoulder. "It's alright," he said, his voice calm. "It was only a dream. He is nowhere near here, and even if he was, I am here to help you." A surge of paternal protectiveness came through the blue Puffal as he said this. "He would not have the chance to harm you."

Kirby smiled weakly, glad that he had such a brave mentor. "T'ank yew."

"You're welcome." Meta Knight got up from where he was sitting and started gathering up his belongings. The evening before, he and Kirby had trekked up to this camping area on Dynablade's Mountain for the night. The veteran had decided to use this as an opportunity to devoting the day to training his squire in the skills necessary to be a Star Warrior. Since they were both awake now, it seemed like as good a time as any to start the day.

"We will head to one of the valleys to begin training in a while," he said as he put away his own bedding supplies. "Why don't you get some breakfast ready while I prepare for the travel?"

The little one immediately brightened up at the mention of food. "Yay!" he chirped cheerfully, immediately diving into the large bag that had been brought along for the food.

Meta Knight couldn't help but chuckle as he observed his enthusiastic young student. The bag had to be large, to accommodate for both of their rather sizable appetites, but the energy at which the youngster dived in was incalculable. The older warrior smiled at the memory of when he used to be like that.

However, a wave of sadness mingled with the nostalgia. He glanced at the youngster, hoping desperately that the little one would not have to suffer the tragedy and loss that was all too familiar to his elder.

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It was a bit later in the morning when some sounds became present at the old Dreamlander ruins. After the adventure that had been dictated about the warrior's time on the planet of Aqua Star, the kids had decided once more to gather together and work their way through the old journal. They had agreed on the ruins as the meeting place because it was quiet and private and few people ever gathered there.

Today, the collection was much of what it had been on that first day. Of course, Ado and Adeleine were there, as they were still the ones who were taking care of the journal itself. Tiff and Tuff had gotten there shortly afterwards, accompanied by Lololo and Lalala. Ribbon had gone out to gather some of the others and had found out, to their regret, that Poppy's family had decided to move away, and he had to help with the work. Though they were sad to see him go, they were pleased to find that Rick was able to come, and with some assistance, he could bring Kine and Chuchu along in their tank as well.

Thus, the small group had come together to hear just what was going to happen next in the life of Dreamland's famed warrior. As they all settled down, Adeleine opened the book and began reading while her sister set to restoring the pages as they went.

"'It didn't take long after our return from Aqua Star for Meta to rejoin with his friends. After watching over them as children for so long, it is rather odd to see the four of them so close to knighthood…'"

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 _Meta hurried off of the small transport ship as it docked onto the ship_ Supernova, _a smaller ship that was still connected to the main ship, the_ Solarian. _It was here that the newly dubbed knights would live and train while they waited for their first missions._

_At the moment, the Puffal was walking down by himself, examining a small slip of paper. It dictated where he would be staying and who his roommates were. Each of the single people's apartments was rather good sized, with one living area, including a kitchen, and three bedrooms, each with their own bathroom._

_This meant that there would be three people to an apartment, though one did not have a say over who one's roommates were to be. These were usually also a knight's teammates, though this was not always the case, as teams were either in groups of four or six, and men and women had separate living quarters, while teams usually had at least one of each._

_Much to his relief, he found that his two roommates were to be Jecra and Daroach. He, at the very least, knew that he would be able to get along with his roommates, and gave the hope that they would be on the same team._

_When he reached the apartment, however, he found that he was the first person to make it there. As this was the case, he took this as the opportunity to pick his room and start to unpack his luggage. He couldn't help but laugh a bit as he looked out of his bedroom window out into the familiar view of space. It seemed like he had been on Aqua Star forever, and while it was a beautiful place, the young Star Warrior was ready to be back in the familiar surroundings of the warrior fleet._

_He had just finished putting away his belongings when the sound of a door opening and closing signaled the arrival of one of his friends. "Hey! Is anyone in here?" the familiar voice of Jecra called out. As usually, the young man didn't wait long for a reply. "No, huh? Guess that means I'm the first one here."_

_"_ _Guess again," Meta called out cheerfully. He headed out to the main living area to greet his friend. "I'm actually surprised you arrived this early. If you asked Lady Almethea, you never seemed to be able to make it anywhere remotely on time."_

_"_ _Only because I had so many other places to be," the blond responded cheerfully, clapping Meta on the back. "Good to see ya again. Things got kind of lonely after you, Garlude, and Daroach left."_

_"_ _Daroach left the ship too?" Meta asked. This was news to him._

_Jecra nodded. "Yep. Sir Galahad got called off to Lumio Star and he decided it would be a good idea for Daroach to get some experience out there._

_"_ _Things got a bit better after Garlude got back though." He crossed his arms across the back of his head. "We're going out now. We have been for a while."_

_Meta made a face of disbelief and shook his head. "No way."_

_"_ _Way." Jecra grinned brightly in response. "It's just 'cause I'm so irresistible to the ladies."_

_"_ _Or maybe it's just because she realized you weren't going to get a date any other way and felt sorry for you." Though they had not been expecting him to interject, Meta and Jecra could tell immediately who had come in._

_"_ _You're one to speak," Jecra laughed as he took Daroach's paw. "How many girlfriends have you had?"_

_"_ _I let you know I have left at least a dozen broken hearts back on Lumio Star," the mouse said with a sideways grin. "Shame, too. They were nice girls, but a Star Warrior has his duties to fulfill." He casually leaned against his own luggage. "How about you, Poyo? Meet any nice girls on Aqua Star?"_

_"_ _No one who comes to mind…" the blue Puffal responded with a slight blush that said he wasn't quite telling the truth. Furthermore, his eyes turned a slight shade of lavender._

_"_ _What's going on with your eyes?" Jecra asked. "I thought they were blue."_

_"_ _What do you mean?" Meta responded, his eyes changing green in curiosity. "They are blue."_

_"_ _Nope," Daroach joined in. "Now they're green. I'm pretty sure they didn't do that before."_

_"_ _Oh, that," the Puffal responded, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. "It's kind of a long story. I'll tell you later."_

_Thankfully for him, the conversation was quickly cut off. Jecra had decided to explore their new apartment and found a very interesting surprise hidden in one of the cupboards. "Hey, guys!" he called out in delight. "Check this out! Someone put twelve watermelons in here! Bet you can't get 'em all in your mouth at once without swallowing, Meta!"_

_The young Puffal gave a mischievous grin. "You are on!" He sprang forward and quickly began inhaling to the cheering of his two friends. He had about seven of them in his mouth when another voice was heard at the doorway._

_"…_ _and this is where some of my old friends are going to be living. You'll be seeing them tonight at the ceremony." Garlude froze after she came up to the open door and quickly face palmed. "Or you can see them now, making fools of themselves."_

_The three boys turned to look at the newcomers. Had it just been Garlude, it wouldn't have been much of an issue, as she had seen them being boys before. However, standing next to her, was the last person the Meta expected to see._

_"_ _Lynette!" he practically gasped, his mouth still stuffed full of fruit._

_The ivory Puffal girl gave a small laugh. "Hi, Meta. Are you doing alright?"_

_Meta quickly swallowed, ending the game where it was. Lynette's appearance was a bit of a shock, considering she was younger. "What are you doing here?"_

_"_ _I was transferred here to work on my doctorate," she answered. A light blush had started up on her own face as well. "Since I'm preparing to be a pediatrician, I was sent up to the main ship to train here. It seems there's a shortage up here."_

_"_ _She's going to be one of my roommates," Garlude finished explaining. "I was hoping to get an introduction in before the knighting ceremony tonight, but it appears that's not an issue. She's already seen too much of you as it is." She shot a glare at her boyfriend that said 'I know you were the one who instigated this."_

_There was a period of silence, which Lynette finally broke. "Well, I think I'd better go finish settling in. It was nice meeting you all." She gave a small smile and waved at Meta. "Goodbye, Meta. It was nice seeing you again."_

_Once the girls had left, Daroach gave a sly grin. "It was her, wasn't it?"_

_"_ _What are you talking about?" Meta asked defensively. Truth be told, it was her. She had changed a lot from the little kid who had a crush, though the blue Puffal was not about to admit it._

_"_ _He's talking about the fact that you practically turned purple," Jecra laughed._

_"_ _I-it's nothing," Meta stuttered. "We were just friends, that's all."_

_"_ _Right, it is," Daroach responded sarcastically. "C'mon, how long have you had interest?"_

_"_ _None of your business, alright!" was the hot answer. "I'm just gonna get ready for the ceremony." With that, he tromped into his own room before slamming the door._

_"_ _But it's not for ten hours," Jecra called out._

_"_ _Don't care!"_

_Daroach smirked over at Jecra. "It was so her."_

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"Now Kirby, today I want to begin training you in a new fighting style." Before this, Kirby had been somewhat daydreaming about the beautiful surroundings all about him. However, at this new announcement, he snapped to attention. It wasn't every day that something new was added to his lessons, after all.

He jumped up eagerly and rushed over to where Meta Knight had set out a large mat. "Wha' we gonna do?" he asked excitedly, ready to begin some fun new adventure.

"I intend to train you in the art of Boxin Boxing," the veteran responded calmly. "This is a sport not taught to every trainee, but my father taught it to me, and I intend to teach it to you." Meta Knight had already gotten himself ready, stripping off his cape and most of his armor. He still wore his mask and his gloves, though the gauntlets had been removed. He tossed a pair of bright red boxing gloves over to Kirby. "Here. It is tradition that students wear red gloves."

"A'ight," Kirby said cheerfully. He inhaled the gloves, and in a flash a bright red strip of cloth had appeared on his head. "Fightah Kaabii!"

However, Meta Knight raised his hand and shook his head. "No, Kirby. Today, you are to learn without your copy ability."

Kirby looked back, a little disappointed. It wasn't uncommon for the warrior to train him in situation where he would have no copy ability, but he preferred it when it was an option. He obediently spat out the fighting ability and turned back to the gloves, which had been discarded after the copy.

The gloves felt a bit awkward on his paws, but he adjusted to them well enough. Once he was ready, he joined Meta Knight out on the mat. It was brown, so it stood out against the green grass, and had a white circle painted in it so that each edge of the mat touched the circle in a different place.

"Alright, the rules for Boxin Boxing are simple," the veteran began. "While there are blows like in the more familiar type of boxing, knocking the opponent unconscious is not the goal. Instead, you are attempting to knock your opponent out of the ring." He motioned to the white ring that surrounded them. "Blows, pushing, and kicking are allowed, but only to a degree that they are not severely injuring, and no blows are allowed to the head.

"Now, as Puffals, we have a disadvantage that most of our opponents will not have. Both of us are small and light enough that a direct blow or a well-aimed push will be enough to immediately knock us out. However, there is an advantage we also have, and that is out speed. We are hard to hit because of out small size, and if we keep moving, than it is simple enough for us to turn our opponent's own size and strength against them. Here, I will show you. Attempt to land a blow."

Kirby obeyed, rushing ahead and attempting to land a blow on Meta Knight. He rushed up, using as much speed as he possibly could in the limited amount of space. However, the older Star Warrior was expecting this and moved out of the way just at the last minute. This did not leave the squire any time to adjust, and he was sent head over heels over the edge of the mat.

"As you see," Meta Knight said as he offered his student a hand, "your strength, or in this case, your speed, can also be a hindrance if you are not watching. One must make certain that they are prepared to adjust for an unexpected move, or else that could be the end of everything. However, if you can get your opponent to use everything he has, than victory is just within reach. Are you ready to go again?"

"Go 'gain!" the youngster chirped cheerfully. He was eager and ready to acquire this new skill.

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_"_ _Please, Meta!" Daroach implored, a pleading tone in his voice. "You have to do something about this!"_

_"_ _C'mon!" Garlude chimes in, joining her pleas to that of the mouse's. "You can't expect us to have to endure this when you could do something about it!"_

_"_ _I'm sorry, guys." The newly titled Sir Meta Knight slid his mask up as he seated himself near the two. "Last night was my night to cook, and you know I don't like to take cooking shifts two nights in a row. We can suffer through a single night of Jecra's cooking."_

_He, along with Jecra, Garlude, and Daroach, were off on one of their first missions as full-fledged Star Warriors. They were scouting out area on an uncharted planet on the fringes of the Gamble Galaxy, and had chosen to set camp for the night. Before they had left, lots had been drawn to decide who would be doing what during the expedition, and it ended with tonight being Jecra's night to cook._

_"_ _You know, I can still hear you from here," the blond called back._

_"_ _Good," Daroach responded. "Maybe we'll be able to make sure you limit the ingredient list to foods that are actually edible this time."_

_"_ _Har dee har," Jecra responded, rolling his eyes. He headed over to where the others were seated, bringing a large pot and a bag with him. "I'll have you know that I selected this meal tonight so I wouldn't have to diverge from the food stores we brought from the ship. Traveling cakes with a vegetable stew. Dig in."_

_Garlude lifted the pot lid and stared at the contents within. "Uh, is the stew supposed to be grey?"_

_"_ _And are you sure you didn't overdo these cakes a bit?" Daroach asked, nibbling at one. "It's a bit hard."_

_"_ _Hey, I don't hear Meta complaining," Jecra pointed out, crossing his arms._

_"_ _That's because he's an Inhaler Puffal," Garlude responded. "They'll eat anything. You once got him to eat seven pine cones as a kid, and he probably would have eaten more if your mom hadn't caught us."_

_The Puffal said nothing, only eating his portion of the food as quickly and as quietly as he could._

_"_ _Well, I don't see what you guys are complaining about," Jecra said, taking a spoonful of the food. "I guess that means there's more for us, right, Meta?"_

_Quickly, the Puffal set down his bowl, wondering if he should have just taken permanent cooking detail. "I'm actually done now. You enjoy though."_

_"_ _I will!" Jecra began shoveling down the food, and much to his companions' amazement, seemed to be enjoying it._

_Before the conversation could go on much longer, however, there was a loud cry. Immediately, the four warriors were surrounded by a hoard of rat like monsters. The young fighters tried to reach for their weapons, but the creatures succeeded in separating them from their supplies, where their weapons had been left. Thus, the quartet were forced to fight with whatever was close at hand._

_Not to be defeated that easily, Daroach flung one of the cakes, braining a monster with it and causing it to fall over dead. Not one to overlook an opportunity, he rushed over and picked up the pot. "You liked that, huh?" he asked, taunting the monsters. "Well, try some of this!" With that, he tossed the slop over the remaining monsters that were separating the young warriors from their weapons._

_The creatures took one sniff of the stew and took off shrieking. This allowed the four to rush ahead and grab their weapons._

_"_ _Well," Garlude laughed as the group stood in four way back to back formation, "it looks like we found a use for your food after all."_

_"_ _Hey, it's not my fault Nightmare doesn't make his monsters with any taste," Jecra responded shaking his head._

_With that, the four rushed ahead, easily defeating the swarm of creatures between themselves._

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The morning was waging on as the training continued. Kirby, as Meta Knight expected, was eager to advance in his training, but was not patient enough to truly think his next couple of steps out. He'd usually rush in, attempting to land blows to end the match quickly by direct confrontation. Now, against another Puffal, this was a weak but not implausible strategy, but against a larger, heavier opponent he would be taken out immediately. As such, the veteran and quick to knock his student out of the ring when he attempted this.

"You are enthusiastic, young one," he said after Kirby had been knocked out for the fifth or sixth time. "This enthusiasm can work to your advantage, but it must be intermingled with prudence. Know when you might be able to succeed in an attack and avoid suicide charges. Despite what is said, there is little to be proud of when you start an attack that you know you cannot win."

Kirby pushed himself up as he listened to his master's words. He nodded, blue eyes bright with determination. "'Kay!" he called back. "Twy 'gain!"

Meta Knight smothered a laugh, but his eyes still shone bright with amusement. "Very well then. En guard!"

With that, the two of them went up against each other once more. The older Puffal took the tactic that most practitioners of Boxin Boxing used, that of making physical confrontations. The younger, on the other hand, took his mentor's advice, moving quickly and using his small sized to his advantage in staying out of reach, and on the other side of the ring whenever possible.

It seemed this time that Meta Knight's lesson had finally taken root. Kirby did not initiate as many charges this time, moving in for an attack only after his elder started one of his own. Furthermore, due to age, the knight was still a good bit bigger than his squire, and thus the pink Puffal had an easier time dodging than the blue one did. As a result, this bout went on longer than the others had, as Kirby did a better job of avoiding being caught.

Indeed, as time wore on, Meta Knight began to feel himself tiring. Even though he was taking this match in far less weight than he was used to, Kirby's speed and strength were still fresh and largely untapped. Indeed, it seemed to be that this match would be decided by whether or not the vigor of youth could outlast the experience gain over time.

Or, at least, it seemed that way until several butterflies flitted over the ring. As soon as his favorite distraction came into view, Kirby turned his attention away, eager to gaze at the multicolored insects that were passing by. This gave Meta Knight an opening, allowing him to charge forward and knock the younger Puffal out of the ring. The squire fell head over heels, one of the butterflies landing on his foot as he lay prone.

"You must try to keep your attention on the task at hand," Meta Knight commented as he came over to the edge of the mat. "There will always be a myriad of distractions that will appear during a match, but you must learn to filter them out. Your opponent will not allow you the luxury of hesitation."

However, his words fell on deaf ears. As soon as Kirby opened his eyes, his attention immediately fell to the butterfly that had alighted on his foot. The little one waited quietly while his mentor was speaking, but the first chance he had, he jumped up, springing for the insect, which took to the air and began flitting off. The little one sprang up and immediately followed after the insect.

Meta Knight sighed as he watched his apprentice run off. He should have supposed that was what would happen. The young Puffal rarely could hold still when he spotted those butterflies. Oh, well. At least now the veteran had an idea of what the next lesson should be.

To be continued…


	35. Coming Crescendo, Part Two

_"_ _I say fry 'em!" the Batafire declared as she fluttered around the cave. "Nice 'n' crispy! Always much tastier that way."_

_"_ _No! I say boiling's the way to go," the Mopoo responded. "We make 'em into stew and eat 'em all up!"_

_"_ _No, no!" the Moundo said. "We squash 'em flat first, and then eat 'em up when they stop wriggling! Always harder to eat when wriggling."_

_The Four Forces each lay in a small cage, only able to hold still and listen to the morbid conversation as their captors discussed the multiple ways the Star Warriors could meet their end. They had been on a mission, scouting out the forests of Neo Star to make sure that everything was alright. However, they eventually had to rest, and because this was a planet that was typically friendly they had neglected to set up a guard. As a result, while they were sleeping, they had been ambushed and captured by three of Nightmare's monsters._

_"_ _It's not looking good," Daroach said as he fiddled with the lock on his cage. "These monsters might be half-wits, but whoever came up with these locks knew his business well. Without the tools I keep in my cape, there's no way I can pick this."_

_"_ _And of course they had to take everything," Garlude groaned. She looked longingly at where her sabre had been flung across the cave. "Our bags, weapons, everything but out masks and the cloths on our backs were snatched away."_

_Jecra leaned as far out of his cage as the bars would allow him. He had a long stick he had procured and was attempting to hook some of their belongings on the end of it. After a while, he succeeded in catching the strap of one of the bags. "Good news, guys!" he called out, though he was careful to keep his voice down. "I got one of the bags. We'll be home free in no time." He started pulling his catch in, only to have it slide off and fall in a way that made it even farther away than before. "Oops. Looks like I don't have it. How're you doing, Meta?"_

_"_ _Not too well," the Puffal responded. "The bars are too tight for me to squeeze through. I can't get my feet out any way I try." He slumped back at the edge of his cage. "Unless one of you has something up your sleeves, it looks like the end of the line._

_Daroach thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. "That's it! Meta, do you still have your mask?"_

_"_ _Yes, I do," the Puffal responded. "Why?"_

_"_ _Because that's going to be out ticket out of here," was the mouse's response. "You see-"_

_"_ _Hey, what dinner talking 'bout?" The warriors quickly became silent when they realized that the arguing had stopped. The three monsters were now staring intently at their captives. "Dinner should be quiet," Mopoo said ominously._

_"_ _Eehee!" Batafire laughed. "I say we all have one now, and split the last. I want fatty ball!"_

_"_ _Hey, Moundo want fatty ball," the rock monster growled. "Fatty ball look tasty. You have purple blondie."_

_"_ _No, Mopoo have fatty ball!" the final monster declared. "Make bigabig good stew!"_

_This gave Daroach an idea. "Hey, Meta, I've got a plan," he called out while the monsters were still arguing, "but you're going to have to agree to it." He then whispered the details over to Meta._

_The blue Puffal look up in shock for a moment, but his expression changed to one of resignation. "Fine. Just please hurry. I'd rather not do that for longer than I need to."_

_"_ _You got it!" Daroach responded, giving a thumb up._

_Now that the plan had been formulated, it was time to put it into practice. The mouse looked up at the three monsters before calling out. "Hey, you there!"_

_The monsters froze and turned to look at him. Batafire leaned into the cage. "Floaty mouse got bigabig mouth," she sneered. "What floaty mouse want?"_

_Daroach bowed deeply, looking up imploringly at their captors. "We know you want to eat us, and that's all well and good. A fellow's got to eat, after all. But please, if you are going to eat us, just grant us one last request."_

_"_ _What a 'request'?" Mopoo asked, confused by the question._

_"_ _Well, you see, I'm my good friend over there, the Puffal." Daroach said, motioning over to Meta. "You see, if it is at all possible, we would like it if anyone but Moundo had him."_

_"_ _What!" Moundo declared angrily. "Why Moundo no have fatty ball!?"_

_"_ _It's just that being squashed would be such an awful way to go," the mouse said, his voice full of pleading. "So won't you please be merciful and attempt to dispatch him in any other manner?"_

_"_ _Moundo not merciful!" the monster declared. "Moundo big and tough and Moundo kill fatty ball now!" Before Batafire and Mopoo could protest, the hulking rock monster snatched Meta out of his cage. As soon as he was out, Meta tossed his mask over to Daroach, just in time for the huge rock creature to begin jumping on him._

_As soon as Moundo began his assault, Batafire and Mopoo flocked over to watch his progress. However, much to all three of their dismay, nothing seemed to kill the Puffal. "Moundo hit hard 'n' hard!" the monster growled angrily. "Why fatty ball no die?"_

_He prepared to leap at Meta again, only to be knocked back by the blow of a sword beam. All of the monsters spun around to see that Daroach, Jecra, and Garlude had escaped and claimed their weaponry._

_Without a moment's hesitation, the monsters sprang at the warriors, but the fight was a short one. While they had been able to capture the fighters by ambush before, now that they were prepared, the Forces were in no danger at all. Before long, Mopoo had been dispatched by a blow from Garlude's sabre, a freeze blast from the Triple Star had taken out Batafire, and Jecra's claymore had smashed Moundo._

_"_ _I was born and bred in the briar patch, Br'er Monsters," Daroach smirked once they were done._

_Now that they were in the clear, the three quickly set to putting Meta to rights. Once he was up, the Puffal gripped his head and groaned. "Oh, you guys owe me one," he said darkly._

_"_ _Of course we do," Daroach said, clapping him on the back. "Thanks for being a good sport about those lock picks I hid in your mask."_

_"_ _Well, they got us out of trouble this time," Meta responded as he put back on his cape. "I'd just like to know how you did so without me knowing."_

_The mouse gave a sly grin. "Now, I can't give all my tricks away, now can I?"_

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"Now, Kirby, for this next exercise, we are going to try something different." Meta Knight pulled a small cloth out of his bag and handed it to Kirby. "Put this blindfold on. We are going to practice moving around without depending on sight."

Kirby took the cloth from his mentor and looked curiously at it. "Why?"

The question was easily answered. "Because you can never truly expect what it to come in life," the older warrior responded. He took off his own mask to demonstrate. "Before I lost my eyesight, I was incredibly dependent on my vison to be able to understand a lot about my environment. What area I had an advantage in, any flaws my enemies revealed, and other such information was taken majorly in by sight. Once I lost that ability, I was left crippled for a good long while."

He sat down and even though he continued to talk, he adjusted to focusing his senses on the area around him. "I was able to adapt however, which is the only reason I am still alive today. Over time I learned that everything represents something, even if it cannot be seen. Every sound, smell, or touch conveys a message and one that can be used to you strategic advantage if you know how to find it. Now, why don't you try? Using the blindfold, describe what is around you using descriptors from your other senses."

Kirby nodded, hanging on to his teacher's words, a sort of fascination filling him. He quickly put the blindfold on and sat down. As soon as he did so, he focused hard on everything around him. However, it soon became clear that the younger Puffal was struggling in his task. "Uh, t'ere wind, an' there birds, an', an' grass." The pink Puffal fell silent for a few moments, trying and failing to find anything worth describing that fell outside of the obvious or the vague. However, he was determined not to let his teacher down, so he continued to struggle for anything that might be of use.

Sensing his pupil's frustration, Meta Knight intervened. "This is a rather difficult task, and you have done very well for a first attempt. How about you listen as I show you what to look for this time?"

"'Kay," the squire responded. He was glad to just listen and allow the master to take over.

"Building off of what you have already described," the blue Puffal said, his sightless white eyes pointing up into the sky, "there is wind, birds, and grass. The wind is coming at a brisk pace, not as fast as to precede a storm, but fast enough that it keeps the area cooled down. Furthermore, there is a scent of salt in it, so it is probably coming off of the ocean, probably the Orange Ocean from the direction. There are a scattering of songbirds, and they all seem to be staying in the same place, which would suggest that there is a nest and a family somewhere. We must be careful so as not to disturb them when we move. The grass is clearly wild, as it is untrimmed. However, it is of a short stemmed breed, probably Cappy Grass, by the feel of it. Unsurprising, considering there are many of the species that it takes its name from around. They are fond of its soft texture and make sure to have a steady supply of it wherever they go."

Kirby lifted his blindfold and looked with amazement at his teacher. "Wow!" he said in amazement. "Medikni weally sma't! How you know all t'at?"

Meta Knight chuckled at his young student's response. "With practice, Kirby, with practice. It takes a lot of training to be able to learn what details to focus on and what details to block out, so you need to put your full attention in when you are learning such skills. Trust me; it would be much easier for you to learn in a peaceful area over a long amount of time before you need this skill than to have to learn it rapidly in the field."

Eager to become just like his mentor, the little Star Warrior quickly replaced the mask and began focusing hard on what details he could notice without his eyes. However, as he worked hard, one final question came to his mind. "Medikni?"

"Yes, Kirby?"

"How did Medikni lose eye-sigh? Is Kaabii gonna lose eye-sigh?"

Meta Knight grimaced at the question, relieved that Kirby couldn't see it. "Not if I can help it. Hopefully, you will keep your eyesight for a long time to come. As for how I lost mine, well, that is a story for when you are older."

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 _The dark of the desert cave made it hard for the Four Forces to see as they moved through the tunnel system. They were coming on a simple rescue mission, which was much more relaxed than some of their previous misadventures had been. A Star Warrior ship, the_ Skyrunner, _had been trapped on this planet when it sunk into a sinkhole. No one was hurt, but none of the crew could get out, so the Forces had been sent out to retrieve them. Thus, the relaxed nature of the mission and slow moving through the dark passages allowed for some talk among the friends as they moved._

_"_ _So, Meta," Garlude called back, "I heard about you and Lynette. Congratulations! Have you guys set a date yet?"_

_Meta blushed, his eyes turning lavender at the thought of his fiancée. "Well, I just proposed, so it will be a little while still. We haven't really discussed a time, as we need to figure out when it will be opportune for her family to come up from Aqua Star."_

_"_ _I remember when we were setting up our wedding date," Jecra laughed, taking his wife's hand as he spoke. "Nothing seemed to work out well, did it? Garlude's father had to be off in Beta Epsilon to head off the invasion force, and my brothers were leading that charge to uproot the bases Nightmare already had in Wilen Star."_

_"_ _Yes, but thankfully both of those missions were finished off rather quickly," Garlude chimed in. "The wedding turned out lovely, just like yours will."_

_"_ _Just be careful not to get cold feet there," Daroach laughed, throwing an arm around Meta's shoulders. "Heaven knows whether you'll find another girl like that if you leave her."_

_"_ _And how about you?" Meta asked quickly, eager to turn the conversation off of his love life. "Are you still going out with Juliana girl?"_

_"_ _Jeiliana," the mouse corrected, "and yes, we are still going strong. She's a fine girl; one of the few I've dated who can actually keep up on the Parkour course."_

_"_ _That's because she's one of the few girls you've ever dated that's also a Star Warrior." Meta chucked. "You'd think that-"_

_Jecra quickly raised his hand, motioning for silence from his friends. "Shh!" he called out. "I don't think we're alone in here."_

_Heeding his warning, the other three became dead silent. All weapons were drawn in an instant, and the warriors prepared for anything to spring out at them in an instant. Each began scanning to find what might be sneaking up on them, and soon, Meta Knight was rewarded with the sight of one of the largest monsters he knew of._

_"_ _It's Coily Rattler!" he shouted in warning. "Quick, move out of its way!"_

_As soon as the large armored snake realized that it had been seen, it dashed forwards, attempting to grab one of the warriors in its mouth. However, they were too fast for it and were able to dash out of its way. The snake, once it had missed its targets, coiled up on the floor, towering over the Star Warriors and prepared to attack._

_The Four moved around their enemy, weapons drawn and prepared to attack. Coily Rattler made the first move, selecting a target and charging straight at them. Jecra moved quickly to one side and struck the monster with his claymore on the side of its body. However, the body was hard as steel; thus, the blow did not do any damage._

_Meta and Daroach then moved in. The mouse high ground and prepared to let off a freezing beam, which would hold the monster in place while Meta struck with his longsword. However, the serpent saw what was coming and unleashed a volley of fireballs in response._

_The fire blasts effortlessly tore through the ice beam and Daroach was forced to jump behind a nearby rock formation for cover. Meta, meanwhile, had been left completely exposed and unprepared. Seeing this, Coily Rattler struck out with his tail, hitting the Star Warrior with the end and sending him crashing into the wall behind him. His longsword, which had been knocked loose by the snake's attack, was the grabbed and easily shattered._

_Jecra struck again, leaping from a high height while aiming for the enemy's more unprotected head. However, the monster responded to this by dodging aside and twisting itself in a way so that it caught the Star Warrior in its mouth. It bit down hard several times before flinging him aside. He crumpled against the cavern wall, injured and bleeding, but alive._

_It prepared to strike him again when Garlude intercepted. As its head came down, she dodged into its path and held up her sabre so that the monstrous snake caught the weapon in its mouth._

_That finally did the trick. While the huge creature was not killed by this attack, it did finally inflict a wound. Garlude was quick to realize the damage she had done. "Its head is its weak point!" she called out as she fought to pull her sword out. "Aim for the head!"_

_However, while she was calling this out, Coily Rattler recovered from the blow and knocked her aside. Stunned by shock of the hit, Garlude could hardly move, and could only lie still as the monster came in to make the kill._

_However, before it could make the killing blow, Daroach leaped up, springing on to the serpent's back and drawing the Triple Star across its neck._

_Meta came too here and saw the state they were in. Jecra and Garlude had come to, but both of them were injured. Daroach had a hand on the monster, but goodness knew how long that would last before the snake would be able to shake him. And there was Meta, who was now completely unarmed._

_Moving back, the Puffal scanned the floor of the cave in search of a weapon, any weapon. It was clear he had been tossed into Coily Rattler's den, as there were bones of past hunts scattered across the floor. Maybe, there would be something that could help._

_That's when he saw it. A sword with its point buried in a stone so that it was standing upright. Meta didn't know how it had come to be here, but right now, he didn't care. He grabbed the weapon by the hilt and rushed ahead to rejoin the battle._

_He did so just in time, too. As he ran into the fray, the monster serpent finally succeeded at throwing Daroach from its back. It reared up to its full height, hatred clear in its eyes. It then sprang at the mouse, prepared to kill._

_That was when Meta attacked. Using all his strength, he swung the sword, hoping upon hope that the sword beam would be enough to knock the snake back. It did much more, though, as the attack cut right through the monster. Coily Rattler then froze, as if trying to comprehend its own death, before finally falling to pieces._

_The battle now won, the Four Forces regrouped. From the look of things, they weren't in too bad of a shape, all things considered. Jecra was hurt the worst, with long cuts in his torso that would need tending. That could all be done at the_ Skyrunner _once they made it there. The other three seemed to just have minimal bruising._

_"_ _Is everyone alright?" Meta asked, just to make sure he wasn't missing anything. He waited for a response, but none was forthcoming. The others just looked at him in shock._

_"_ _What?" he asked self-consciously after a few moments. "I'm not missing anything, am I?"_

_"_ _It's not what you've lost," Daroach said, shock wearing off. He gave a bright grin as he continued. "It's what you've found. Take a look at that blade."_

_Meta turned to look at the weapon in his hand and nearly dropped it out of shock. He had not taken a look at it during the battle, but now that he did he couldn't believe it. In his hand was a six pronged blade of golden color. Its hilt was also gold and had a ruby embedded in the center. Indeed, no Star Warrior worth their weight would not recognize what blade he had found._

_It was the sword Galaxia, the famed weapon of the founder Sir Metian._

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Now that the sense training was finished for the moment, Meta Knight had decided that it was time to pause for a few moments for some lunch. As he received no arguments from Kirby, he donned his mask once more and turned back to their supply bag.

As they set the supplies out, the younger Puffal turned and looked intently at his teacher. After a few moments of thinking, he decided to voice his question. "Medikni," he said, after figuring out how he wanted to ask this, "if Kaabii no' gonna lose eye-sigh, is Kaabii gonna have mas'?"

"Yes," the elder Star Warrior responded, not even bothering to look up as the answered the question. "It is tradition that on the day of their knighting that a newly fledged Star Warrior will receive their mask. The mask is designed by that warrior's mentor, and there is usually some tie in the mask to the history and legends of the Star Warriors. It is usually only for special occasions, but I wear mine most of the time because it was easier to put the corrective lenses for my eyes in the mask than for just about any other design."

"Oh," Kirby said, listening closely to his teacher's words. "Wha' Medikni's mas' say?"

"Excuse me?"

"Wha' sto'y is it 'bout?" the little one answered, pointing to the knight's mask.

"Oh, that." Meta Knight chuckled a bit, his eyes tinging green with nostalgia. "My father designed this mask in imitation of the legendary battleship, the _Halberd._ "

"Wha' da _Halber'_?"

"The _Halberd_ was the last ship to be designed by our founders before their deaths. While the building started in their lifetime, it was so large and grand that it took several generations to be finally finished."

"Ohhh! Wha' happen t'en?"

"Nobody quite knows for sure." Meta Knight seated himself and took one of the sandwiches and handing another to Kirby. "By the time it was finished, the majority of the Star Warriors decided to leave their old base, the Fortress Stormholt. Legend says that the vessel was left to those who remained, and is still there to this day."

Kirby swallowed his food before going back for seconds. "Why no' go back ta Sto'mhol' now?"

The elder warrior shook his head. "You are feeling very inquisitive today, aren't you? Well, no one quite knows where Stormholt is now, or even what planet it is on. Once upon a time, there was a radio feed traveling between the fortress and the lead ship, but it was lost generations ago and no one knows why it was lost." He settled back before reaching in for thirds. "It's probably for the best. The fortress was full of all sorts of weapons that would be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands. At least if it is lost than no one bad has it."

The young one nodded intently as he listened and ate. He was aware that the Star Warriors had a rich history, and he wanted to know everything he could about it. As such, he continued to ask questions through lunch, which Meta Knight patiently answered.

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_"_ _I don't see what you are all quite frustrated about," Daroach commented as he exited the office building. He was currently dressed completely in black, with a black mask and black bandana over his head. There was also a pizza flavored all day sucker stuck to his ear. "All in all, that mission went quite well."_

_"_ _Easy for you to say," Meta Knight retorted as he followed his friend out. He too was wearing a costume, but one that was a bit less dignified. He was wearing a black top hat and white glasses-like mask. "You did not have to use one of the most humiliating costumes ever, along with having to use one of the most useless abilities ever because the building has a no weapons policy."_

_He turned around and pulled some balloon strings out the door. These strings were followed by three huge balloons that spelled out HAL. There were several of Nightmare's goons tied to them and all of the goons were wearing matching pork pie hats. There was also a Broomhatter on the crook of the L, but no one could give an account for how it had gotten there._

_"_ _Well, I suppose it did making things more difficult," Daroach commented as he pulled the sucker off. "However, you did use the circus ability most masterfully, and that clown was gracious to allow you to inhale his juggling balls. By the way, what does 'hal' mean?"_

_"_ _The heck if I know," Meta replied. "I don't like using that ability because I can never tell just what I'm going to do or use. Sometimes I get balloons and other times I just jump around like a mad creature. That's why I try to avoid using it when I can."_

_"_ _At least you weren't right in the path of a falling Squishy tank," Garlude commented as she emerged from the building. She was wearing a white wedding dress with pink frills. Or at least, it used to be white and pink. Now it, as well as her hair, was soaking wet and black, for the most part, because the Squishy that was currently gripping hard to her head had inked. "I'm never going to get myself clean," she groaned as she looked down at herself._

_"_ _Well, it could be worse," Daroach commented._

_"_ _Yeah, how?"_

_"_ _It could have been a Saw Gill tank."_

_"_ _Hey guys? Can I have a little help?" Before anything else could be said, Jecra came out. He was also in odd clothing, a bright yellow chicken suit that opened at the mouth so that his face could be seen. The suit came with a bright purple tee shirt declaring "I'm a Big Boy!" in bright yellow lettering. He also had a rope gripped in his hands. "This big guy's not exactly being cooperative."_

_Right on cue, a furious, cross-eyed Grizzo in a tutu charged out. It rampaged on, doing its best to shake Jecra, who was clinging on to the rope for dear life._

_Garlude and Daroach ran forward to help him, getting ahold of the rest of the rope and tugging hard to get the charging animal to stop. It took a little while, but they were finally able to calm the creature down somewhat and prepare it for transport._

_As they headed back to the_ Solarian, _all four stood, looking each other over. None of them wanted to say a word about the ordeal they had just gone through._

_Finally, unable to take the silence any longer, Meta spoke. "Once we report to the council, I say we never speak of this incident ever again."_

_"_ _Agreed," Daroach said._

_"_ _You'll get no arguments from me," Garlude commented as she wrung out her hair._

_"_ _I won't say a word if you won't," Jecra assured._

_And they never did._

To be continued…


	36. Coming Crescendo, Part Three

"Alright, Kirby," Meta Knight said as the two of them finished up their lunch break. "You've done very well in your basic training so far, so I believe it is time to start putting you copy ability to the test."

"Yay! Copy time!" Kirby cheered. He always preferred the exercises that involved his copying ability, since he tended to have more control over his weapon that way.

The older warrior smiled as he watched his squire's enthusiasm. Once the younger creature had calmed down somewhat, he went back to the supply bag. The tot eagerly followed and peered over his teacher's shoulder, excited to find out just what weapon he was going to be practicing with.

"Wha' ya got?" he asked energetically. "Swowd? Ahchah? Speaw?" Meta Knight turned, handing the youngster just what he was going to use, and it was not what Kirby have been imagining.

"Bell?" he asked, lifting the golden hand bell up. He was a little confused, since he had never inhaled or fought will a bell before. However, he was willing to try it, and he did typically like the more musically themed abilities.

"I know it is a rather unconventional weapon, to say the least," the blue Puffal answered, "but conventional weapons will not always be available. This one is one of my favorites, as it is more effective against enemies than one would suppose. Go ahead. Inhale the bell and try it out."

Kirby nodded, tossing the bell into the air and inhaling it. Once he had caught it in his mouth, he copied it. A bright flash occurred, as it always did when he was gaining a copy ability. Once the flash died down, he emerged with as Bell Kirby. He wore a large bell that had a pink star on the front on his head. There was also a blue ribbon tied to the top of the bell. In each of his paws was a golden bell, just begging to be rung.

Bell Kirby was certainly willing to comply. Eagerly, he waved the little bells, which chimed prettily as he rang them. Excited by the sound, the little one shook harder and faster, happily enjoying the sound as he did. "Wing ding!" he sang out cheerfully with the little bells. "Wing ding dong!"

Meta Knight's eyes turned a bright pink as he observed his student play with his new ability. "I am pleased you like this ability," he said, raising his voice so as to be heard above the energetic ringing. "Now, there are several attacks that you can do with this ability. First of all, ringing the bells just as you are doing will unleash a sound wave that will stun your opponents. Doing so quickly will increase the power of this sound wave and might even take out some weaker enemies." He then set up a wooden pole, sawed through the middle so that it was weakened, though not cut in half. "Why don't you try on this?"

The little one nodded, turning quickly to the target. He began shaking the bells quickly, unleashing a loud ringing with was followed by an intense sound wave, which succeeded in striking the pole hard enough to knock the weakened half off. As the snapped pole hit the ground, the student turned back to his teacher, eager to learn the next move.

The veteran nodded in approval. "Very well done. If you ring the bells together as you go, it will unleash a larger burst of energy than before. This will take out more enemies, but it is difficult to get the timing exactly right.

"Now, before we move on to a different ability, there is one last way to utilize the bells in an attack." The warrior set up another pole, this time one that had a target on the top of it. "Throw one of the bells, and it will strike its target with a tremendous amount of force before curving around and returning to you. Why don't you try?"

Kirby nodded, taking a step back before unleashing the projectile. As expected, it flew hard at the target, causing it to shatter upon impact. The bell flew a little past that point before hooking around and coming back to its user.

The little one held out a paw to catch it, but he missed the catch, causing the bell to fly back and plow its way into the ground. Looking between his teacher and the newly dug trench, the squire smiled embarrassedly. "Uh, oops? Sowwy, poyo."

Meta Knight shook his head. "Do not worry. We have come out here to practice first for that very reason. Now, why don't we try that again?"

"Poyo!" Kirby responded cheerfully. He was determined to get this down.

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_The troop headed through the enemy territory as fast as they could. The group, twelve men not counting the captain and a select group of beasts, had been tasked by their leader to move this important cargo as fast as they could without being detected. As there was a war going on, this would be easier said than done. The captain made a motion to his men to be prepared to move out. They nodded quickly before moving along as quietly as they could._

_The captain himself looked completely cool and unaffected by where they were. His troops, however, could not say the same thing. All of them were nervous wrecks. The small troop huddled around the cart, as if the vehicle could protect them. They knew where they were and they knew who they were facing. All they could do was hope that they were not found._

_Despite his cool façade, the captain was anxious as well. Their leader had given him a quick description of what was to be taken and where they were supposed to go. When he received the word about which troop of the enemy he was facing, however, he had wanted to quit, or at least hand this mission over to another commander. However, their leader was not to be denied, so all he could do was hope that they were not detected and a fight did not break out._

_Behind him he could hear whimpering. Idiots. Didn't they know that such sounds would bring the enemy down right on top of them? "Shut up," he hissed behind him. "If we're going to get out of this alive we need to be as quiet as possible."_

_"_ _Going for the stealth approach, huh?" The voice that spoke caused their blood to turn to ice in their veins. "Trust me, that ship has sailed."_

_All the men froze. It was him. He was one of them. He was one of the terrors that kept soldiers like them awake while on watch lest they run into him._

_In particular, it was the one known as the Raging Giant. He stood a good head taller than any of them and wielded a sword that it would take ten of them to lift. He stood in their way, smirking at them. "So, are you going to hand that cart over, or are we going to have to do this the hard way?"_

_"_ _It's one of them!" the captain yelled out. "Unleash the beasts!"_

_In response the men obeyed, allowing the creatures off of their leashes and siccing them on the Raging Giant. However, they were stopped in their tracks when a beam fired off from a different direction cut them off._

_"_ _It looks like they chose the hard way." The men could only look in terror as they realized that another of the fearsome band was standing nearby. It was the Killer Lady, well known to be the consort of the Raging Giant. "So," she asked, "shall we comply?"_

_"_ _It would be quiet rude not to," a third voice piped in. Another figure came out of the shadows, this time behind the troop. They recognized him too; the Smiling Death. He gave his infamous smile, motioning with his cane that he was ready for the attack. "What do you think?"_

_"_ _I say we give them their chance." A fourth figure came out, this one more terrifying than before. "Though we all know what that choice will be." The Ancient Terror who wielded the powerful blade of old. If all four were here, then their mission had all but ended._

_However, they would not return empty handed. Quickly, the captain raised us his weapon. "Attack!" he called out as loudly as he could. "Attack now! Kill them!"_

_The troops and creatures charged the four and fought as hard as they could against them. However, the charge had been futile from the beginning. Even though it had been a dozen versus four, the power level had been one sided. Before long, the captain found himself staring at the Ancient Terror's weapon, his men unconscious or captured and all the beasts slain._

_"_ _The key to that cart," the masked terror said darkly. "Give it to me."_

_"_ _Ce-certainly," the captain said quickly, tearing the key off of his own neck and handing it to his captor. "Please, just don't hurt me."_

_"_ _I am here to do justice, not murder." Meta Knight took the key quickly and tossed it over to Daroach. "Here you go!" he called out to his teammate. "I'll get this one over with the other prisoners. Please get the slaves out while I do so."_

_"_ _It's as good as done," Daroach replied, snatching up the key. He hurried around to the back of the cart, which he unlocked, allowing a group of people who had been kidnapped by Nightmare to go free. "Here we are," he said, motioning out of the cart. "You are all free, complements of the Star Warriors and the Galaxy Star Army. My name is Sir Daroach, at your service."_

_"_ _Jecra, Garlude!" Meta called over, bringing the captive NME captain behind him. "You got the other prisoners secured?"_

_"_ _You got it," Jecra called back, giving a thumbs up. "These guys won't be seeing the outside of a prison cell for a very long time."_

_"_ _As it should be," Garlude commented. "Imagine, selling out your own people to Nightmare. What in this universe would compel someone to do something like that?"_

_"_ _Greed. Cowardice. Who knows how many terrible things have been done because of personal vice." Meta Knight lifted his mask as he shook his head. "However, as long as we're here, such wrongs will not go unpunished."_

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"Alright, I believe that might be enough practice with your bomb ability," Meta Knight said as he scanned the charred area.

Bomb Kirby gave an awkward smile. "Sowwy, poyo," he said before spitting out the offending ability.

The older warrior sighed and lifted his mask for a moment in frustration. However, the moment passed quickly and he replaced it back. "No matter," he said quietly. "I suppose such incidents are to be expected. That is why we came out here in the first place. Just understand you will need to be much more careful in future situations. As Star Warriors, it is our duty first and foremost to defend the innocent. It would not do to lose control in an actual battle and cause a lot of collateral damage. You need to think ahead so as to prepare to counter your opponent's attack when it happens in a safe manner.

"This, in fact, will lead us to our next lesson." The blue warrior then turned and began digging around in the bag for the object that would be so important in the next lesson. Kirby leaned forward, trying to catch a glimpse of what was being taken out. He expected that it would be some sort of new weapon, one that he hadn't ever used before; or maybe some old manuscript that told an old legend. Kirby liked old legends. However, he was certainly not expecting a small wooden box.

Meta Knight took the box over to an area where there was a flat stone, which would serve the purpose of a table very well. He opened up the box and began setting out the pieces as he explained just what they were going to be doing.

"This is chess," he said as he put out the pieces. "It is an ancient game of strategy. When one is playing, one is forced to concentrate not only on one's own moves, but the moves of one's opponents as well."

He motioned for Kirby to take a seat opposite of him. This was the area where the black pieces were arranged. The squire obeyed. Once he was seated, the older warrior continued in explaining the game.

"This is the king," he pointed out, lifting up a tall chess piece that had a flared cap and a cross on the top. "This is the most valuable piece in the game. It can only move one space on its own, but once another piece captures it, then a 'checkmate' occurs. Once a king is in checkmate, than the game ends and the checked king's side loses."

He then moved to the next piece. It too had a flared cap, though it had a small orb on top. "This is the queen. It is the most powerful piece on the board, as it can travel in any direction that the player wants it to go, be it horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. It cannot, however, jump pieces, and it is just as vulnerable to capture as any other piece."

Next, he went on to the piece that kind of reminded Kirby of a castle wall. "This piece is the rook. It is more limited in the queen in that it cannot move in a diagonal direction, only horizontally and vertically. However, it can move in these directions for as many spaces as it wants."

"This next one is the bishop." Kirby looked closely at this piece. It was shaped in an odd way, like a pineapple that had a large cut taken out of it and a ball glued on top. "This is like the rook in that it can only move in two directions, both of them diagonal. They can move as many spaces as they want, but once again, they cannot jump pieces."

Next came the piece that looked like a horse's head. "This one is the knight."

"Oh, oh, wike Medikni!" the youngster exclaimed excitedly once the name had come out.

Meta Knight's eyes turned pink as he chuckled. "Yes, I suppose it is rather like me. Now, this piece can move two spaces either vertically or horizontally, and then one space in the opposite direction. This basically amounts to the corners of any two by three rectangles."

"Finally, these are the pawns." He lifted up the smallest pieces, which looked like tables with orbs on them. "These are the most common piece on the board, but also the weakest. They can only move over one or two spaces ahead."

"Now, the goal of the game is to force the other side's king into checkmate," the warrior said as his explanation came to a close. "You use concentration and strategy to try to figure out what your opponent is thinking as well as trying to hide your own thoughts. This is a very good practice for warriors, as it allows for a safer practice for wartime strategy.

"So," he said, giving his student a small smile, "do you want to have a try?"

The little one grinned brightly. "Kaabii twy!"

Thus, the two began the game in earnest, Meta Knight commenting every now and then on Kirby's strategy. The squire didn't win that often, which wasn't a big surprise, but he learned fast and took to the game well. The older Star Warrior couldn't help but feel a sense of pride in his young pupil.

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_"_ _And checkmate." Lynette smiled as she moved her bishop into position._

_"_ _What? That can't be." Meta Knight smirked over at his wife. "You must have been switching the pieces around when I wasn't looking."_

_"_ _Ah, is the famed Warrior of the Wind a sore loser," she taunted back. "Maybe next time I should let you win. Save that sore ego of yours."_

_"_ _Maybe next time you have the opportunity to cheat." He went over, sat by her, and took his wife paw playfully._

_"_ _Or so you say," she responded with a grin before leaning in to kiss him. They had now been happily married for about a star year. There had not really been any major incidents over the last few years, and the Four Forces were now taking some time off to enjoy their own personal lives._

_A knock at the door snapped the couple out of their banter and reminded them that they had plans. In particular, it was about half way between their wedding anniversary and Jecra and Garlude's. Even though the war was at peace for the moment, something could happen and the Forces could be sent anywhere at a moment's notice. As such, the two couples had decided to celebrate the occasions at dinner tonight, and then have more private celebrations later on._

_Lynette got up and hurried over to the bedroom. "That must be them. I'll go get my pendent and then I'll be ready to go." She meant a small gold star pendant that she had received as a wedding present. It had been a precious heirloom in her family, and as such, she only wore it on special occasions._

_While she went to prepare, he went over and answered the door. Sure enough, standing outside were Jecra and Garlude, also dressed up for the evening's occasion._

_"_ _Thanks for moving the reservation back a bit," Garlude said as she entered. "The babysitter we're used to wasn't available so we had to hire someone new, and you know how Joe and Silica get with new people. Thankfully they calmed down after a while and we were able to come out."_

_"_ _No problem." Meta chuckled. He knew the little brother and sister well enough to know that they could be a bit of a handful when they weren't happy with the way things were going. However, once they were certain that there was nothing wrong with the newcomer, they warmed up pretty quickly. "Lynette's just getting ready. Why don't you have a seat while we wait?"_

_It didn't take long for the white Puffal to finish and return and the three of them went off to enjoy their dinner. It was a rather quiet, enjoyable evening for the two couples. However, that peace was soon to be broken. They were chatting about recent goings on in the Council when a new face joined into the party._

_"_ _Well, fancy meeting you here," Daroach commented, pulling a chair up to the table. "Just the folks I was looking for."_

_"_ _Hellp Daroach," Garlude said. "Are you and Jeiliana having dinner here?"_

_"_ _Actually, I really did come looking for you three." His face changed as he said these words. He still smiled, but it was more serious and sincere. "Sir Arthur's assigned us a new mission, and it's a doozy."_

_"_ _What? What's going on?" Meta asked, recognizing the tone in his friend's voice._

_"_ _We've got intel from the ninja, Yamikage. It seems Nightmare is arranging a meeting with a group of his most trusted lieutenants on a distant planetoid. The Council believes that if we can intercept this meeting, then we could end this war once and for all."_

_There was a clear change in the atmosphere. The Four Forces might have been on their time off, but they were warriors first and foremost. News such as this clearly excited them._

_"_ _When are we to go?" Jecra asked, his eyes shining brightly._

_"_ _The day after tomorrow." The mouse rose once he gave the answer. "If you will excuse me, I shall be going to prepare myself for this trip." Once he had said this, he turned to go._

_The remaining members of the Forces grinned at each other with excitement. This was it. Once this mission was finished, the war would be too. No more fear from Nightmare's territories. No having to go to strange areas to set up defences against the monsters. All they'd have to do is launch an attack on this meeting, and all would be well._

_After all, what could go wrong?_

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As Adeleine finished up the last story, she looked up at the sky peeking over the ruin's edge. "It looks like it's starting to get late," she commented. "We had better finished up pretty soon and start heading back."

"Aww, come on!" Tuff cried out. "The sun hasn't started to go down yet! Let's just read a bit more and find out what happened with the mission against Nightmare!"

"Yeah," Lololo said in agreement. "There's way too much going on right now, we gotta go on."

"Well, we don't even know if we have anymore to read," Ado explained. "A lot of these stories jump around through the years because some of the passages were damaged, and thus we couldn't read a lot of the entries."

"Also," her twin added, "even with the passages that weren't too damaged to read, not all of them were interesting. Remember, Sir Heavy Knight was a high ranking officer in the Star Warriors. A lot of his entries had to do with the strategies for battles that aren't described, or about commerce, or medicine, or stuff like that." She paused for a moment to stretch before continuing. "Most of it's not really all that interesting."

"There must be something or other that we could quickly read to find out what's going on," Tiff suggested. "Maybe just a quick page or passage that will give us a taste of what's to come. After all, with something as big as a game changing mission, there must be some mention of what happened in the upcoming pages."

The other kids quickly voiced their agreement. Indeed, it seemed the strange mission assigned on the word of the ninja was just too alluring. Finally, the artist siblings conceded.

"Alright," Ado said, slipping her inking pen out of her pocket. A cheer went up from the small group of children. It was decided that they would spend about fifteen minutes looking for a passage or page that mentioned what happened with the Four Forces. If that time ran out and they still had nothing, then they would concede that they would have to look later and finish up for the day.

However, it soon became clear that finding an intriguing page was not going to be a problem. Indeed, not two minutes after the search was started they come across a page that had Meta Knight's name written on it repeatedly. However, there were a lot do crossed out lines and scribbles as well, as if the writer had been trying to cover something up.

"This is really weird," Ado commented as she tried to reconstruct what few words they actually had. "He's never done this before. He keeps writing stuff in and crossing it out, like there's something in here he didn't like, but I can't tell what it is."

She struggled with it for a few more minutes, and after a clear fight, she finally inked in a line that could be easily read. However, the moment she saw what it said, she couldn't believe her eyes. Unable to say a single word, she just motioned for the others to look at the written word. Indeed, this was a line that could not be believed.

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_Heavy Knight struggled to hold the pen as he wrote. Tears had gathered in his eyes, clouding his vision and making the paper near impossible to see. He wished he could just throw the pen away and make no mention of this ever again. It just hurt too much. However, this would be the right thing to do. After all, he needed to be remembered. After struggling for a whole page to figure out to right way to word it, he settled on a single line at the bottom of the page._

_"_ _My son is dead."_

To be continued…


	37. Nightmares, Part One

"What? That can't be right!" Tuff declared agitatedly once the group had read what was written on the previous page. "Sir Meta Knight's not dead! What's going on?"

"It could just be a misunderstanding," Ribbon said quickly. She was just as shocked as her Dreamlander friend, but was trying to keep a cooler head than he was. "Maybe there was some sort of misunderstanding. After all, there were times where it looked like he died in the past."

"But we never did get a declaration before," Lololo pointed out. "Something is going on, and we just need to figure out what happened."

While the others were discussing the odd passage, the artist twins immediately set to filling in almost every passage after it. Maybe something in a later entry would explain the strange tone of the last writing.

After a few minutes of searching, they finally found something that would answer their question. "Got it!" Ado declared triumphantly upon finding the words that solved their problem. She had said this so loud and with such enthusiasm that she caught the other's attention near immediately.

"You've got what?" Ribbon asked as the kids regrouped around the book.

"An explanation on what is going on," the artist said quickly. "It's a good deal after the last entry, around eighteen months later, but we've got an explanation on what is going on."

"Don't wait to tell us!" Lololo exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Lalala added. "We all want to know just what happened."

"Alright," Adeliene said eager to start on the explanation herself. "Let's see what we've got here."

She quickly scanned the section over before clearing her throat and starting to read. "'It seems almost too good to be true…'

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_Sir Heavy Knight and Lady Rosalyn rushed to the Med-bay as fast as their feet would take them. They almost couldn't believe the news themselves. After having vanished for over a year, their son had been found! They couldn't believe it._

_However, upon arriving at their destinations, their hopes and fears were both confirmed. There, lying in the operating room, was their son. Thankfully one of the doctors was Kasailee, but the doors had already been shut, so all they could do was look in through the two windows in the door, and what they could see was not very hopeful._

_He lay prone, not responding to anything the doctors were doing. He was much paler in color than they had remembered, and strange scars and bruises covered his whole body. Most terrifyingly of all, there were two large blue-black wings protruding from his back. The two could not even imagine how something like that had happened._

_Even so, the very fact that he was alive at all was a miracle. Indeed, no one had ever emerged from the Nightmare Empire alive before, no matter the state they were in. The fact that he had been found and recovered was reason enough to celebrate. As this was the case, a mixture of joy and horror had flooded the Puffal's parents now that they had confirmation of his survival._

_"What happened to him?" Rosalyn asked as one of the doctors emerged._

_"We're…not exactly sure," the medic responded. "There is a heavy level of mutation that has been done, along with the expected amount of injury caused. We aren't exactly sure just what it is that they did to him while he was imprisoned; I suppose that he'll have to tell us that when he comes to. The good news is that he will survive. However, there were several changes that have happened that will be permanent."_

_"Changes?" Heavy Knight asked. "What do you mean by changes?"_

_The green Star Jumper adjusted his glasses before continuing. "For one thing, he has endured several intense chemical burns to the eyes, which have caused a type of blindness. He will be able to see light and darkness, but that will be all he can sense. This can be corrected with a specific set of lenses, but he will not be able to see without them._

_"Furthermore, there are those wings." He pulled out some x-rays here, showing how the odd appendages now were attached to Meta's body. "For the life of us, we can't figure out how he gained these, but they are fully a part of him now. We started looking into whether or not they could be amputated, and it appears this is an impossibility. Do you see this bundle of muscle?" he asked, pointing out a small cluster which was now attached to the wing bones. When he received the affirmative, he continued. "Well, they contain a large amount of vital nerves within them. The wings could not be removed without those nerves being cut, which is out of the question. So, it appears that he is stuck with them."_

_"What happened?_

_"Is he here?"_

_"Meta's alive?"_

_The group turned to see Alivea, Minney, and Rhiennan arrive. The three warrior ladies had been the last ones to receive the news of their brother's survival and had rushed over as soon as they could._

_"What happened? Where is he?" Alivea asked, stepping forwards. "We came as soon as he received the news."_

_The three were updated on their brother's condition. "Quite frankly, his survival is a miracle," the doctor commented again as he gathered his things. "Between this and the baby, I'm sure there is quiet the story to be heard behind this."_

_"Baby?" All eyes turned to the Star Jumper at this word. "What do you mean, baby?" Minney asked. "Nobody mentioned any baby."_

_"Oh, so nobody told you?" This seemed to surprise the medic. "I had just assumed that since Mrs. Lynette had been called over to care for him that someone would have to you?"_

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Well, she arrived here before you did and wanted to be permitted to aid in Sir Meta's care, but since she's the only pediatrician onboard the_ Solarian _at this time-"_

_"That's not what we meant," Heavy Knight snapped. "What do you mean about the baby?"_

_"Well," the doctor said, rubbing the back if his head awkwardly, "it might just be easier to see for yourself."_

_He turned, motioning to the family of Boxins to follow him. They did so, hoping that their arrival at the destination would answer some questions._

_The soon came up to a small room where most pediatrics were taken care of. It appeared that something had gone down in the room, as it was rather torn up. However, whatever had happened was over, and the sight they came on was rather peaceful._

_Lynette was within, giving a checkup to a tiny Puffal baby. This would not have been all too out of the ordinary except for two facts. One, the child was pink, a color unheard of within the Puffal community. Second of all, aside from his color, this child was nearly identical to Meta Knight._

_Seeing the newcomers arrive, the baby beamed and waved a little paw. "Poyo, hii!" he declared cheerfully._

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Kirby looked hard over the chessboard, thinking of what his next move should be. He had previously been checked, and looked to see if there was any way to get out of that uncomfortable position. Cautiously, he moved his king over one square to see if that would do anything.

It didn't. "Checkmate," Meta Knight commented casually as he moved his queen into position. He noticed that once he had made his move, depression showed on his apprentice's face. "Now, don't worry about a loss," the older Puffal comforted. "You are still new to this game, and you have much yet to learn." He patted the youngster's back. "All in all, you did very well for your first day with this game. Just keep practicing, and you will master it."

Kirby smiled at the consolation. "Weally?"

"Yes, really." The warrior chuckled as memories arose in his mind. "I wasn't nearly as good as you when I first learned this game. After several games, my mother began to fear I would never learn anything about strategy, and would be rushing headfirst into battle my whole life."

 _She wasn't too far from wrong,_ he couldn't help but add to himself, thinking of his days in the Four Forces. However, the memory of this time turned from sweet thoughts to bitter ones, and he turned to look for anything else to think of.

It soon came to him in the form of the sunset. "Well, it appears that it is becoming quite late. Shall we begin putting these away for the night and begin heading back to the palace?"

Kirby nodded quickly, remembering that he would have his little house to himself that night. Because there would be no guarantee of when Kirby and Meta Knight would return home after a day of training, the Ebrums had agreed to keep the little Puffalings over at their apartment for the night. While Kirby enjoyed having his little siblings staying with him, he was rather enjoying the idea of having the little house all to himself, just like he used to.

Besides, he had recently discovered an interesting looking book in Meta Knight's library. He couldn't read all too well yet, but it had a lot of pictures, so the little one was rather eager to look over it.

Thus, he enthusiastically assisted the older warrior in putting away the supplies. The chess set went away the fastest. Unlike when it was being set up, there was no specific order that the pieces needed to go back into the wooden box, so they could be brushed in quickly. Once that was away, the remainder of their other training equipment went back into the traveling bags. As soon as the items were secured inside and the bags themselves tied up, they each took one of the bundles and hurried off.

Kirby moved faster than Meta Knight did, as youthful energy was still his to use. As he hurried off, the veteran smiled as he thought back on the training that had been done over the day. Kirby was coming along in his training quickly, and he had advanced farther and faster than anyone had ever expected him to.

However, there was still a feeling of apprehension in the blue Puffal. Sure, the little one was coming along fast, but would this be fast enough? After all, Nightmare was not going to be one to allow the youngster any room for error. There is some element about the little pink child that scares the warlock, and he's going to be doing everything in his power to keep that element from developing.

Well, all that meant was that Meta Knight was going to have to move faster than Nightmare did. Furthermore, no one should ever underestimate little Kirby. After all, he had already gained the reputation as a fierce warrior in his own right, and had even defeated Nightmare once before on his own. He had done all of this before he had even reached a hundred years of age! There was no mistaking that there was defiantly something special about this kid.

Meta Knight hoped desperately that this would be enough to protect the little one from his enemies.

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_Nightmare had failed. That much was clear. Yamikage scowled to himself as he moved through the darkened hallways that lead to the med-bay. Nightmare had assured that none of those wretched Forces would survive, and with three of them, he carried out. The ninja had personally brought the bodies of the husband and wife as proof of their demise, and the mouse had been blown sky high. All that left was that stinking creampuff, so of course that means that he would escape alive._

_This would mean trouble for Yamikage. Meta knew he was a traitor to the Star Warriors, and when he woke up from his little sleep, he would waste no time in sharing that information. So the ninja just had to make sure that the wakeup call never happens._

_The ship never slept totally; such a thing would be impossible, considering all the things that needed to be done to keep a ship in running order. However, people still need to sleep, and thus some areas, especially those where the living chambers and hospital rooms were darkened to allow their occupants to sleep. This would just play in his favor._

_He moved slowly into the hospital room where the Puffal had been left. He was still in a sound sleep, kept there by the amount of drugs used while he was being treated. This meant that he could not have revealed Yamikage's secret earlier, but things wouldn't stay that way if nothing was done._

_With a stealth that was a credit to his position, the ninja moved closer to his victim. A small poisoned dagger was at the ready. It would be quick and clean; the poison would only show up on the toxin screen as an infection; probably one cause in NME, since the pink baby would die of it too. No one would ever be the wiser to the fact that he was a spy. All the ends would be tied up._

_He raised the dagger and made ready the strike._

_Before he could take it, however, he was struck hard in the middle by a rolling tray which had been pushed into him. The ninja looked up and saw the glowing blue eyes of another Puffal. Yamikage scowled as he recognized his intended victim's wife, who must have come to make sure that Meta was alright._

_She was only a mere nuisance, though. A doctor would not have been trained in anything other than the most basic of self-defense. The would-be assassin lashed out at her, striking the white Puffal aside and taking off down the hallway._

_He did not expect Lynette's persistence, however. She took off running after him. She was aware that she would not be a match for the ninja's abilities in hand to hand combat. Despite her limitation, there was one thing she knew she could do._

_"Help! He tried to kill Meta!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Traitor! Murderer!"_

_Under normal circumstances, Yamikage would have attempted to kill the Puffal woman to silence her. However, time was of the essence here, so instead he chose to throw out a smoke pellet, to at least disorient her._

_This succeeded at most in that Lynette was unable to continue her pursuit through the black cloud of smoke. She staggered out, holding her breath so as not to inhale the noxious fumes, and made it out to where she could see everything unhampered. However, by now, the assassin was gone, and there was nothing she could do to ensure his capture. Or was there?_

_She staggered over to a nearby emergency panel and pulled the leaver. Instantly, an alarm began blaring over the ship. Once she had gotten the alarms going, she spoke into the attached radio. "Attention! There is an assassin and traitor loose in the ship! The ninja Yamikage had attempted to kill Meta Knight but was caught before he could finish the deed! I warn you, he has turned traitor and is now loose in the ship!"_

_Yamikage scowled as the alarms went off. He had been so close to succeeding in finishing the job and now not only was that interrupted by the creampuff woman, but she had alerted the rest of the ship to the situation. He now had no option but to try to get as far away from here as fast as possible._

_He had almost made it to his ship when he was stopped by the feeling of cold steel on the back of his neck. "Move an inch, assassin, and you're dead," Rosalyn growled._

_The Boxin lady had been on patrol when the alarm had gone off. Since she had already been near the ship bay, she decided to wait there to see if the criminal attempted to run away in that direction. Her intuition was rewarded, and she had the fugitive cornered where he stood._

_Yamikage considered fighting off the Star Lady, but decided against it for two reasons. First of all, Rosalyn was a lot bigger than him and more trained in close range fighting. Secondly, she was now no longer alone._

_Behind her was a troop of Star Warriors and members of the GSA of varying ranks, all of which were prepared to fight. Realizing that he was out numbered and out skilled, Yamikage surrendered and was promptly arrested._

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Now at home once more, Kirby rushed into the little house and went immediately over to his hammock. He had hidden the book there earlier, tucked beneath his pillow so that the littler ones wouldn't find it. Eagerly he tore the pillow off and picked up his hidden treasure.

It was a larger book than the little one had ever read before. It was bound in bright blue leather and had gold leafing on it in the shape of a five pointed star. Kirby didn't need to be able to read to know what that was: the famed symbol of the Star Warriors. As such, the pink Puffal knew that there must be some exciting stories about the Star Warriors hidden within the pages.

He lugged the big book out with him to the kitchen and carefully set it on the small table in there. He then quickly looked in the refrigerator to see what was in there for dinner. He quickly selected several promising looking tomatoes and a huge slice of watermelon before going back to the table. He then settled down to enjoy his dinner as he read.

Kirby's reading skills were not exactly up to the reading level of the book, so reading the actual words was something that didn't really come to his mind. However, despite the book's size, it was full of a lot of beautiful pictures depicting a variety of exciting scenes, so the little one instead decided to look at the pictures and their captions and intuit the story from what they portrayed.

The first picture opened up on two people who had by now become rather familiar. "Sah Meh-tye-an," Kirby mouthed, doing his best to read the caption under the black Puffal and his Dreamlander friend, "an' Sah Eeeh-ran. F-foun-dahs of t'e Stah Wa'ee'yahs." There, he had read a whole two sentences, all by himself. He smiled to himself, proud of his progress.

Ready to move on, he turned the page and found that it was a two page spread. It portrayed the two from before, Sir Metian and Sir Erran apparently, as leading an attack on a hoard of evil looking creatures. Sir Metian, the Puffal, was dressed in a silver mask with a purple cape draping from his shoulders. He held the sword Galaxia on one hand and motioned for a charge with the other. Standing next to him was his partner, the Dreamlander Sir Erran, who held his silver bow at the ready, its blue shaft prepared to be loosed. The warriors behind them were all masked and armed with a variety of weapons, and all of them looked ready to charge once the word was given.

Their opponents, on the other hand, looked like they had no desire to face the warriors. Many monsters of numerous shapes and sizes were turning in flight, doing their best to get as far as possible from the battle. Several of them had turned to roar or snarl at the duo, but none of them were eager to go back and actually fight the heroes head on.

Kirby grinned as he looked at this painting. Why, with pictures such as this, these stories must be very exciting.

He flipped the page, but found to his disappointment that the next pages were merely text. This was a scholarly book, with two rows of small print written on each half of the page. The tot attempted to decipher just what the thousands upon thousands of words could mean, but nothing came, and he finally just began flipping until he found another picture.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long, but what he found rather confused the youngster. Only Sir Metian was present in this picture, but he looked very different from the victorious warrior of the last page. Instead, he was clearly smaller and more sickly looking. He was not jet black here, but more of a chalky grey, and he had been locked in what looked like a giant bird cage. The caption underneath helped somewhat, but not a lot. "Meh-tye-an, wha' a pwis-nah of t'e boo-kah-seh." Boo-kah-seh? No, that didn't sound right. He'd have to ask Meta Knight how that word was pronounced later.

He flipped the page again, this time having to flip for even longer to find something that wasn't the rows and rows of long words. He almost had given up hope when he finally stumbled on a picture of two bird-like creatures that he had never seen before.

The first was a bright pink bird with green and yellow tipped wings, who appeared to be female. She also had a tuft of bright orange hair-like feathers, which was peeking out of brown aviator's cap. She had taken to the air in the picture, and had her wings spread out in flight.

The other bird was remarkably different. Honestly, this one had more than a passing resemblance to King Dedede. He was a good deal shorter, however, and had a pattern of blue and white feathers with two of the white ones sticking out in a way that resembled eyebrows. He was standing beneath his more colorful friend, and was gesturing to her as if giving some directions.

Kirby peered hard at the caption in an attempt to figure out just what was going on. "Ty-ri-ni Win'wing an' Beh-twand t'e Composah, membahs of Big Bahdee Ah'el Sah-cus." He shook his head after mouthing out the words. He had no idea who these people were or their importance to the Star Warriors. He closed the book and though about what he was going to do.

Well, he wasn't going to quit, that was for sure. When times got tough, a Star Warrior didn't quit, they fought to get further along. The pink Puffal decided that he would carry on with the book, and he'd figure out just what was being said if he tried harder.

First, however, there was a piece of cake in the fridge that was calling him. The book could wait just a few minutes, until he had his dessert.

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_Meta Knight sat up in his bed, his mind going over everything that had happened to him after that fateful mission. He had woken up several hours ago and had been permitted to spend some time with his family for a while before he would be questioned._

_Lynette had come first, bringing the baby with her. She seemed to be a bit anxious, considering the attempt on his life that had happened while he slept. Not long after, his mother, father, and sisters joined them. After about an hour, a nurse shooed them out, saying it was time for him to rest. He was rather sad to see them go. It was good to see them again, even if he couldn't see them._

_He chuckled as he thought over that statement. His paw absentmindedly wandered over to the corrective lenses he had been given. Right now, it was little more than a large dish made out of a specific yellow glass, but he had been assured that a new copy of his mask would be made with the lenses in the visor. At the very least, it would allow for a bit more familiarity._

_It didn't take long for the door to open again. In response, he put on the lenses, allowing him to see who had entered._

_Much to his relief, the entire council had not chosen to interrogate him at once. Instead, only Sir Arthur came in, followed closely by Heavy Knight._

_"I suppose you want to know what happened to me in there," he said simply._

_"It would be good for us to know just what happened in all of this craziness," the green Puffal responded. There was no tone of pressure in his voice. He was merely stating a fact. "You and your team are attacked, Jecra and Garlude are killed in action, and you and Daroach disappear and are assumed dead. Then, after eighteen months, you turn up alive outside of NME, and with a child who looks remarkably like you, except that he is an impossible color. You could see why that would seem to require some explanation."_

_Meta pushed himself up in the hospital bed, trying to get more comfortable, which was a feat in and of itself with these new wings. "I do not wish to speak of my adventures out loud," he said in response. "It's a strange story, and one I fear will spread panic if the wrong people hear it. I will, however, write it down so that the council may examine it at their discursion."_

_"He may use my journal for that purpose," Heavy Knight put in. "It is private. None but myself have ever laid eyes on its contents."_

_Sir Arthur nodded at what he heard. "Very well. Please write down everything that happened to you so that we may look it over. Once we know what is going on, we will discuss the matter thoroughly."_

_Heavy Knight fetched the journal and gave it to Meta to write his story down. The blue Puffal took it and a pen, breathed deeply, and wrote about the hell he had been forced to live in his captivity._

To be continued…


	38. Nightmares, Part Two

Adeleine paused in her reading. "The handwriting changes here. I suppose this is where Sir Meta Knight took over writing his story. Maybe we should skip over this section."

"Don't pause!" Tuff declared. "We're just getting good part!"

"Yeah," Ribbon said in agreement. "C'mon, we right at the part where we'd discover what happens! Don't stop here."

There were a few more arguments in favor of continuing. Eventually, the artists consented to the curiosity, and she picked up reading where the new handwriting began.

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_Meta could only peer around in horror at the sight around him. The place was now in ruins, littered with the bodies of the monsters that he and Daroach had succeeded in defeating. However, despite the valiant effort, they had been unable to achieve any success. The bodies of Jecra and Garlude had already been taken away by Yamikage, the traitor, as proof of their team's destruction. Meta couldn't even see where Daroach's remains lay, since the robotic creature he had been facing had taken to the sky before its explosion. He alone stood, the sole survivor of the Four Forces held prisoner by his enemies._

_Though many monsters had been slain in the battle, many more swarmed about him. Two monsters in particular gripped his arms from either side, restraining him so that he could not fight back. Not that he could if they weren't, because he had been disarmed during the battle. Galaxia lay discarded on another side of the dungeon, far out of reach._

_He had been dragged before Nightmare, how now glowered down at the small Puffal. "So thus falls the Four Forces," the warlock said in a mocking tone of voice. "See where your honor and valor have left you."_

_Meta Knight's eyes turned blood red, but he said nothing. He would not give his captor the satisfaction of an argument._

_"_ _Nothing to say?" Nightmare chuckled cruelly. "My, my, how out of character. I had heard you Forces had a tendency to talk your opponents to death while you faced them. What has struck you dumb today?"_

_Once more, the Puffal said nothing, only glaring in unspoken anger at his captor._

_Unexpectedly, Nightmare snatched him up. He began squeezing Meta hard. "I held you once before like this, warrior. Did you know that?" He laughed at the sight of the Puffal, who was holding his breath rather than cry out in pain. "You were little more than a grub at the time. Had I known what a thorn you were going to become, I would have ended you then and there. However, you were merely a pawn. Before I could put you in play, however, your father struck the first blow of this war. The only blow to ever hit me."_

_Here, the warlord's mocking smirk became a scowl. "Your family then succeeded to become one of the most obnoxious things about you pitiful Star Warriors. Especially you and your little Forces._

_"_ _But, that is no matter now." He laughed sadistically as he flung the injured Meta into a nearby wall. "Your Forces are done for and you are about to die." He smirked, looking over at the discarded Galaxia. "And by your own weapon as well."_

_Nightmare flew over, prepared to snatch the golden blade up and slay Meta Knight with it. However, the sword could sense that the individual reaching for it was not only not its master, but had a heart as black and filthy as coal. It refused to be wielded by such an individual, and as such, the moment that the warlock reached down to pick it up, Galaxia unleashed a bolt of electricity the likes of which had never been seen before. Nightmare was not killed by it, but the force of the defense sent him flying back, smashing into a distant wall as he landed._

_"_ _You see, this is why you will fail!" Meta Knight called over, ignoring his own injuries. "You mistake what little power you actually have for real strength. You think you can get more power by using force to bend others to your will, but you lack honor and integrity. Without these two concepts, you will always fail, as Galaxia's rejection of you has shown."_

_The warlock lifted a hand, prepared to strike the Puffal down, but he stopped for a moment. A wicked gleam came into his eyes as he thought. Finally, he spoke. "I may not be able to wield the blade, but I already have its master within my power. All I need to do is break him and bring him to my side, and the power of the sword Galaxia will be at my disposal." With a quick move, he snatched up Meta Knight, and unleashed a surge of magic to knock the Puffal unconscious._

_Before leaving, he turned to two spider-like monsters. "Take that with us," he said, pointing to the discarded Galaxia. "It will come in use later." He then opened up a portal and vanished into it._

_The two monsters quickly sprayed out long strands of webbing and pulled the sword along after them as they followed Nightmare into the portal._

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Nearly two hours had passed by the time that Kirby finally looked up from the book. He still could not understand quite what the long words on most of the pages were, but at the least he had gotten an idea of what the pictures were showing.

From what he could tell, Sir Metian and Sir Erran were friends with each other, like little Kirby himself was with Tiff and Tuff. This idea made the youngster smile, especially since Sir Erran kind of reminded him of the Ebrum siblings. Well, the two warriors teamed up with each other to fight these weird robot things, and then had been given Galaxia and a shiny bow by a giant fire guy. The fire guy also introduced them to Kabu.

The little one was rather surprised to see Kabu's picture in the book, considering that it was probably a really, really long time since the time of these warriors, like maybe twenty start years! The little one, who was only three star years old, shook his head at the idea of such a staggering period of time. _Kabu must be very old_ , he couldn't help but think to himself. He firmly decided to ask the next time he saw the Tiki.

Well, after those pictures, there were lots of pictures of a lot of other creatures. Some of them he recognized, such as other Puffals, Dreamlanders, Waddle Dees, and even a few Cappies. However, a lot of the time they were creatures Kirby could not remember having ever seen before. Those bird creatures from before sprang to mind immediately, but there were other creatures as well of nearly every shape and size imaginable. The little one was rather in awe of the sheer amount of creatures that had come together to form the Star Warriors. He felt honored to be included in this legacy and made a mental note to ask Meta Knight more on this topic the next time he saw his teacher.

The pink tot flipped to find the next picture, and was amazed by what he saw. This was another two page spread, but this time it was just a landscape. In the picture, there was the sight of a majestic mountain range that stood in front of an ocean. The snow peaked caps formed a natural barrier between the grasslands and the water, but that wasn't the most amazing part of it. Nestled in the mountain range was a castle, the likes of which the little one had never seen before. It took a moment just to take in what was seen, and when he was finished, the youngster was so excited that he just flipped to find another one like it rather than slow down and read the caption. His enthusiasm was so intense that he passed by several other smaller pictures without even a second glance.

It didn't take long to find another picture that matched what he had previously seen. Located about forty pages away was another spreadsheet, this time hold the blueprints of a huge space vessel. Kirby didn't need to read the caption for this one, as he near instantly identified the vessel as the _Halberd,_ the ship that Meta Knight had said his mask was based on. The helm of the ship was identical to his teacher's mask, which would have been an amazement had the older warrior not already explained the significance. Other than that, the ship still had many amazing things. It would have been huge, with a wingspan longer than any bird that had ever been seen. It would have been able to travel at warp speeds, which was unheard of even in modern ships. Most of all, it would have been able to house a whole army within itself, but only require a single pilot. If they had a ship like this now, why, they'd never have to worry about mean ol' Nightmare ever again.

Here, Kirby glanced up and looked at the clock in surprise. Why, he hadn't known it was that late. He needed to get to bed if he was going to get up bright and early to ask Meta Knight all the new questions he had.

The little one gave the big book one last sad glance before closing it up and shuffling off. He'd have to look more at it later, but right now, he had to get ready for bed. After all, it was like Tiff's momma always said. _You're a growing boy! You need your sleep!_ The little Puffal had heard that said to Tuff many times while he was at the Ebrum residence, and he would heed the advice.

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_Meta Knight leaned against the wall of his cell, doing his best to keep himself upright. As usually, sleep, for the most part, evaded him. He looked around his prison with dull eyes, having long ago given up any search for a route of escape. The blue Puffal had found, much to his dismay, that it had seemed to be set up specifically to keep him in._

_It was a dank, dark cell hewed out of stone. The door was a long piece of metal propped up so as to block the entrance, with not so much as a window to let a little light in. Everything was very barren, and there wasn't even a pebble that he could have inhaled to use in an attempt to escape._

_It was here in this empty, stuffy room that Meta had spent most of his time. For the first few days, he had fought as hard as he could kicking at the doors and the walls, trying to chip off something of use, or working with his paws to find any sort of flaw that might have been of use. However, after failure after failure after failure, he had finally given up._

_The time when he was not confined to his prison was not any better. Nightmare had seemed to gotten it into his head that he could sway the young Star Warrior to his side, just as long as enough suffering was used to make it seem like a viable option. As a result, Meta had often been handed over to the warlock's minions, and especially to one head scientist that the blue Puffal did not recognize. Time and time again he was handed over to be probed and poked, with who knows what being the result._

_Most recently he had found out that the experiments had caused two claw-like formations to appear on his back. They didn't bother him, for the most part, except when he was lying on his back. He could now no longer lay on his back for the pain, and he refused to allow his enemies to find him lying on his face. As a result, sleep was even harder than it was before, and he could only attempt to doze while he was leaning to one side._

_It was during one of these times that he was rudely awoken by the sound of something striking the metal door. "Wakey, wakey" a guard taunted from outside. "It's time for you to have your meeting with Lord Nightmare."_

_The Puffal scowled but allowed himself to be lead away. He knew what this was about; Nightmare was checking up on his little pet project. The warlock hoped to find the area where the warrior would finally give up and allow himself to be used as a weapon against everything he held dear. Well, Meta Knight wasn't even close to breaking, and he intended to make that completely clear._

_The Puffal walked down the darkened hallways, passing by other cells. He didn't bother glancing at them; most of them only held Nightmare's more dangerous monsters. Most other prisoners were not considered dangerous enough to be transported down to this level. It was an honor reserved only to him._

_As they got closer to Nightmare's throne room, the scenery got a bit more diverse. The non-monster minions of the warlock sneered at him as he passed. Several of them struck out at him, laughing as he either tripped or grunted in pain. He only received a few glances of sympathy from the slaves who were present. They were just as helpless as he was, but it was still comforting._

_It wasn't long before he had reached Nightmare. Seeing his prisoner, the warlock grinned wickedly. "So, have you finally succumbed to reason?" he asked. "All this pain needn't happen. All it would take would be to swear your allegiance to me."_

_"_ _And betray every value that I hold dear? Not to mention those that I love?" The warrior scowled. "I will never kneel to you."_

_Nightmare scowled. It had been two months already, and the Puffal still refused to break. There must be something that would break his resolve. "You realize that the path you are holding to leads only to death?"_

_"_ _That I will join my companions." The memory of Jecra, Garlude, and Daroach's murders were still clear in his memory. "An honorable death is preferable to life as your sniveling crony."_

_The warlock was about to respond when he noticed the two growths coming off of the blue Puffal's shoulders. Telepathically, he contacted his head scientist, a creature by the name of Ifimore._ There are two horn like growths on the subject, _he questioned._ What are they?

Those would be the starting of wing growth, _the scientist responded._ We began experimenting with the subject's DNA, and have begun mutating it for the purpose of use as a monster. We have begun the change slowly, so its body will have time to accept the changes.

And what would happen if the change was accelerated?

Well, at the very least, the forced growth would completely destroy the organs for the copying ability, and its inhale would be drastically decreased. Of course, that is assuming that it survived the sheer pain.

_That was all Nightmare needed to hear._

_Meta watched closely in distrust when his enemy grew oddly silent. He braced himself for whatever might happen, and his instincts were proven correct when the warlock suddenly lashed out, snatching the Puffal up in one hand._

_Without saying a word, Nightmare seized the two claw growths and using his magic, caused them to grow quickly. He pulled out, and instantly, a large pair of blue-black bat wings grew._

_That instant, Meta Knight's whole system lit up on fire. It wasn't just the wing growth, which was painful in and of itself, but his body had to quickly and drastically change to accommodate the new appendages. Bones, which were something usually alien to the Puffal body, were forced to form to hold the wings out. His skin and muscular structure grew and changed to allow for the wings. He could feel these changes and more, and it was almost more than he could bear. He let out an agonized cry of pain before passing out._

_Seeing him black out, Nightmare tossed him aside, assuming that he was dead. "Just another weakling," he said with a sneer. "I might have suspected."_

_He prepared to go to deal with other matters when a sound came from the blue shape. Meta groaned and weakly attempted to push himself up. He had survived. Just barely, but his was still alive._

_"_ _So, you still live, Star Warrior?" Nightmare was impressed by this. There was more to this little creature than one might assume at first glance. He picked the frail figure up by one of his newly formed wings. "You are stronger than I suspected. Why keep resisting? You could have a very high position in my army."_

_Meta Knight glared darkly, his eyes crimson. He said nothing, instead lifting his head and spitting in Nightmare's face in response._

_Nightmare scowled. So the fool still wanted to resist him? If only he had been gain when he was younger and more impressionable…_

_That was it. Nightmare knew how he was going to get the power of Galaxia's wielder on his side. "Move the prisoner to one of the more common cells," he instructed one of his monsters. "He's too weak to be able to escape any more. However, he still is a valuable asset."_

_The two monsters bowed before turning to follow their orders. The warlock grinned as he though over the plan he had come up with. Yes, this would work out quite well._

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Kirby toddled up to the bathroom that had been set up nearby the bedroom. There wasn't a toilet, as the occupants typically didn't need one. However, the water and electricity from the palace wall had been hooked up so as to allow for a sink and bathtub to be set up.

The little one first trundled over to the bathtub and crawled in before starting it up. He didn't know exactly why, but Kirby had never had any problem with baths. The warm water felt good against his skin, especially after a long day of playing or monster fighting. It was almost like he was swimming in his own house, which seemed like a silly thing, but one that was done often.

Once he got the water to the temperature he liked, he plugged up the bath and began splashing around in in warm water. Once he had played for a little while, he poured a little soap into the tub and began cleaning himself off. This felt especially good after his day of training.

His mind wandered back to is copy ability training from that afternoon. Who would have ever thought that a bell could actually make a useful weapon? Somehow, it did, and a rather useful one at that! This made him wonder if there was anything else that that could be copied if he inhaled it.

At that moment, a bubbled floated past the youngster's face. An idea came into his mind, and with a quick movement, he inhaled the bubble. In a flash, he transformed. He now had a blue hat that was crowned with a tower of iridescent bubbles. In his paw was a blue and yellow wand of some kind. He had become Bubble Kirby!

He waved the wand and found to his delight that this caused a bright stream of bubbles to come out. He began waving the want to and fro, testing what techniques produced what sort of bubbles. Soon, the whole room was alive with the dancing spheres.

After he had played with his bubbles for a while, he gave up the ability and drained the bathtub before drying off. He then wandered over to the sink. Sitting in front of the mirror sat a single toothbrush. Honestly, he wasn't exactly sure just what it was for, as he didn't actually have any teeth. Puffals, and especially inhaler Puffals, were more adept to just swallowing their food whole. However, all Kirby's friends needed to brush their teeth, so one day after a trip to the dentist, he had asked for a toothbrush.

He took the small brush out of its cup and began rubbing it against his bottom gum. This was what his friends did, so that was what he supposed he should do.

After "brushing his teeth" for a few seconds, he put the brush back and toddled off to his bedroom. Inside, there was a little hammock, a mirror, and a chest with the few possessions that he had in it.

Before he toddled into his hammock, he wandered over to his chest and opened it up. He pulled out a small journal that Tiff had once given him and a small box of crayons. He had once heard that it as a good idea to write down his experiences from the day in a small book so that he would always remember what had happened. Since he couldn't exactly write yet, he instead drew pictures with his crayons.

He happily drew out everything he could remember from the day. His training days always gave him a lot to draw about. Of course, almost every day did. There was so much that he always wanted to remember.

Once he had finished his drawings, he crawled over into his hammock. He pulled the blanket on over himself, and soon drifted off to sleep, hoping that tonight he would have sweet, peaceful dreams.

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_"_ _Sir Meta? Sir Meta, are you asleep?"_

_Meta Knight stirred from a light doze as he heard the voice call out to him. "If I was, do you think I could answer you, Lalo?" he responded as he unwrapped himself from his wings._

_By now, the warrior had lost track of time, so he had little idea of how long he had been down here. It seemed that, for the most part, Nightmare had lost most interest in him, and was content to allow his minions to do what they wanted with him. For the most part, this just meant throwing him in a ring with a sharpened stick with one of the more savage monsters, watching the fight, and calling it a trial. Meta suspected this new lack of interest came from some new project that he was working on, Project Night-Terror._

_"_ _Oh, uh, sorry." His companion, Lalo, rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Lalo, a purple teen with bright blond hair and no mouth, was a member of the Natani race, the native race of the world Tempus Star. That world had been one of the planets that had fallen to Nightmare's rule, and those who refused to accept the warlock as their leader had been imprisoned and enslaved._

_This didn't seem to effect the youngster that much, though. About as soon as he found out who the new prisoner was, he made it a priority to sneak off and introduce himself. He had a fascination with the Star Warriors, and made certain to ask as many questions as he could._

_Meta didn't mind all that much. The youngster's enthusiasm was rather refreshing and there was no problem in keeping the teen's hope alive. The Puffal thus answered every question he was asked and waited patiently as he was regaled with stories of great Star Warrior victories, even the ones he had been present for._

_He did, however, mind it when his rest was interrupted. He shook the annoyance off before he continued. "Why, may I ask, have you come here this late? You and I will both get into trouble if our captors realize you've been getting out of the slave barracks to come here."_

_"_ _I know," Lalo said quickly, glancing to the side to make sure that none of the guards were coming. "It's just that, well, I think I know where your sword is."_

_This caught the Star Warrior's attention. He had assumed the blade had been lost. If it was here, than it meant that, if he could get out, than there would be a chance of a successful escape. It seemed almost too good to be true._

_"_ _Are you certain of what you saw?" he asked, hoping beyond hope that it was true, but not daring to make a move before he was completely sure. "Might it not have been a different sword?"_

_The Natani shook his head. "No way. This was definitely Galaxia. It was in one of the main laboratories, the one just outside of the place those Night-Terror experiments are going on. It was gold and pronged and everything. That had it all webbed up to the wall, and all of the guards were keeping a good distance from it, like they didn't want to touch it or something."_

_Meta nodded, his eyes flashing green as he thought. "This must be why Nightmare has kept me alive for so long. He hoped that by swaying me, he'd have an opportunity to bring the power of Galaxia to his side."_

_"_ _Yeah, but he was totally wrong!" Lalo exclaimed cheerfully. "There'd be no way you'd ever turn on the Star Warriors!"_

_The blue Puffal smiled to himself. "Quite right. Thank you for this information. Now, I would recommend that you hurry along back to the barracks. There is no need for you to get into trouble."_

_"_ _Uh, before I go, could you, maybe, tell me another story?"_

_"_ _You seem to know these stories better than I do."_

_"_ _Oh, I know, but it's more exciting to listen to when you tell them."_

_The knight chuckled. This would have been an area where Daroach would have thrived. A wave of sadness hit the Puffal as he thought of his deceased friends, but he swallowed it for the youngster's sake. "I suppose I see what you mean. Which one do you wish me to tell?"_

_"_ _The one about the time you were on Popopo with the rest of the Forces and you were ambushed by that Kirisakin."_

_Meta smiled as he remembered the story. "Ah, that was a shining day for the Lady Garlude. I wouldn't be here now if I hadn't have been for her." He began his tale, slipping himself back in memories of better times._

_Halfway through his story, however, he heard something that made him stop. He turned quickly to Lalo. "We will have to finish this story another time. I hear someone coming, so you had best make yourself scarce."_

_Lalo nodded wordlessly and hurried off. Several minutes after the teen had left, two more creatures entered. They were both guards, sent here for reasons that it wasn't hard to guess._

_"_ _C'mon," one of them grunted. "It's time for a trial."_

_Meta went quietly, knowing it would be all the worse for him if he fought against them. Much to his relief, the guards ignored him right back, preferring instead to chat among themselves. As such, he was able to walk down to the match in silence._

_Things started out just as they always did. He was loaded into a small cage, which was then lowered into the pit. From there, he could move somewhat more freely. He calmly moved to the center of the ring, knowing he'd be shot at if he didn't, and picked up the small spear that would be his only defense._

_"_ _Alright, everybody, settle down!" Meta didn't bother to look. He knew who was speaking. Honest John, Nightmare's right hand. "We all know what we're here for: to see if there is finally a monster capable of taking out the fabled Warrior of the Wind. Now, we shall be placing out bets to see if the winner will be the Star Warrior…."_

_Here there was a loud roar of booing and jeering._

_"…_ _or the monster designed just for this occasion, Durveru!"_

_A loud cheering broke out when the monster was named. Meta couldn't see what it was, but he supposed that it was being shown off to the audience, who were clearly pleased with what they saw._

_"_ _Alright, ladies and gentlemen," Honest John stated once the cheering had died down, "let the match begin!"_

_Meta Knight watched the opposite wall, waiting for his opponent to emerge. He didn't have to wait long._

_The Durveru was revolting! It was mostly beige in color, though it was covered with sickly green splotches all over. Its stubby body was attached to six bloated limbs, which didn't look like they belonged to any sort of creature he knew of. Its worst feature, however, had to be its mouth. More a gaping lipless hole with small teeth than an actual mouth, it was constantly open and dripping some sort of liquid._

_The Star Warrior didn't have much time to take in what he was seeing, as the creature attacked nearly as soon as it saw him. It let out a loud shrike and spat something out in his direction. Meta quickly dashed to one side, only just avoiding the stream of putrid liquid._

_Just in time, too. He looked back and saw that the liquid had hit the cage after it missed him. The wooden bars melted nearly as soon as they had been touched._ So that's acid, _he thought to himself._ Good to know.

_He moved as fast as he could, doing his best to keep away from the near constant stream of acid that the monster was spraying. He couldn't get close, and he didn't dare throw the spear, lest the creature melt it and leave him without any sort of defense what so ever._

_This strategy, however, wasn't working very well. He could only keep running for so long before he wore himself out. He didn't dare stop, but he couldn't keep running. It seemed to him that he had no options._

_Or did he? He noticed that he did have some advantages. For one thing, the beast was slow. It's chunky body and stubby legs did not make for fast and agile movement. For another, it practically had no neck. While it could turn its whole body to aim its deadly spray at him while he was on the ground, but if he were in the sky…_

_He looked around the arena for any opportunity. There wasn't much, but he did have his wings. He had never flown before, but it didn't look like he had any other options._

_He turned quickly, hearing the Durveru shriek and run after him. Quickening his pace, he ran as fast as he could for the wall and threw himself against it. Hitting it feet first, he jumped up against it, giving him enough lift to spread his wings into a glide._

_That much had worked. He now could position himself above the creature, which was struggling hard to find where its prey had vanished to. Meta used this opportunity, flinging his spear down hard._

_It worked. The creature was struck hard by the weapon, and was killed nearly as fast._

_There was a loud booing, especially from the audience who had betted against Meta. He did his best to filter out these cries. After all, it was over. He landed and walked over to the corpse to retrieve his weapon._

_However, the moment he touched the staff, the monster's body reacted. It wasn't still alive, but it had been programed with one last attack. When Meta Knight had come to retrieve his weapon, it unleashed a spray of its acid right into the Puffal's face._

_He cried out in pain and clutched at his eyes, which had taken the brunt of the spray. Everything descended into darkness, and he was only vaguely aware when some of the guards came out to drag him off._

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Kirby's hopes for peaceful, dreamless sleep was not granted. However, tonight he had a dream that he had never had before. He couldn't see anything, but he could still hear and feel.

He was wrapped up tight in something small and hard. Despite this, he felt no urge to fight. The tight wrapping was comfortable and familiar, as if he had been there all his life. He just settled down in his little shell and slept.

The sounds, however, were more disconcerting. There was a lot of yelling, especially from a vaguely familiar voice. It seemed to be goading others to do something faster, talking about some sort of glorious rain while he did so. This talk confused Kirby, as he knew what rain was like, and while it might be fun, it wasn't what he would call glorious. Oh, well. Maybe the voice really liked the rain.

It stayed like this for quite a while. Kirby slept as much as he could in his little shell while the voices outside shouted instructions and threats at each other. The little one couldn't help but wonder where he was, but as long as he was stuck in his tight little shell, there really wasn't all that much he could do to change his circumstances.

Then one day, all that changed. He had been sleeping soundly in his little shell when the urge came upon him. He needed to leave this shell; to emerge into the world. He began kicking against the shell as hard as he could. After a few hard kicks, it happened.

He finally broke through.

To be continued…


	39. Nightmares, Part Three

The first thing Kirby noticed once he broke free was that the room he was in was dark and cold. His shell had been dark, but the warmth mixed with the comforting tightness had made it so that the environment was soothing. This place had an oppressive darkness, mixed with a horrible cold.

Kirby attempted to push himself up onto his feet, but before he could do so, he was lifted into the air. He protested against the sudden grab, but there was little he could do except squeak out "Poyo!"

The little one couldn't tell who was lifting him up at first, but he soon got the answer. He was trapped in the clutches of Nightmare himself!

Realizing the predicament he was in, he began yelling and crying as loudly as he could. The warlock, however, was completely unfazed by this reaction. Nightmare grinned cruelly upon the crying infant and held him aloft.

"My minions!" he shouted out in a voice that hurt Kirby's head. "Our victory is at hand! The Night-Terror has been born, and through his actions, the pitiful Star Warriors will fall! The universe will belong to me!"

There was the horrible sound of cheering arose from the area around. It took the little Puffal moment to realize what was happening. He was in the heart of the Nightmare Empire, and caught by the evil warlock himself! He began struggling even harder, desperation to escape filling him.

He didn't have to fight that hard though. After he had gloated over his eminent victory, something changed in Nightmare. His face changed from a look of utter triumph to one of shock. Indeed, the warlock no longer looked like he had achieved his victory. If Kirby didn't know any better, he might have even said that he looked…terrified.

The moment the change occurred, Nightmare also dropped Kirby. When this happened, every one fell completely silent for a moment, staring intently at the youngster. It was all rather eerie.

However, it didn't take long for Nightmare to compose himself. "Kill it!" he shouted as loudly ad he could. "Destroy it now! Do not allow it to escape!"

Panic tore through Kirby as he realized that "it" was him! Without a moment's hesitation, he took off running as fast as he could. He could hear the clatter of hooves, claws, wings, and wheels, as well as a variety of shrieks and howls, as the monsters took off after him. There was only one thought in the little Puffal's mind right now. Run. Run, as hard as you can and as far away as possible. Don't let them catch you.

They will kill you.

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"Hey, this is funny," Ado murmured as the children continued their reading.

"No its not!" Lalala snapped. "This is horrible!"

"Oh, not that," the artist explained quickly. "It's just that, after that story, the pages were ripped out. I don't know what happened."

"So the story ends there?" Tuff asked.

"It can't!" Tiff exclaimed. "How did Sir Meta Knight get out of there?"

"Wait a moment!" Adeleine said, examining the first of the untorn pages. "It looks like this is still with him. This looks like it begins right before his escape…"

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_Meta Knight sat, wrapped in his wings and leaning back against the cell wall. His eyes were open, but that really did not matter all that much, since his incident with the Durveru left him blind. It wasn't like he had much else to do._

_The experiments they had been doing on him had changed since that event. His blindness meant he was no longer an interesting gladiator, so whenever he was brought out, it was for some sort of science experiment that he couldn't really tell what it was. He often overheard the words "the next one" and "Night-Terror," but he really had no idea what those had to do with him._

_His loneliness had increased in this time as well. Lalo had yet to return after the events that led up to the Star Warrior's blinding. Inwardly, Meta hoped this just meant that the teen had become more cautious and had decided against coming to the cell for safety's sake. Deep down, however, he feared that this was not the case._

_In the distance, he could hear Nightmare's voice. He sounded pleased about something or other, though he was too far away to understand the voice clearly. Meta wrapped himself tighter and attempted to filter the cries of triumph coming from the distance out, hoping to get some sleep._

_However, the cries stopped all of a sudden. For a few moments, there was complete silence. Then Nightmare's voice broke through again, and this time Meta had no trouble understanding the words at all._

_"_ _Kill it! Destroy it now! Do not allow it to escape!"_

_The knight smirked as he heard the yell. So, Nightmare was in over his head with his last monster, huh? Well, all the better for the Star Warriors then. The Puffal settled down again, wishing the escapee luck, but not believing that there would be much he could do to help._

_Outside, he could hear the guards moving around in a panic. So, whatever it was had Nightmare in such a panic that he even recalled the guards from their stations, huh? Not that it mattered much to the warrior, who would still be trapped in his cell. He tried to fall asleep again._

_Until he heard the metallic clink._

_This sound broke through to Meta Knight. He wanted to reach out to check immediately, but he didn't dare move until the guards had left. This didn't take too long, though. Once they were gone, he reached a paw out and began feeling around._

_However, he felt nothing on the ground within his paw's reach. However, an idea came to him, and he stooped down a little lower and began feeling around with his wing. That was when he found it._

_The key ring. In their panic, one of the guards had dropped the key ring. A burst of excitement washed through Meta and he grasped the ring tight. Yes, he'd be free soon._

_Without hesitating for a moment, he unlocked his cage and took off as fast as he could; a plan forming in is mind as he did so. First things were first. He'd need to find Galaxia. If Lalo had been right, then the blade was located somewhere in this terror of a fortress. Of only he could see…_

_As he was running, he collided with another figure. For a moment, he feared that he had been found by a guard, but the cry from the other person soon calmed him from that fear._

_"_ _Please sir, don't hurt me!" a frightened female voice squeaked. "I have siblings to take care of!"_

_He realized that it was a slave who, like him, had been attempting to use the chaos as an opportunity to get out. "It's alright," he said calmly, "I'm not on their side. My name is Sir Meta Knight."_

_"_ _Sir Meta Knight?" the other voice said. "As in the Star Warrior?"_

_"_ _Yes. That is me."_

_"_ _Oh, wonderful!" She beamed. "You can help us to escape then! I'm Mimi, by the way."_

_"_ _That is what I hope. However, at the moment, I need your help, Mimi."_

_"_ _My help? How can I help you?"_

_"_ _I am currently unarmed, but a friend of mine has told me where my sword is being kept. Do you know of Lalo?"_

_"_ _Yes, I knew him." Her voice saddened as she said this. "Nightmare's goons took him away one night and he never came back."_

_Meta Knight closed his eyes, realizing that another of his friends had been taken by the warlock. However, he swallowed the emotion and continued on with the matter at hand. "The last time I saw him, he told me that my weapon was being held in a room towards the center of the building."_

_"_ _Oh, you mean the golden sword that's all webbed up?" Her voice brightened. "Yes, I know where that is. That is yours?"_

_"_ _Yes, and it is vital that I regain it if we are to escape."_

_"_ _Alright, I can show you where that is!" she chirped cheerfully. "Just follow me. It's not too far away from here."_

_He took off after her, hoping upon hope that she and Lalo were correct in their assumptions that the blade was Galaxia. If they were, then his freedom, and hopefully the freedom of all the prisoners trapped in this awful place, would be just about guaranteed._

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Kirby didn't dare stop running, even for a brief moment. This horrible place was crawling all over with Nightmare's monsters and minions, and if they caught him, he knew he wouldn't last a moment. He could only hope that he could find a way out of this awful place before he was overwhelmed.

Thankfully, he did seem to have one major advantage over his pursuers: he was small. In fact, he fealt even smaller than he had previously been. Everything seemed too large. He was confused by this sudden change in size, but didn't allow this to keep him from taking advantage of his surroundings.

After fleeing for a few good minute, he spotted an opening in the wall that was just his size. Moving as fast as his feet would take him, he dashed inside and remained silent.

While he was waiting, he noticed a large puddle of water nearby. Relief flooded him when he spotted it, as he realized he could inhale the water and become Water Kirby. At the very least, that meant that he would be able to defend himself.

However, as he crept towards the water, he found that he couldn't inhale. It wasn't that he was trying to inhale and failing, but rather that he couldn't get himself to even try. He just kept moving into the water. It was like he was just an observer along for the ride, and there was nothing that he could do to stop himself.

Much to his relief, however, it appeared that whoever was in charge of moving his body was also interested in protecting him. He swam along through the puddle, which was almost a lake due to his small size, and made it through to the other side. Once he had made it out, he shook the remaining water droplets off and continued his trek.

It wasn't pleasant inside the wall. It was rather damp, cold, and bad smelling, and the glow coming off of the little one's eyes was the only source of light to be found. There were no monsters within the space itself, but that was a cold comfort when he was sure the moment he stepped out he'd be swamped by thousands of the horrible things.

He wished there was someone there to help him. Meta Knight would fight then back in a heartbeat, and Tuff would join him in an instant. Tiff would have an idea about how to distract the monsters and make a clean escape. Ribbon would hug him and reassure that everything would be alright. Even Dedede being there would have been great; he could just smack them all back with his hammer.

But there wasn't anyone there to help him. He was alone in this whole ordeal, and there was no one to call.

Suddenly, he heard voices.

"Hurry, we're almost there," a woman's voice said. "The sword's in the other room."

"Thank you for guiding me," a male voice responded said. "Once I have retrieved Galaxia, I will need you take these and free the rest of the slaves. Get as many as you can out. I will handle Nightmare's lackeys."

Kirby almost jumped with joy when he heard the voices. He knew the male one. It was Meta Knight! So Meta Knight was here to help him after all. He wanted to spring up and call out to his mentor that he was here.

However, once again, he couldn't get his body to do anything in response. Indeed, whoever was in control wanted to get away as soon as possible. After a minute, he could no longer hear any voices any more.

He did find an exit, though. There was a large hole in the wall that had a bright light shining out of it. Without any hesitation, he rushed through the hole and emerged into another room.

Kirby look around and found himself standing in some strange armory. It was lined with all sorts of weapons. Blades, axes, spears, and guns all lined the walls. To make matters worse, many of them were Star Warrior in design.

That's when he spotted something that caught his attention. It was Galaxia, which was webbed up to a higher area of the room. It was a bit out of reach, but if he worked hard enough, he might be able to grab it and hurry to go join Meta Knight.

Thankfully, whoever was controlling his body seemed to have the same idea, at least in getting Galaxia, anyway. He walked over so that he was directly under the sword and began leaping, reaching out for the gleaming blade.

However, while he had his back turned, a monster began creeping up from behind. He didn't know he was in any danger until the monster lashed out, striking him hard in the side.

The little Puffal was knocked hard against the back wall, and could only push himself back up to avoid a large, scythe-like claw as it came smashing down on him.

He looked in horror as he saw a large beetle monster staring at him menacingly. It let out a blood curdling shriek as it charged at him, claws ready for the kill.

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_"_ _Hurry, we're almost there," Mimi said as she guided him to the place where his weapon was. "The sword's in the other room."_

_"_ _Thank you for guiding me," Meta responded once they had come to a stop. "Once I have retrieved Galaxia, I will need you take these and free the rest of the slaves." He handed her the keys before continuing. "Get as many as you can out. I will handle Nightmare's lackeys."_

_"_ _Right away," she said, nodding as she took the keys from him. "I wish you luck!" Once she had called out, she took off to fulfill her own mission._

_"_ _I'm going to need it," he mumbled quietly as he moved into the room. There wasn't any problem in finding Galaxia. While he was blind now, he could still sense light and darkness, and the golden light given off of his blade was enough to guide him to it._

_He had to move up a little bit to retrieve it, as it had been dangling from a web. However, with his new wings, that wasn't exactly a problem. With a few quick flaps, he had made it up to where the sword was. In a moment, he had taken in sword by the handle._

_Much to his excitement, his cape was still there as well. This was great luck, as it was one of the only four Dimensional Capes ever made. The other three had belonged to his team mates._

_Meta Knight didn't have time to let nostalgic melancholy to overcome him that moment, though. Nearly as soon as he had alighted on the ground, he heard the cry of a Sceethal. He knew about this beetle monster. For one thing, it only let out a cry like this when it was about to make a kill. Since he was all alone, than that must mean that he was about to be attacked!_

_Well, he also knew about the Sceethal's weakness: its back was armored, but its front was completely open. Thus, he charged ahead, striking where he heard the cry coming from. However, he was caught off guard when his sword hit hard armor._

_So the monster had been facing away from him? That didn't make any sense to the Star Warrior, but he didn't have any time to try to figure out just what was going on. As soon as Galaxia had come in contact with its shell, the monster spun around and let out another cry, this time striking out at Meta Knight._

_The warrior responded quickly, bringing his sword to match with the monster's claws. It tried to strike out, and at one point came very close to slashing him. However, he was able to use his cape to teleport away, getting the monster to get its claw stuck into the ground._

_This gave him just the opportunity he needed. Once the creature had its claw stuck, he slashed at it with a sword beam. That struck the monster hard, finishing it off._

_Now that he didn't have a monster to face, Meta allowed himself a moment to take a breath. One thing still had him horribly confused. Why had the monster given the killing cry when it had been facing away from him? He was all alone in this room._

_Wasn't he?_

_He suddenly froze as he felt something touch him. At first, he thought it was another monster that had crept up on him while he was taking a break. Then he realized that couldn't be the case. Whatever it was that was touching him, it was too small, too soft, and too gentle. Whatever it was, it wasn't fierce enough to be a monster._

_He soon got his answer about the creature. "Poyo!" came the squeak of a baby Puffal._

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Kirby had been certain that he was finished. As soon as he saw the monster's claw being raised, he knew that there was nothing that he could do to save himself. He whimpered and clutched his head, waiting for the killing blow to fall.

However, it never came. When nothing happened, Kirby peeked open his eyes to see what had stopped his enemy from attacking. Much to his delight, he found that he was no longer alone.

While the monster had been attacking him, Meta Knight had come into the room. He had already reclaimed Galaxia, and was wearing his cape as well, though his mask was missing. The older warrior had attacked the monster, taking its attention off of Kirby and on to him.

Kirby wanted to cheer his teacher on, but whoever was in control of his body seemed content with having him stare in amazement. The knight fought hard against the creature, which shrieked again and began the attack.

The warrior fought hard against the monster, keeping it off of himself of a good while. Once, the creature got close to hitting Meta Knight, but he was too good for the creature's attack to succeed. It lashed out, but he pulled his cape around himself, teleporting a short distance away. This caused the monster's scythe claws to become firmly embedded in the ground. Now that they were stuck, the blue Puffal sent out a sword beam, finishing off the beetle creature.

Now that the battle had been won, the older warrior took a rest. Seeing his opportunity, Kirby ran over to where his mentor was standing. Much to his delight, his body cooperated for once, running over and spreading his little paws wide as he attempted to hug his rescuer. "Poyo!" he squeaked delightedly, just happy to be safe and have help once more.

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_Meta Knight responded quickly when he heard the squeak. He carefully reached a paw down to the little creature, which gave him the clear answer. This was a little Puffal._

_A little confused, he reached down to pick the little one up. Why in this wide universe would Nightmare have an infant Puffal. As far as he knew, the warlock had no interest in Popopo, and Meta doubted that a Star Warrior child would survive for very long in a forsaken place like this._

_As he picked the little one up, another detail became very clear. This was an inhaler Puffal. He could tell because of the child's feet. Star Jumper Puffals have softer feet, which are easier to cut or hurt. That was why all Star Warriors use sabatons. However, Inhaler Puffals have hard, hoof-like feet. Meta never really needed his own sabatons, but wore them for tradition's sake. Now, the question was, what was a baby inhaler doing in a place like this?_

_That's when all the clues came together. He had heard that Project Night-Terror had been an egg. All the battles he had been sent to were called trials, and were meant to test the Night-Terror's limits. How there had been an instant of triumph followed by panicked cries for destruction. It all made sense now._

_The child he now held was a clone. His clone._

_Meta was not quite sure what to think about having a clone. After all, the creature must have been designed to be a monster. That was the only reason that Nightmare would have made him, after all._

_Then he heard another squeak, followed by a timid nuzzle. While this child might have been made to be a monster, he certainly didn't have the disposition of one. The baby was being very affectionate, and from what Meta knew about his own birth, the signs were becoming more and more numerous that the little one had imprinted on him._

_Then the blue Puffal also remembered how Nightmare had acted in a panic. He had wanted to have the little one killed immediately. That meant that there was something about the baby that Nightmare considered a threat; something that had scared him._

_Perhaps the little one had refused to obey the warlord. He had been made too strong to be totally controlled, and something had come up that worried Nightmare._

_Well, if that was the case, then it was clear that there was only one thing to be done. The child was to be taken back to the Star Warriors with him._

_His mind made up, Meta Knight quickly undid his cape, retying it in a way that would allow him to use it to use it as a sling to carry the baby. The little one apparently approved of this plan, as he cooed happily once he had been placed in the sling. He then settled in and started to doze a little, knowing full well that his Papa would be watching out for him._

_This happened none too soon, as well. Nearly as soon as he had the little one settled into the sling, there was a loud cry that was shouted out. They had been found, and were now being pursued by monsters._

_Meta Knight fought as hard as he could against the oncoming tide of monsters. Now that Galaxia was once more in his possession, it didn't take long for him to deal with the creature. He held his wings out, feeling the walls as he ran, using them too find a pathway out of here._

_Not that it was easy, though. Monster after monster came to attack him, and it seemed that there would be no end to all the wretched things. Between him and the baby, it seemed likely that all of NME had been sent to stop them. The only thing that Meta could take comfort in was that if all the monsters were coming for him, that meant that the other slaves had that much easier a time of escaping. He could only just hope that he too would make it outside this horror of a castle to the free skies._

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Kirby clung tight to Meta Knight as the two of them rushed through that horrible place. They rushed through hallway after hallway, desperately hoping to find some sort of way out, but it all seemed to be in vain. No matter where they turned, or what passageway they went down, there seemed to be no exit.

To make matters worse, wave after wave of monsters attacked them as they hurried through. The little one couldn't think of a time when he had seen so many of these creatures, and they all were attacking at once! The little one wanted to spring out of the sling he had been placed in and try to help his mentor in the battle, but once more, he could not make himself do anything. It was like he had been glued into place to keep him from doing anything to assist the elder Puffal. All he could do was cling for dear life and hope that the warrior had things under control.

Thankfully, it seemed that this was indeed the case. Even though Meta Knight was facing the monsters on his own, none of them were capable of standing against the power of the wielder of Galaxia. The Star Warrior fought hard, and even though it was a struggle, they made it through pretty well and pretty quickly.

After about ten minutes of this, Kirby was growing more and more confident that they would make it out. After all, if this was all that Nightmare had to throw at them, then they would certainly be able to make it out without too much difficulty.

That was when he heard it.

_Where do you think you are going, Guardian?_

He heard the awful voice echoing in his mind. There was no deigning it; somehow, Nightmare had gotten into his head. Kirby closed his eyes, trying to force the warlock out, but it was no use. Once the villain had a hold of a victim, he had no intension of letting go.

_Do you really think that you can escape from me? I made you and I can unmake you as well._

Kirby focused hard, trying to filter out the nasty words. That's not true, he thought to himself. Nightmare's lying, just like he always does. Meta Knight will tell you so as soon as we get out of here.

_And do you believe that your newfound champion will be able to save you? That's pathetic. He can't even save himself, none the less you. No, my rogue monster, we will catch up to you, and when we do, I will make certain to finish off your protector myself. Once he is dead, well, then it will be your turn._

The little one whimpered, trying to push the words out of his head. He knew Nightmare was trying to upset him, to make him do something that might reveal his and Kirby's whereabouts and make them an easier target. He dared not do anything like that.

Instead, he focused on the things he knew was true. They would make it out of this horrible situation. Meta Knight would not stop fighting until they both were safe. Nightmare held no power over them.

It was all he could do to keep from giving into Nightmare's terror.

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_Meta Knight continued running through the battered halls of the Nightmare Empire, searching as hard as he could for a way out of the terrible place. Passage after passage and rout after rout were discovered, explored, and abandoned in subsequent order as they raced to find the one that might lead to freedom. The warrior was growing weary in his search, but he didn't dare give up. His survival and the survival of the child depended on it._

_As he ran through, he soon found himself plagued by another trial._

Why are you running, Star Warrior? You'll never find your way out.

_Nightmare had somehow gotten into his head. The blue Puffal shook it off, doing everything in his power to give the warlock no answer. If he wanted to waste his time sending futile messages, than that was his fault._

I understand that you are in a rush to regain your freedom. As it is, I no longer have any need of you. I tell you what; I'll make you a deal.

_The warrior continued running, ignoring what was said. He knew Nightmare well enough. Any deal offered was some sort of snare, set up to entrap its victim. The Puffal shook his head, doing his best to filter out the words._

I have no more use for you, warrior. However, you have something of mine with you. The child you now hold is a monster of mine, a rogue monster who escaped. You have two choices. Either kill the vermin yourself or hand him over to my monsters. After that, you will be allowed to leave.

_So that was what he wanted. Meta Knight reached down and placed a paw on the baby's head. Thankfully, the little one was still snuggled into the sling. He was shivering and gave a small whimper of fright. The older Puffal could guess that Nightmare was also making an assault against the baby._

_"_ _It's alright," the Star Warrior said in a hushed voice. "Do not listen to him. I will not allow him to harm you."_

_The baby seemed to understand, as he responded by reach up and grasping his elder's paw._

There is no need for anyone else to know what went on here. You can go back to your little team and continue on with all your heroics. All that has to happen is for one little monster to die; is that really unreasonable to ask?

_Meta Knight resisted a small chuckle. Something about this child scared Nightmare bad. He scared him enough that the warlock was willing to allow one of his most hated enemies to escape to ensure the child's death. However, the knight had no interest in complying. He would find a way for both himself and the little one to escape, or die in the attempt._

_Furthermore, he suspected that they were close to succeeding. The desperation in Nightmare's offers said that they were close to making it out. All they had to do was keep moving the way they were, and they would soon make it out._

_His persistence was soon rewarded. After fighting against both the waves of monsters and the temptations in his head from Nightmare, he made it to what felt like a large window. He pushed on it, and prepared to break it open._

No! You cannot do that! Stop!

_That was all Meta Knight needed to hear. With a hefty kick, he shattered the glass of the window, and sprang out of it. He still could not tell where he was, but the wind, stark and cold as it was, told him that he had made it outside._

_Nightmare did as well. He could still hear the warlock in his head. The villain cursed at him, and before severing the connection, called up several flying monsters._

_In response, the knight turned around and raised Galaxia, preparing to unleash a sword beam. He could only hope that this attack would be enough to defend the two of them against their foes._

_Before he could unleash the attack, however, he felt a little paw reach up and touch the hilt. He thought of trying to push the little one back, rather than allow him to be harmed by Galaxia's defenses, but something odd happened. The blade accepted the youngster, allowing him to join in the attack._

_Meta Knight accepted the help, and swung hard, unleashing the attack. This was the largest burst of energy that the knight had ever felt. It was so strong that the recoil blast knocked them backwards._

_The last thing Meta Knight sensed was the feeling of striking a rock. He slid to the bottom of it, where, much to his relief, there was a small, cave like structure. He pulled himself and the child into it, and as soon as he was full hidden, fell into unconsciousness, his charge shielded by his wings._

To be continued…


	40. Nightmares, Part Four

All Kirby remembered after the blast from the sword beam was a bright flash of golden light. The two off them were tossed violently backwards. Meta Knight instinctively wrapped his arms and wings around the little one to shield him from the inevitable rough landing, but the pink Puffal could still feel the brunt of the blow.

They hit an outcropping of stone, smacking hard against it before sliding down to the base of it. There was a little cavern there, which the blue Puffal had landed close enough to feel. He crept down into it for shelter, and then wrapped his wings around Kirby to protect his little charge. Once he had done so, he slipped into unconsciousness.

Kirby, however, remained awake and alert. At first he lay still, trusting that this must be some plan of his mentor's, and that they would head out once the time was right. However, after staying down for what seemed to be an eternity, he looked up and realized that the knight was asleep.

Confused as to why the older Puffal was asleep, the little one crept out from his hiding place. "Poyo?" he asked questioningly, before gently pushing against the warrior's face to try to get him to wake up. When this received no response, he tried again harder. "Poyo? Poyo poy!" This, however, also received no reaction, worrying the little one.

To make matters worse, there came voices from the outside. "Did you see how big that flash of light was?"

"Of couse we saw it," a second voice replyed in a kind of scolding tone of voice. "Why else would we be heading out that way?"

"I mean, do we really want to explor what caused it?" the first persisted. "What if it was some sort of super powerful monster?"

"Really, an attack from one of Nightmare's monsters that totally obliterated one of his hideouts? We were just lucky we had gotten all of the slaves out before hand or else we would have been caught in that disaster too!"

"Yeah," a third voice added. "If it was a monster who unleashed that attack, then we wouldn't have to worry about this war. After all, his own troops would be the ones doing all the wrecking."

The voices by now had come up to the cave, and Kirby could now see the masked face of another Puffal peering in. "Hey!" the Puffal, who had the second voice exclaimed. "There's a little kid in here!"

Frightened, the pink Puffal crept back, trying to get as close to Meta Knight as possible. Seeing this, the newcomer reached out. "Hey little guy, don't be scared," he said, trying to keep his voice low. "My name is Sir Kalum. These are Sir Arune and Lady Aria. We're Star Warriors; the good guys. We aren't going to hurt you."

Inwardly, Kirby brightened by this news. Star Warriors! They were as good as saved right now!

However, whoever had control over his body was not as trusting. He fled back under Meta Knight's wing, doing his best to keep out of sight.

Sir Kalum wasn't so easily shaken though. "Hey, don't hide; it's alright. We're just going to…" he trailed off as soon as he saw who the baby was with.

The Puffal soon recovered from his shock. "Hey guys! Head in here! There's somebody in here who's with the kid, and you'll never guess who it is!"

The next person is was a lady who reminded Kirby a little of a cat, followed by a man who also looked like one. "Is that Sir Meta Knight?" the lady asked in surprise. "But isn't he dead?"

"He will be soon if we don't do anything," the second cat alien said. "C'mon, we'd better hurry and get them back to the _Solarian._ "

Immediately, the lady caught a hold of Kirby while here two companions set to moving Meta onto a stretcher. The little one struggled to get away. He continued to fight, reaching out, desperately trying to escape.

He the tumbled head over tails out of his hammock. He blinked for a moment, trying to figure out just where he was. It took a few moments, but he soon recognized that he was in his own little house, safe and sound. The whole thing had only been a dream.

Yet, there was something about this dream that bothered him. It had been too real, too familiar. It was like something that he had sensed before.

Kirby pushed himself up and lumped his blanket back onto his bed. Right now, he had to go tell someone about what he had seen. The little one could only hope that Meta Knight was still awake.

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 _"_ _This is my whole story, and the story of the child I have brought back with me," Meta Knight said as he turned the journal in. He was currently sitting in the main gathering room of the_ Solarian _. The council, which was Sir Arthur, Sir Galahad, Sir Percival, Sir Lancelot, and Sir Heavy Knight, had gathered to discuss what had happen, and what was to be done. Along with them was several of the most prominent Star Warriors, among them being Galacta, who had previously made a name for himself. Finally, the little one himself was present, happily sitting and playing with a few small toys that had been set out for him._

_"_ _You all know what happened after," the Inhaler continued. "Sir Kalum, Sir Arune, and Lady Aria found us and brought us back here. Regrettably, I can tell you no more because of the state I was in, but had recovered sufficiently since then."_

_"_ _This is a strange story," Sir Arthur said, thinking deeply over the story he had been told. "We knew that Nightmare played his hand in making his own creatures, but we have never had a case of one of our own being cloned before. Sir Meta, have you chosen a name for the infant?"_

_"_ _I have," the warrior responded, nodding. "Until his christening, he will be known as Cevio. It is a Boxin name that means 'happy child.' It thought it seemed appropriate."_

_"_ _Until its christening," Galacta snorted, breaking the decorum that none council members do not speak until spoken to. "You speak like we plan to keep the runt."_

_"_ _I do not see why we would not," Meta responded quickly. "He is a child. We could not expect the child to take care of himself. Lynette and I have spoken, and we have applied to adopt young Cevio ourselves."_

_"_ _Adopt it? You speak madness," the red Puffal snarled. "That thing is a monster; I say we kill it here and now and be done with the matter. I'll do the deed myself," he said, reaching for his lance as he did so._

_"_ _Make one move and it will be me you are dealing with," Meta responded, withdrawing Galaxia._

_Before either of them could make a move, however, Sir Lancelot called things to order by slamming his battle ax's handle hard on the ground. "Order! We shall have order! Both of you, put your weapons away. We shall have no fighting among ourselves." When both did as they were told, he turned to Arthur. "Please, continue."_

_The green Puffal nodded. "Thank you, Lancelot. Now, Sir Galacta, we are not going to kill the child. Regardless of how he was born, he is still an infant, and a harmless one at that. We will tolerate no talk about killing him."_

_Galacta sneered, but took his seat wordlessly. Once Sir Arthur had made a pronouncement, no one argued against him._

_"_ _However, Sir Meta Knight, I am afraid I will have to deny both the request for adoption and the request to start training him."_

_"_ _Why?" the Inhaler asked quickly. "As you said yourself, he is harmless. Why would there be anything wrong in taking him on as a student?"_

_"_ _It just would not be prudent at this time," Sir Galahad explained. "We know nothing about how and why he was made, or why he was rejected by Nightmare. There are too many things that can and could go wrong."_

_"_ _Furthermore, no one else knows where he came from," Sir Percival continued. "No one outside of this room is to be told about Cevio's origin, with the exception of highly trusted and full ranked Star Warriors, in the case of an emergency. Introducing him into the Star Warriors without the explanation of where he came from would just raise too many questions."_

_"_ _However, that does not mean that we are turning him out," Heavy Knight said, bringing up a bit of good news. "He is to stay in the orphans' nursery. There we will keep an eye on the little one as he grows, and hopefully we will learn more about his true nature."_

_"_ _When more becomes clear about his origin, then we will reconsider this decision," Sir Arthur said, finishing up the topic. "Until then, he will be cared for, just as any other refugee orphan would be. Am I understood?"_

_Meta Knight looked down. He wanted to argue in the child's favor; speak up that he could tell there would be no problems. However, he also saw the wisdom in what the council had decided. "Perfectly. May I request, at the least, that I be allowed to keep track of his development?"_

_"_ _Certainly," the head of the warrior responded with a nod. "Just report everything you notice about his development. Once the child is a Star Year in age, we will discuss this again._ Donec tenebras perit _."_

"Et ad lumen, nunquam evanescere."

_As they left, Meta couldn't help but look down. This had not gone as he had hoped. However, it hadn't gone horribly, either. Cevio would stay, but he would not be trained. Furthermore, from the looks that Galacta was shooting, he wasn't finished with the argument either. Meta would just have to look after the child closely, until the time when more information was available._

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"Medikni! Medikni! Yew 'wake?"

Meta Knight forced himself awake when he heard the pounding on the door. He had been sleeping peacefully a few minutes ago, but had been startled up when he heard the frantic cries.

"Yes, Kirby, I am awake," he called out, doing his best to mask his grogginess. He went over and opened the door, allowing the youngster to enter. "Now, what is it you need me for?"

The young one looked at his feet. When he had woken up, going to Meta Knight to tell him about his dream had seemed like a good idea, but now that he was actually facing his mentor, he felt ashamed of the fact that he had been so frightened. The fact that this was the second nightmare in a row didn't help things. "Kaabii had a bad dweam…" he said in a hushed tone of voice.

Despite the little one's worries, the elder Puffal did not get upset weh he heard this. Instead, he smiled gently and placed a paw on the younger's head. "You seem to be having those a lot lately. Have you been watching or reading anything particularly scary as of late?"

Kirby quickly shook his head. "Uh-uh. Tiff say scawy movies an' stowies will wot da bwain."

Meta Knight chuckled. "She is definitely right there. Listen to her advice." He walked over to the other side of the room, his eyes flashing green as he did so. "We will need to figure out where these nightmares are coming from. If you are not having any outside sources for the influences of these nightmares, then there might be more to this then just simple dreams." Inwardly, the elder Puffal worried that his student might be suffering from attacks by his enemy. However, he did not voice these concerns, lest he frighten the child only for it to turn out to be nothing at all.

"Now, what have these dreams been about?" he asked as he turned back to the squire. "The content of these dreams might give me a clue as to why you are having them."

Kirby nodded quickly and explained everything he had seen. From being trapped in the small, warm encasing, to his emergence and run in with Nightmare, to his escape and meeting with Meta Knight himself. He detailed out the psychic assault he had taken from Nightmare and how they had pushed their way out of NME and unleashed the Galaxia blast, only to be thrown backwards by the recoil, and how they had been rescued by the other Star Warriors. Finally, he explained how, throughout this whole adventure, he'd had no ability to control anything he was doing; how it had been like someone else was driving him.

As Meta Knight listened, his eyes changed color constantly as he listened and reflected on what he was being told. He certainly knew the story that Kirby was telling him. Indeed, he would never, ever be able to forget everything that had happened in there. However, he did his best to hide how he was feeling, so as not to influence Kirby. However, his wing still twitched involuntarily.

When the little one had finished his story, he looked up imploringly at his teacher. "Kaabii scawed," he whimpered quietly. "Nightmewe been in dweams a wot. Does t'at mean t'at Nightmewe gonna hu't us soon?"

The knight kept his eyes closed, thinking hard of how he should respond. He hadn't wanted to tell Kirby any of this until he was much older, but it didn't seem like he had a choice now. He clutched his paws several times, took a deep breath, and prepared to speak.

"Kirby," he began, speaking slowly, "I never told you how you came to be with the Star Warriors, have I?"

The little one shook his head. "No. Medikni always say t'at a stowy for anudder day."

"Well, today it that day. How much of the Star Warriors do you remember?"

"Uhh," Kirby rubbed his cheek as he tried to think back. "Well, t'ere was wots and wots of metal, an' people wunning awound ev'ywhe'." He closed one eye, trying to think harder. "Medikni was t'ere, an' some'un whi', like Miikii, and wots of ot'ers that were ev'ywhe'. T'at all I wemembah."

Meta Knight nodded once the youngster had finished. "Very well. You remember much more than I would have expected. Now, there is something that I need to tell you. You were not born among the Star Warriors."

"Huh?" Kirby asked, looking up confused. "What Medikni mean?"

The warrior sighed, dreading what he had to say. "Kirby, what you saw wasn't just a dream. If I am correct, that was your birth. You were born within NME."

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_Meta Knight leaned over the small balcony that was attached to his and Lynette's bedroom. It was several months after the rescue and the two year anniversary of the horrible day when he was captured. He had already visited the graves of Jecra and Garlude, and the memorial set up for Daroach, and melancholy was starting to get to him._

_He remembered seeing Jecra and Garlude's two children, Silica and Joe, there as well. Meta's own squires, Sword, Blade, Ax, and Mace, had been tagging along as well. Something about seeing the children there just affected him, and he rushed off to be alone._

_Why had he survived when none of his companions had? What had separated him out? He was not the strongest among them, or the bravest, or anything that might explain his survival._

_The only good thing that had come out of that who ordeal was Cevio. The youngster was growing rapidly every day. While there were still questions surrounding the little one's birth and strange coloring, there had been no sign that he was dangerous._

_However, there were still people who did not like the little boy. Even if they didn't know about his origin as a clone of Meta Knight, the still knew that he had only appeared after the warrior's time as a prisoner in the Nightmare Empire. As such, they didn't trust him, and he was treated vastly different from the other children._

_Of course, this was offset by those who actually knew the child. Lynette had been especially persistent. As the primary pediatrician aboard the_ Solarian, _she was in charge of the health and wellbeing of the orphans aboard the ship. She had been paying special attention to little Cevio, and it was becoming very clear that she was attached to the little boy._

_Meta's own family had similar response. His sisters especially like the little Puffal, and Alivea continued to refer to the youngster as her nephew, even though the adoption had been denied. Seeing such as positive response from those who were close was comforting to Meta, as it gave hope that this whole problem would eventually just blow over._

_However, until then, there was still the apprehension over everything that had happened, and not only about little Cevio. There was the fact that Meta was now bound to his mask, as he would be unable to see anything but light and darkness without it. Furthermore, his wings also caused problems, and some were concerned about him being a monster. Sometimes Meta himself questioned if he had become a monster. This was disproved by the fact that Galaxia still allowed him to be its bearer, but there were still moment when the knight wasn't quite sure._

_He just about jumped when he heard someone coming up behind him. "Meta? Are you alright?" He turned around and realized it was Lynette, who had come back from her work in the med-bay._

_When he gave no response, she went over to him. "Meta, I'm worried about you," his wife said calmly. "You are upset about something; that much I can tell. However, I can't help you unless you tell me what it is."_

_Meta paused for moment before speaking. "Why am I alive?"_

_"_ _What do you mean?" Lynette looked confused at his question._

_"_ _I mean, why did I survive when many others far better than I have fallen?" Tears formed in his eyes as he spoke. "Jecra, Garlude, Daroach. They all died in the attack Yamikage prepared for us. However, I survived when they did not."_

_"_ _And it is miracle that you did," she said. She hugged him before continuing. "I can't say I know why you survived, but I can say that it was for a reason. After all, there have been good to come out. We now know that Yamikage is a traitor, and have caught him before he could be the cause of more bloodshed. You have been restored to us, and I know that no one can argue that is worthless. And then there is Cevio."_

_"_ _Yes, Cevio," he responded. "I won't argue on that, but I can't protect him." He sighed and wrapped a wing around her shoulders. "You see how some people look at him. There's a lot of hostility towards him; towards me, too. There are those who question whether or not what happened to us out there made us…monsters. Sometimes I question it myself."_

_"_ _Now don't be ridiculous." There was a sharp tone that was usually alien to Lynette's soft voice. "You are still you. None of the terrible things that Nightmare did can ever change that. You are still the sweet, kind, honorable man that I married." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "Don't let anyone tell you any differently."_

_He gave a small smile. "How in this universe did I get you to agree to marry me?"_

_"_ _You were the charmer that I knew you to be," she responded, hugging him tight. "We'll get through this, together. All this will eventually blow over, and all will be well. You'll see."_

_The leaned over and kissed, but the sweet moment was broken in an instant. Down, several floors below the balcony there came a sudden cry. Though it was unaccompanied by any words, there was no mistaking what it meant. It was followed shortly by many other cries, all of which were unmistakably children._

_"_ _Cevio!" Lynette cried out. "Something's happening to Cevio!"_

_Without a word, Meta lunged for his sword. Taking Galaxia in hand, he perched for a moment on the balcony before leaping off. He knew Lynette would join him in the Orphan's nursery soon, but this way was faster. He leaped off, spreading his wings out as he did so, allowing him to glide down to the level where the chaos was going on._

_He flew down to the window of the nursery and peered in. The situation was more desperate than anyone had assumed. Somehow, Nightmare had gotten into the nursery and had succeeded in finding Cevio. He had the weeping child clutched tightly in one hand, and it did not take much to guess what the villain's intent was._

_"_ _Why won't you die?!" he sneered, increasing the pressure on the little one. Green sparks of magic flew around as it became clear that Nightmare was attempting an extinguishing._

_Meta Knight responded swiftly. Without hesitating for a moment, he swung Galaxia hard, causing a bright sword beam to flash out, shattering the window. He then shot in like a bullet, ramming Nightmare hard in the middle._

_"_ _You come in the night like a coward to slay a child?!" The knight yelled out. "Face me instead! You will find that I will not be as easy a target."_

_Nightmare, however, seemed to have no intention of facing a grown warrior. He immediately took his orb form and began to fly out._

_Meta, however, could not just watch as he left. He needed to make certain that the warlock was leaving, and would not come back. Thus, he took to the skies himself, flying hard to keep up with his enemy. "Fight me, you coward!" he shouted out as he took the chase._

_The two of them raced through the halls of the station. Nightmare seemed to be somewhat weaker than he usually was, as he must have given up a portion of his power to be able to sneak in unnoticed. As such, he had no desire to face the wielder of Galaxia in one on one combat._

_However, Meta Knight was not to be shaken. The chase went on for nearly a half hour, before Nightmare finally found his opportunity. Seeing the landing bay open, he dodged in, forced the doors open, and plunged through the opening._

_Meta came in time just to see the doors shutting. Well, that was all that needed to be done at the moment. The coward had fled, which meant that the people were safe, at the very least, for the moment. He turned to go back to the nursery to make sure that everything was alright._

_The whole room was in total chaos. Nurses and assistance races here and there, calming the children and trying to set things in order. There were other warriors there was well, alerted by the sudden panicked cries in the middle of the night. Everyone was trying to figure out just what was going on._

_In the center of the room, Lynette sat, clutching a whimpering Cevio close. "There, there, baby. It's alright," she whispered soothingly. "That horrible man is gone. He won't hurt you anymore."_

_Meta settled down and looked closely at the baby. "Is he alright?" he asked, placing a paw on the little one's head._

_Lynette nodded. However, before she could say anything, another voice rang out. "What is going on here?"_

_Everyone turned to see as Sir Heavy Knight enter the room. Sir Arthur had been away on important business and had left the Boxin in charge in the case of an emergency._

_He looked around the chaos of everything going on. "Just what happened in here?"_

_A knave by the name of Julian saluted. "There was an attack here, sir. Nightmare broke in and attempted to extinguish one of the children, the Puffal Cevio."_

_"_ _Is this a joke?" Heavy Knight asked, turning more to Meta than to Julian. "If it is, than it is not funny."_

_"_ _I'm afraid this is no joke," the Inhaler responded. "I interrupted the attack myself and the coward fled."_

_"I see." The Boxin closed his eyes. This was not good. "We will have to contact Arthur immediately. It seems we will have to discuss the child once more."_

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"Wh-wha'?" Kirby asked, his innocent blue eyes opening wide with horror. "Kaabii bown t'ere? Kaabii is monstah?"

"No, no," Meta Knight said quickly, with a bit more harshness than he intended. "That is not what I meant at all."

"T'en why was Kaabii t'ere?" the little one asked, tears still welling in his eyes.

"Frankly, I'm not quite sure," his mentor answered honestly. "I had been there myself for about eighteen months by the time that this all occurred. I had been captured after a traitor, the ninja Yamikage, handed me and my companions over to Nightmare. Two of them, Sir Jecra and Lady Garlude, died in the process. They were Silica and Joseph's parents. My other team member was Sir Daroach, who I believed to be dead until recent circumstances."

Kirby nodded, remembering the adventure where he had met the Red Thief Lord. "Why Yammi-Kagee betway?" he asked, mystified as to why anyone would willingly hand another person over to Nightmare.

"We found out later that he had made an agreement with Nightmare that, in exchange both for his work as a spy and the lives of me and my friends, he would receive a lot of access to NME wicked works."

"However, while Jecra and Garlude died, Daroach survived through being able to use his captor's shell as an escape pod after it exploded, though the injuries he incurred beforehand left him without any memory.

"As for me, my survival was another story." He closed his eyes as unpleasant memories flooded back. The warrior talked slowly, working on a way to explain what had happened, but not terrify the poor child in the process. "I was taken by the forces of NME. At first, I was taken and Nightmare tried to turn me to his side. When that did not succeed, I was left to torture and experimentation.

"Later I was told I had been in that hole for eighteen months, but during that period I couldn't keep track of time. It was just a pattern of pain and misery. However, one day, that all changed. On that day, a project that Nightmare had been working on was going to come to fruition. I had been left behind, so I didn't see anything of what happened, but I heard it. Something was born, something that Nightmare didn't like. Something that scared him.

"That something," Meta Knight said, laying a hand on Kirby's head, "was you. Do not mistake what I am saying. Your egg was hatched in the Nightmare Empire, but I can tell you were never meant for it. I see in you the potential for something much greater, and I intend to help you reach that potential.

"Now, it is late. You have had a long day, and you will need your rest," he said, ushering the child to the door. "If you have any more dreams that seem to be familiar, I want you to tell me."

"A'ight," Kirby said, wiping his face with the side of his paw. "T-t'ank yew."

"You are welcome," the elder responded. "Sleep well."

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"'Upon hearing of the personal attack that Nightmare made on the life of little Cevio, the Council came together and Arthur rethought his decision. To accommodate both parties, the adoption request was still denied, but Meta was allowed to take the child on as a squire. He is to be christened three weeks from today, which will be the earliest a child has ever been christened. He is to be given the name of Kirby, after the legendary hero of old.'" Adeleine looked over the book after she read the last passage. "The story ends here for a while," she said, flipping through page after page.

"So that was how Kirby came to be," Kine said slowly, giving voice to everyone's thoughts.

"It's amazing," Ribbon said, nodding in agreement. "Who would ever think that someone like Kirby could have been made by Nightmare?"

"Yeah, but even though Nightmare cloned him, Kirby still was just like Sir Meta Knight," Tiff pointed out. "That's probably why Nightmare is so afraid of him now."

"Yeah, but I'd still like to know how all this got down to here in Dreamland," Rick said, thinking hard. "We now know almost everything else, but that doesn't tell us how Sir Meta Knight and Nightmare go to Dreamland in the first place, or why Kirby's ship was drawn here."

"I think we might have an answer," Ado commented, looking over some of the sheets. "It's the last passage in this journal, but there is something legible here."

"What does it say?" Lalala asked quickly.

"It's just a short passage," the artist said, "but it seems to give a clue.

"'We have received new info on the whereabouts of Nightmare. After the last few defeats he had suffered at our hands, the warlock fled to find other worlds to boost his power. Much to our shock, it seems that some of his minions have showed their faces on the little planet of Pop Star, in the country of Dreamland.'

"'To intercept this danger, Sir Arthur has hand-picked myself, Meta, Percival, Galahad, and Lancelot to intercept Nightmare before he can begin corrupting the planet. We will meet with a member of the GSA who has been there for a while to be out guide. He's an old friend of Kit Cosmos, so we know he can be trusted.'

"'We must head down to the palace of an individual known as King Dedede to try to keep him and his kingdom from falling to Nightmare's sway. We can only hope we can get there in time.'"

"And what's next?" Chuchu asked, leaning eagerly out of the tank she and Kine were sharing.

"There's nothing," Adeleine responded. "As Ado said before, this was the last passage in the book. This must have been written just before that ship came here. All the pages after a completely blank."

"Well, how are we supposed to find out what happened next?" Tuff asked.

Everyone stayed quiet for a few minutes as they realized their only option. "Well," Ribbon said, giving voice to the realization. "It looks like we are going to have to speak with Sir Meta Knight himself."

To be continued…


	41. Nightmares, Part Five

The kids stood outside, gathered behind the door that marked Sir Meta Knight's room. The group had traveled there from the old ruins in total silence, knowing very well that the old warrior was not going to be very pleased once he knew that they had been reading his life's story. He might even refuse to tell them the rest of what happened, but he might not. They had to try.

After a few moments of building up courage, Tiff reached up and knocked.

"Come in," Meta Knight said, almost reflexively. He had been trying to get to sleep again when he heard the knock, and suspected that it was Kirby. He did not, however, expect that ten of Kirby's friends would come in, all looking rather somber and nervous.

"Ah, I was not expecting you to come," he said kindly. "What is it you wish of me, especially so late at night?"

"Ah, well sir," Ribbon stuttered out. "We kind of have something to ask you about…"

"You seem hesitant to ask," Meta Knight stated, his eyes turning bright green. "I wonder why."

"Well," Ado said, pulling the journal out of her art bag, "We kinda need to show you this first."

The knight took the book and examined it. When he first caught glimpse of it, there was a little sense of Déjà vu, but the moment he opened up the cover, shock gripped him. He knew this book, though he had never expected to see it again. Without saying a word, he examined the pages, looking over every entry he could. He couldn't believe that these children had his father's journal.

His eyes flashed through so many colors that his companions could no longer keep track of just what his precise emotions were. After a few moments of silence, he spoke. "How long have you had this?"

"Ever since we found that old Star Warrior ship," Lalala ventured to answer. "I was buried in one of the rooms."

Meta Knight's next question was not long in coming. "How much do you know about me and about Kirby?"

"Everything," Rick said. "We couldn't believe what was written down. However, the journal ended right before you came to Dreamland, so we wanted to ask how you got here."

Meta Knight closed his eyes, thinking hard. Finally he spoke. "I suppose I can tell you, but on one condition. Not one word you have read is to be told to anyone. It remains among us alone. This is for Kirby's safety."

The group agreed, and Meta Knight thought back to the evening that changed the course of life for so many.

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 _The small group of soldiers had traveled down to Pop Star on Sir Arthur's personal ship, the_ Excalibur. _Though they were quite hopeful that the outcome of this experience would result in a quick ending of the war, there was still a little feeling darkness about it, at least for Meta. He was having a terrible feeling of Déjà vu, like he was going right back into danger. However, he shook this feeling off, certain that he was just nervous about facing Nightmare again. After all, horrible things had happened in the past, and they were going on this mission to be able to keep those things from happening again._

_They had landed the ship in a field that was surrounded by cliffs that was located outside of a small village. There were signs that an excavation had started there, but there was no one around at the time. The ship was hidden in an almost cave-like Cliffside that would offer shelter before they disembarked and headed towards their destination._

_"_ _Alright," Sir Arthur said quietly to his companions. "The palace isn't too far from here, but we'll need to meet up with our guide. He's a GSA member who has been staying on this planet for some time now. He promised his would meet us here, so we need to wait a while for him to arrive."_

_"_ _Not as long as you might suppose, my friend," a voice from the forest spoke up. All the Star Warriors turned to see who was approaching them. It was a tall purple owl who had an armband with the green and yellow insignia of the GSA on it. "Sgt. Coo the owl of the Galaxy Star Army, at your service," the owl said with a polite bow._

"Hey, wait a minute!" Rick exclaimed excitedly. "Coo is a member of the GSA? I've known him since I was a little pup, and that sort of thing has never come in."

"After the events that I am recounting, it was decided that it was wise for those of us still left to bring up our affiliations as little as possible," Meta Knight said, answering the outburst. "Now, please stay quiet while I recount what happened, unless you would like me to stop."

"Oh, sorry, mate," the hamster said embarrassedly. "Please, go on. I'll keep quiet."

"Thank you." The warrior closed his eyes and thought back on the story. "Now, where was I? Oh, yes, that's right."

_"_ _Sgt. Coo the owl of the Galaxy Star Army, at your service," the owl said with a polite bow._

_"_ _Good to meet you, Sgt. Coo," Sir Arthur responded as he and his men returned the bow. "Sgt. Cosmos spoke very highly of you."_

_The owl grinned at that mention. "Knowing Kit, it was probably some of the old war stories, wasn't it? Well, he's right to keep the memories alive, though he has a habit of embellishing some of the details._

_"_ _Now, the head of the Star Warriors and his team didn't come all this way to hear an old bird tell stories, so I'll get down to business. They place we're heading is a castle that was built by a fellow who calls himself King Dedede, though you already know that. Despite the self-given title, Dedede really holds no political power, but this is a populated area, with the village of Cappy Town located right in the palace's shadow."_

_"_ _It Nightmare were able to get a foothold here," Percival said, touching the bottom of his mask I thought, "Then life would turn to hell for its inhabitants."_

_"_ _It's worse than that, I'm afraid," Coo responded. "We didn't know this before, but not long after Dedede started building his palace, an ancient Fountain of Dreams was found."_

_"_ _What! There is a Fountain of Dreams here?" Heavy Knight said quickly. "How come we never knew of this before?"_

_"_ _It had been hidden very well," the owl answered. "Whoever used to live here didn't want the fountain to be found, so it was covered up for a very long time. However, this Dedede fella found a way to get a waddle of Waddle Dees to follow his orders, and they uncovered it in the building of his palace. It is currently the centerpiece in his courtyard."_

_"_ _Then we have no time to waste," Arthur said, drawing his sword out quickly. "Sgt. Coo, please lead us to where Dedede's palace is."_

_"_ _Right away," Coo responded with a salute. He quickly took wing, flying off in the direction of the palace._

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Kirby blinked several times before looking around. Once again, he was in a place he recognized, but only just, and for the life of him, he couldn't say just where that was. He was standing on a little bed in a brightly lit room. Right across from him was a dresser with a mirror, and on it was a little box.

Curiosity overcame the little Puffal, and he quickly toddled off of the bed and took the box down to get a look inside it. The box had a clasp, so it took a moment to undo, but once he was done, he was delighted by what he saw.

Inside, there was a little golden star. It didn't have any sort of engravings or ornamentation, but it didn't need any. Indeed, there was just something about the little star that fascinated him all on its own.

"Kirby? Kirby, where are you?" The little one turned in surprise when he heard a woman's voice calling out to him. He liked the voice, and was very quick to respond.

"Poyo poy!" he called out as he rushed to the voice, waving the little box ahead of him as he did.

The person who had called to him soon came into view. She was another Puffal, a grown up one like Meta Knight, though she didn't have a mask and was white in color. She smiled at the little one when she saw him. "Oh, there you are, Kirby. I've been looking all over for you. What have you got there?"

"P'yah poyo," he said happily, handing her the little box.

"Oh, you found my necklace, did you?" she asked once she saw what it was. She took the little star out of the box and put it on so that the little one could get a good look at this. "This is an old heirloom from my family. Pretty, isn't it?"

"Poyo!" Kirby exclaimed appreciatively.

The lady chuckled at his response. "Yes, I like it quite a lot, too. Did you know it also has a name, just like Galaxia?"

Kirby quickly shook his head in surprise. He couldn't imagine why jewelry, even very pretty jewelry, would be named like a weapon.

"It does, though," the lady said, continuing as she picked the little one up. "It's called the Warp Star Pendant. I'm not quite sure why it's called that, but that's what my mother told to me when I was a little girl, and what her mother told to her."

"Lady Lynette! Lady Lynette! There is an emergency!" The two Puffals turned when a panicked pounding came on the door. The lady Puffal responded, opening the door to see a tall Cappy like creature at the door.

"Sir Ephraim, what is the matter?" she asked, confused by his manor.

"The ship's been invaded," the warrior, Sir Ephraim, responded. "We have no idea how they got on, but we suffering hard. Right now, evacuations of all non-combatants are moving on."

"Alright." Lynette nodded when she heard the news. "Kirby and I will get down to the ships and join the other doctors in seeing who needs to be tended to."

"I'm afraid not, ma'am," the warrior said quickly. "Sir Meta arranged for another mode of transport for you and young Kirby. He seemed insistent the young one needed to be hidden elsewhere, and that you would go with him."

The lady pursed her lip before smiling. "He always suspect there was something about the baby. It makes sense that he'd come up with some sort of escape plan, in case the worst happened.

"Now, who is to come with us?" she asked. "Since Meta and his father went to Pop Star, his mother and sisters are on the _Supernova_ , and my family is in sector Echo-Delta, I assume others have been assigned."

"His students and a handful of selected warriors," Ephraim answered. "The squires are already down there, along with Jecra and Garlude's children. We really need to hurry and get down there."

"Alright." Lynette quickly grabbed a small sling, which she settled Kirby into. She smiled gently at the baby as she then went to pick up a blaster of her own. "Don't worry, sweetie. We're just going on a little trip."

"Poyo?" he murmured questioningly. Something about this just scared him.

"Come, my lady, there is no time!" the warrior called out before leading off at a run. Lynette nodded and followed him down the halls. As they ran, the sounds of battle came closer and closer, and the air of a disaster was becoming much more evident.

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_Within the palace of King Dedede, the pengu was listening to the offer being given to him with rapt attention._

_He had not been in the area for all that long. It had only been a couple of months since he had left his own planet of Arctica to seek his fortune elsewhere. He had crash landed on the planet of Pop Star, and once he had met up with a group of Waddle Dees, it wasn't long before he had built up his own kingdom on the outskirts of a little village known as Cappy Town._

_The Cappies didn't think much of him, but apparently this had not hindered him from being heard of elsewhere. It was a surprise, albeit a pleasant one for the egotistical Dedede, to find out that he had been chosen by an intergalactic corporation to be a member of their customer base._

_He had only been approached that evening by a man calling himself Honest John. This John claimed to represent the company of NME, and that his superior, a man of great wealth and power, had been impressed by the Pengu's sudden rise in power. This superior was so impressed that he was willing to give a device called the monster transport system to Dedede, completely free, as long as the Pengu would agree to sign a contract with NME._

_Dedede was sorely tempted, but not everyone around him was so confident. "I'm not quite sure about this, sire," Thomas Ebrum, Dedede's Cabinet Minister, advised while they were listening to Honest John's pitch. "I mean, we've never even heard of this NME. How are we to be certain that making an agreement with this man is the wisest course of action?"_

_The self-proclaimed king froze for a moment when he heard this. Sir Ebrum had joined up in the palace shortly after Dedede had arrived, along with his pregnant wife Lisa and their toddler daughter Tiffany. There was something about the kid that the Pengu didn't like, but her parents were pretty useful in gaining advice and keeping the ire of the Cappies at bay. Thus, any recommendation given by the Dreamlander man was considered, though it was also often ignored._

_Seeing the hesitation, Honest John sprang in to try to sweeten the deal. "I see you are unsure as to whether or not this product is quality," the man said. "That is quite a reasonable question, and I assure you one we will answer. How about a demonstration to prove that everything will work well."_

_He motioned to the large device, which he had brought with him through methods that had baffled all present. It whirred to life, giving off shots of light and energy as it worked. Once the light show settled down, there was a large pile of gold and jewels sitting on the platform of the machine._

_"_ _Holy guacamole!" Dedede exclaimed excitedly when he spotted the treasure that had been brought into the throne room. He shot off of his throne to examine the pile. "Are all these sparklers for real?"_

_"_ _As real as can be," the spokesman responded, "and they're all yours, along with the transportation device, all for free, provided we make the agreement." He pulled a slip of paper out of his jacket and unfolded it. "So what do you say? Do we have a deal?"_

_The Pengu eagerly began searching his robes for a pen when there was a loud shout. "Stop! You are making a grave mistake!"_

_All eyes turned to see who had made the interruption. Into the room entered the six Star Warriors and the GSA sergeant. It was Sir Arthur who had spoken out, and he continued his protest once they had entered. "Do not make any agreement with this monster," he exclaimed in warning. "If you do, than you condemn your people to tyranny!"_

_"_ _What the-who is this joker?" Dedede asked, confused by the situation._

_No one seemed to pay the confused Pengu any heed. "Well, Sir Arthur and the Star Warriors, what a surprise," Honest John said, turning to the newcomers. "Let me just say that-"_

_"_ _Hold your forked tongue and spare us your lies," Galahad scowled._

_"_ _Hey!" Dedede snapped with all the grace and dignity of a tantrum throwing four year old. "I asked a question and I demand that it be answered!"_

_"_ _We, sir, are the Star Warriors," Sir Heavy Knight answered. "We have come to warn you that the man you are meeting with is a servant of Nightmare, a hideous villain with a scheme to corrupt this world."_

_A fell of shock passed through the throne room. No one there had really heard of who Nightmare was, but it was pretty good common sense that someone going by that name was probably not good._

_"_ _Oh my!" Sir Ebrum declared. "That is no good at all!"_

_"_ _What kind of doofus wants to make a deal with a guy going by the name of Nightmare?" Dedede asked, embarrassed that he had almost been that doofus. "Guards, seize him!" At the call, a troop of spear wielding Waddle Dees tramped in._

_Honest John, however, did not seemed unnerved by this development. "Arthur, as I said before, your arrival is a surprise, but not one that we did not prepare for." He turned a switch on the monster transport system, which began to spark and stuttered wildly. When it finally came to a stop, everyone turned back to look, and found to their horror that Nightmare himself had been transported into the palace._

_In the chaos of the moment, Honest John slipped out and fled, but not before being spotted by Heavy Knight._

_"_ _Meta, go deal with the servant!" he called over to his son. "We can deal with the master!"_

_Meta Knight nodded and took off after the crony. He could only hope that his companions could deal with Nightmare in the meantime._

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As they fled through the darkened hallways of the spaceship, the desperation of their situation became more and more apparent. Though the sounds of battle echoed all around, there was no visible signs of any of the warriors. Every now and then, one of the monsters would creep out of the shadows, only to be blasted by Ephraim or Lynette. Much to the Star Warrior's regret, he had misplaced his spear, and thus was only using his blaster, but for the time being, it was enough.

They were headed to a bunker that was off limits to all but the highest level of Star Warriors, as this was where more experimental ships were built and tested. Sir Meta Knight had been working on his own ship, the _Rising Arrow_ , in this bunker with his students, and it appeared that he had been using this to set up for just this situation.

However, as they drew near the bunker, the situation grew even direr. There was a heart stopping groan of metal on metal, followed by a loud rumble. Becoming worried by the sudden noise, Lynette and Ephraim quickened their pace. Despite their hurry, however, they soon found that they were too late.

"It's empty!" the Star Warrior exclaimed. "They're all gone!"

He was right, and it wasn't just the _Arrow._ All of the ships that had been held in the bunker were gone. This was an effect of a long forgotten safety feature, which expelled all of the ships in the case of an invasion. This left the group in a situation of trouble.

"I-I'm sorry, my lady," Sir Ephraim stuttered out when he saw the empty hangar bay. "I don't know what happened. They were all here when I saw it last."

"Don't worry about that," Lynette said quickly. She glanced down into the sling to check in Kirby, and smiled in relief to see the bright blue eyes staring back at her. "Right now, we'll need to find another way off. Most of the evacuation ships will be gone already, but there must be a few ships left behind in the ordinary hanger."

Ephraim nodded in agreement. "There probably are. We'll need to get a move on so we can get there before we are found."

With that, the two of them hurried off. However, as they moved, more and more of the monsters found them. Thankfully, most of them came the way that the group had already come, but they started to come in swarm after swarm, so that they no longer could fight and run at the same time.

"Take off, Lady Lynette," Ephraim called, turning toward the hoard of monsters. "I'll handle them."

"Are you sure?" Lynette asked, unsure about leaving him alone.

"Go! Protect the baby!" was the response.

Lynette nodded, clutching Kirby close before taking off. Right now, protecting the little Puffal was what mattered. "Good luck," she said quietly, silently praying that the Star Warrior would be alright.

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_The chase through the hallways did not take all too long. The passages were too narrow for Meta to be able to fully utilize his wings, but it wasn't too hard to keep up with Honest John. However, actually facing him was another matter._

_It was clear that the crony had no intention of facing the Star Warrior in a far fight. Making it to a stairway at the base of the hall, he dashed up, making it to the top around the time that Meta Knight made it to the base. As a way of holding the blue Puffal off, he took advantage of several Waddle Dees that happened to be passing by, grabbing one of them and tossing her head first down the stairs._

_This held the knight back for a few moments, as he was unwilling to harm the unfortunate creatures or her companions that ended up toppling head over tails after her. It took a while to sort everything out, and once it was done, the villain had gotten a sizable head start._

_However, it didn't take long to find the clues to Honest John's whereabouts. After running a good portion down the hallway, he found a heavily pregnant woman staggering out of a room. She had a cut over one eye and was doing her best to head down the rest of the way to the wall._

_"_ _Madam!" Meta called over to the woman. "What has happened here?"_

_The woman looked surprised at him for a moment, before somewhat recovering. "A strange man burst into my apartment and attacked me and grabbed my daughter. He took off that way." She pointed off to a staircase at the ending of the hall._

_"_ _Thank you for the information," Meta responded, tearing off down the direction that had been gestured. "I will return your daughter to you."_

_He headed up the hallway and soon found himself out on one of the ramparts. Honest John stood there, holding a little blonde girl over the side of the wall. The child was struggling, but it was to no avail. "Make one move, Star Warrior, and little missy here takes the fall."_

_"_ _Let her go," Meta Knight said darkly. "She has nothing to do with this."_

_The villain looked at him for a moment before laughing. "Au contraire, Meta Knight. She has everything to do with this situation. You see, you know have two choices. Catch me, or," he here gave a slick smile, "catch her."_

_With a swift move, the crony turned and tossed the little girl off of the wall as hard as he could. Meta Knight responded just as fast, spreading his wings out and leaping from the rampart. Flying as quickly as he could, he swooped out and caught the child, quickly reeling around once he had done so and alighting back on the castle wall._

_By the time he arrived back, Honest John had vanished. There was no telling where the villain had gotten to, but it was clear that he was nowhere in sight._

_However, by now, the woman had caught up and emerged with them. Upon seeing her, the little girl rushed over to her. "Mommy!"_

_"_ _Oh, Tiffany, are you alright," the woman exclaimed, taking the little girl up in her arms. "Oh, thank you, sir!"_

_Meta nodded quickly in response, but took off as fast as he could. He had to get back to the throne room to help the others in dealing with Nightmare, and had no time for plaudits._

_However, once he made it back to the room, he was horrified by what he saw. The whole room had been torn to pieces. Both Coo and Sir Ebrum had been knocked unconscious and Dedede was shouting threats from behind his throne. Scattered about the room were panicking Waddle Dees, who were doing their best to remove the bodies of their slain. Furthermore, the empty armor of most of the Star Warriors was scattered about the room, and Nightmare had Sir Heavy Knight by the throat._

_Meta Knight entered just in time to see his father vanish in a plume of smoke, his armor falling empty to the ground. The Puffal froze in shock at first, but then realize what had happened, and what this meant._

_Nightmare had to be stopped, and the Puffal was alone to do that job._

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Lynette staggered through the halls of the invaded ship, struggling desperately to make it to the hangar bay. She had hoped that she would run into some other survivors along the way, but the only living creatures around that she ran into were monsters. As a result, she pretty much had to fight her way alone to be room, with no aid or support, and not guarantee that there would be any escape there.

She glanced down at Kirby, who lay still in his little sling, staring back up at her through frightened blue eyes. She gave him a small smile, doing her best to comfort the little one in this time of crisis. "It's alright," she said in a hushed voice. "We're going to make it. I'll see to it that we make it."

Much to her relief, when she made it to the hangar bay, she found that it was indeed intact and for the most part unharmed. There were signs that had been left from the fleeing evacuation ships, but those didn't interest her. All she cared about was finding a ship that she and the little one could escape on.

However, much to her anguish, there were no multiple passenger ships left. Most of the working ships had been taken and used for the evacuation earlier and those that were left behind would never take to the air again. All that was left were little one person scout ships.

Lynette closes her eyes, realizing the hard decision that she had to make. She quickly selected one of the ships, a little golden one that already had its cockpit open, and gently placed Kirby within. There was no room for two people, so he'd have to take this trip on his own.

Kirby, confused as to why he was being put in on his own, turned to her with outstretched paws. "Poyo?"

"It's going to be alright," she responded, blinking back tears as she did so. Remembering that she still had the Warp Star Pendant on, she quickly took it off and placed over the child's head. "Here. Hold on to this. Can you do that for me?"

The little one looked down at the golden star and back at her. "Poyo," he said, trying to imitate her smile.

"That's my brave boy," she laughed. "Now, I don't know if I'm going to be able to find you again, so I want you to be strong, no matter what. Alright?"

"Poyo!"

She smiled and turned back to the controls. Moving as fast as she could, she programmed the little ship so that it would go into hyper drive until it located a star warrior ship. After all, he wouldn't be safe without other Star Warriors around to protect him. With this design, he would go into time dilation, well out of reach of Nightmare's goons, until there was a time when he would be safe.

She leaned down once more and kissed the little one on the head. "Goodbye, my little one," she said quietly, shutting the cockpit and saying a prayer for his safety. Once she had done so, she turned to find a ship for herself, hoping that she could keep up with him.

Once he was out of sight, however, there came sounds of roaring and growling from outside. The monsters had found them, and had the intention of breaking in. Lynette scowled, knowing darn well that if she took to one of the scout ships, she might lead them right to Kirby. She'd have to find a way of dealing with the monsters first.

Before the little scout ship went into hyper drive, Kirby leaned forwards to look at the place he was leaving. It looked so peaceful for a moment, but once that moment was up, the unthinkable happened. The entire hull cracked, and with the damage done, the whole place imploded.

That was the last thing the little one saw, until everything turned into a blur. It remained that way for quite a while, until one day when everything slowed down.

It was on that day that Kirby saw something that delighted him. It was a bright, glowing yellow star, right in front of him. He admired the view for a moment before the landing shield went up, and he plummeted down to the star.

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_Meta Knight was in for the fight of his life. This much he was certainly aware of. However, he didn't dare allow the desperation of his situation scare him off from what he had to do. Taking Galaxia in hand, he prepared himself for the battle he faced._

_It was then that Nightmare noticed his opponent. "It seems once again, Star Warrior, that you are completely alone. All of your companions here are dead, and I can tell that my own ally has escaped you." The warlock gave a cruel grin. "Give in now and I will allow you the end of your pitiful existence."_

_The warrior said nothing in response. Instead, he lowered his weapon and charged to the battle. Nightmare responded quickly, lashing out with strong beams of magic. Meta only dodged to the side in time to miss taking a full on blow. He was still hit hard on the side, causing him to slow for a moment._

_He still landed a blow on his enemy. Galaxia cut true, slicing right through the warlock's cape. Much to Meta's dismay, however, the strike had not caused his enemy any more than a brief trouble._

_Seeing his shock, Nightmare gave a grin of sadistic glee and struck the knight with another attack. This time, the Puffal was struck hard, causing him to be tossed back, smashing through the window behind him. The momentum took him far, and he crashed into the Fountain of Dreams, knocking its centerpiece out of its potion._

_Nightmare floated out of the hole that Meta had been sent through. He laughed when he saw where the Star Warrior lay. "Do you not see? You can never stop me; you cannot even hope to inconvenience me." He picked the warrior up by his cape. "I am an Ancient, born when the universe was young and gifted with power beyond your wildest imagination._

_"_ _And what are you? Just a pathetic maggot." He laughed again. "You and all your pitiful order are simply insects, not worthy of trying to oppose me. Tonight, I have ended the lives of your council, and of all of your puny order." He psychically assaulted Meta Knight, giving him sights of the Star Warriors as they died._

_Meta struggled hard against the attack, but it was too much for him. He screamed out before going limp with exhaustion._

_Having had enough of his fun, Nightmare flicked him away, causing him to land near the abandoned centerpiece. The warlock then turned his attention to the Fountain of Dreams and prepared to absorb its power._

_However, Meta Knight was not defeated. He didn't know if the deaths he saw was real or not; it didn't matter. All that mattered was that Nightmare was stopped before he could be the cause of any more pain and destruction._

_He glanced over to one side and looked to see what was next to him. The warrior realized with a burst of excitement that it was the Star Rod. Many legends had spoken of this weapon, but it had been lost to the ages. It seemed too good to be true that it would be right here and right now._

_He was not going to gift wheelie in the engine. Pushing himself up, the warrior took up not only his own sword, but in the spur of the moment, took the Star Rod as well. He then stumbled forward, wielding both weapons. "Nightmare!" he cried out. "You want this fountain? Then let it be your tomb!"_

_With that, he swung both weapons hard. A bright golden sword beam was unleashed from Galaxia. Alongside, the Star Rod shot out a bright star, not unlike the ones the Triple Star produced, but larger and much more brilliant. The two attacks mingled before they hit, so that when they did hit, there was a bright burst of light._

_Nightmare was unable to handle such a blow. The force of it knocked the warlock unconscious, and he sank into the waters of the Fountain of Dreams._

_With a quick movement, Meta Knight put the Star Rod back into position. This restarted the fountain, as well as locked Nightmare into stasis. This way, the villain was locked away, and would no longer be any danger._

_His battle with the warlock done, Meta Knight flew quickly off to the_ Excalibur _, eager to report what had happened and return home. Upon entering the ship, he rushed off immediately to the radio. "_ Excalibur _to_ Solarian _, come in_ Solarian _." He waited for a moment, but all he heard was static._

_He tried to message again and again and again, but it was all in vain. All he ever got was static. It was after the seventh try that the awful truth finally hit him. He was the last Star Warrior._

_Seeing no other option, he left the ship. Using several charges that had been in the ship, he buried the ship so that no one of this planet would find it. Finally, letting out a cry of pain and grief, he sank into unconsciousness, assuming that he would never wake up._

_However, he did wake up. He supposed it must have been a while later, since there was bright light. This bright light was all he could see, so he quickly reasoned that he was not wearing his mask. Meta fumbled around for a few moments to find it, and upon doing so, placed it back on and observed his surroundings._

_He was somehow back in the palace. He had been stashed in a spare room and his wounds had been bandaged. There was also other creatures in the doorway, a female Waddle Dee followed by two smaller ones._

_She was holding a bowl in her hands, and as she walked up to him, it became clear the food was for him. He reached out wordlessly to take the bowl, but she shook her head. She motioned for the littler Waddle Dees to bring up a stool. This confused Meta until her intent became clear: she intended to feed him!_

_He tried to resist this at first, holding his mask firmly over his face. The Waddle Dee won out, though, do to his weakened state, and he resentfully allowed her to feed him._

_This was interrupted by a loud voice. "There's the guy I wanted to talk to!" Meta was then allowed his mask back so that he could see who was addressing him._

_It was the Pengu, King Dedede. He seemed enthusiastic to see Meta. "You were the one to defeat that wizard guy, weren't you?" he asked brightly. "Saw everything there myself, and I have to say, I'm quite impressed! That must have been your finest hour!"_

_"_ _Please, be respectful, sire," another voice put in. This was Dedede's Cabinet Minister, Sir Ebrum. "Many died in that fight, including this warrior's companions."_

_"_ _Alright, alright, it was a horrible tragedy and we feel your loss," the Pengu said in a way that made it clear he'd rather discuss other things. "Now, on to other business. Do you have a place to go? If not, I certainly could use a knight of your ability in working for me."_

_Meta Knight wanted to say something, but much to his surprise, his voice was gone. He could only stare out sadly._

_Dedede was not bothered by this. "No refusal? I'll take that as a yes! Nice to have you, uh, what was your name again?" When Meta did not respond again, he just shrugged. "I guess I'll just call you 'Knight.' Well, see you later, Knight!"_

_Once Dedede had left, Sir Ebrum turned to Meta. "Don't worry about him. He's rather rude, but ultimately harmless. My name is Thomas Ebrum, and I have quite a lot to thank you for. It was my daughter you saved that night. If you need any help from me or my family, do not hesitate to ask."_

_Meta Knight nodded, but said nothing. This was his thanks, but despite this offer of help, he had the desire to be alone. He suspected he'd have this desire for a long time._

_For the next ten star years, that was how every day was. The people of Cappy Town accepted that he wasn't evil, but his dark and quiet figure mixed with the fact that he worked for Dedede caused them to distrust him. The Ebrums were very friendly towards him, but he was not the type to socialize often, and thus usually only saw them in work situations._

_Thus, Meta Knight lived alone, never saying a word, with only a secret hope in his heart: the desperate prayer that he was not the Last Star Warrior._

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"It would be a full star decade before I received my answer," Meta Knight said as he finished his story. "As you know, everything was changed by a single event."

"That was Kirby's arrival, wasn't it?" Ribbon asked.

The warrior nodded. "Yes. I don't know why Kirby survived, but I am very grateful that he did. He had apparently been launched into hyperspace. This placed him into a state of time dilation, which kept him from aging."

"I just have one question," Tiff said when he paused. "Why are you so afraid of this getting out? I mean, we took this all well. Why wouldn't anyone else."

"The reason I wish to keep this secret is multifaceted," the warrior said quietly. "On the lowest level, I was ordered to keep this secret by Sir Arthur himself. I know you might not understand this, but the leader of the Star Warriors rarely will ever make a definitive command. When he does, it it because there is some gravely important reason. As such, I have not even told any of my students about this, and even Kirby's own knowledge is very limited. The only person I have updated on this story is Sir Daroach, because he is also a Star Warrior.

"However, that was not the primary reason for my secretiveness." He closed his eyes for a moment before continuing. "Do you remember the reaction that Sir Galacta had to Kirby?"

"Yes," Lololo said in a quiet voice. "But Sir Galacta was a major jerk! You can't really think that everyone's going to act that way."

"Sir Galacta was certainly on an extreme," Meta responded. "His hostility only increased over time, and he was eventually sent away from the Star Warriors because of his actions against Kirby. However, he was not the only one to treat Kirby with aggression. Even those who did not know his origin treated him with distrust, and it took a lot for him to even be christened."

"It is for this reason that I want as few people as possible to know about Kirby's past. His arrival here offered a chance for a new beginning, and I don't want to risk the hostile tensions of the past to arise again. Do you understand?"

The kids nodded, taking in all the information that was given. They didn't quite understand all of his concerns, but they trusted the older warrior enough to believe that he knew what he was doing.

Once they had given the confirmation, he continued. "Very well. Now, I would recommend you all head home. It is quite late, and you had best get to bed while you can."

The group agreed and shuffled out to return to their own homes. Soon, Meta Knight was alone, and the quiet of the room started to get to him.

Without a word, he turned to the old journal and opened it up. Stories of the past came back to him, and in a way, it was like having his old world back. He might never see his family and old friends again, but at the very least, he had a connection back to his past.

To be continued…


	42. King of the Boxin Ring, Part One

"I can't believe it! I just can't believe it!" Tac declared angrily as he and his band trekked through a large wood. "Why, in all this whole dang world, did such a cloud of bad luck have to hit us!?"

His band of thieves, the widely infamous D.O.O.F.U.S., had been walking in the woods for nearly the whole week since they had left Tiramisu city. They had decided to leave the city after one too many run ins with Daroach and his Squeaks, but they did not have a very successful traveling.

At first, J2 had flown up to find out a path to another city where a band of thieves such as themselves might make their fortune. However, it soon became clear that he had not brought enough fuel to have sustained long time flight.

The band was too proud to go back to the city to get more fuel, so they ended up just walking the direction that Tac had a good feeling about. This brought them to a large forest, which they were confident they could make their way through no problem. This resulted in them getting completely and totally lost.

"I mentioned that this was a bad idea," Biospark said under his breath, more to himself than to his companions. "Does anyone ever listen to Biospark? Noooo. Of course we all decide to just go on through the dense forest."

"Come, my fellows!" the ever optimistic Sir Kibble declared. "I'm certain that some rich destination is just beyond yon acre of trees, ripe for the plucking!"

"Just-just shut it!" Smirror growled. "I'm sick and tired of all this talk like we know at all where we are going. Just admit it! We're lost and we're never getting out of this place."

"What I wouldn't give for just one drop," Lanzor sighed, holding his empty flask upside down. "If I had known we were going to be lost forever, I would have brought more."

"Look, we're not lost forever!" Tac declared. "We're going to find our way out of here, and when we do, we'll- d'yaaahhh!" He had shouted out because he had attempted to boldly lead the way through a cluster of bushes, only to not watch where he was going and fall right off of a cliff.

"Hey, boss, are you alright?" Burning Lea asked, bending over to look for the cat. As she peered past, she caught sight of something. "Hey, guys, check it out! The boss was right!"

The other thieves rushed over to see what she was pointing out, and were surprised to see what it was. It was a little village with a large palace looming over it.

Tac grinned once he had composed himself. "Alright, civilization at last. There's bound to be some good loot in there, especially in that palace."

He pulled himself up before addressing his crew. "Okay, band, here's the plan. Lanzor, you take Gim and find some supplies in the village. Biospark, see if you can't find some sort of getaway vehicle. The rest of you, you're with me. We're going to wring that palace dry!"

"Yeah!" everyone but Biospark shouted. The ninja just shook his head, but headed off to do his assigned job. Maybe if things went south, he could just head out without the rest.

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It was a busy day in the palace for almost everyone, and that meant that Dedede was bored. Kirby had been having some dream troubles, which meant that a lot of the time, he was distracting Meta Knight from his own duties. That meant that, even though the pink puff was out on the lawn with his friends right now, the warrior was busy catching up on his own duties. Escargoon had taken the day to go and visit his mother, and Magolor was taking advantage of the free access to all the supplies he without having to fight for them with the annoying skeptic. (Quite frankly, he and the snail hated each other's guts, and both would have left a long time ago if the supplies Dedede gave them were not top quality.) That meant that magic was going to be tossed around left and right, and even Dedede didn't want to get caught in that. Even Bandana Dee was busy, since Mr. Mufflerkins hadn't been feeling well since he had a run in with some wild Wheelies. As a result, Dedede was on his own.

After a good long time of lounging around and sighing, trying to get someone's attention, the Pengu came upon the idea to go and observe his treasury. After all, there was all sorts of good valuables that all belonged to him in there.

He grinned as he turned to head into the little room attached to his bedroom that contained all of the riches. There it lay, in a huge pile that Dedede was very proud of. Most of it was given to him right before he left Arctica to seek his own fortune, but his favorite piece happened to be gained afterwards

It was a bright, golden star pendant on a gold chain. Dedede wasn't really sure where it came from. He found it outside of the Fountain of Dreams shortly after he had found out about Kirby. It had just been lying there, on the ground, just begging him to take it and add it to his collection. And, after all, if it was just begging him, how could he do anything but add it to his own private collection?

He picked up the pendant and put it over his crown as a decoration before going over to admire himself in the mirror. Yep, he was certain he was the wealthiest king around. At the very least, he was the most handsome. And regal, too. Perhaps even genteel, if he ever found out what that meant.

Dedede was enjoying his own ego inflating that he almost missed the cat coming in through the window. Almost.

"Hey!" he shouted, spinning around on the intruder. "Who are you and what do you think you're doing, spying on a guy?"

The cat didn't answer, choosing instead to dash into the room. Without a second thought, the cat charged at him and snatched the necklace. Quickly, he moved over to a shelf, just out of reach of Dedede. "Heh, thanks for the sparkler," he taunted.

Now, he was out of Dedede's reach, but he wasn't out of reach of Dedede's hammer. The weapon smacked hard against the wall, knocking the shelf down and sending the cat ground wards. He hit the floor with a loud thunk, and only recovered in time to look up at a darkly glaring Dedede.

"Any last word?" the Pengu asked menacingly.

"Only two," the cat responded. "Cheese it!"

Dedede had no idea what the cat was taking about, but got an idea when he heard a loud shuffling behind him. There were more crooks, and they had been in the process of bagging up his treasure. Once they had gotten word from their boss, they had taken off and start out the window.

The Pengu turned to catch the thieves, but they had already made it out with a portion of the treasure. He was going to grab their chief by the neck, but he soon realized that the cat had taken advantage of his turned back to also run, this time out a different window. "Thanks for all the gold, lardo," the thief called back mockingly.

"Hey! Get back here, you low down dirty burglar!" He leaned out the window to hurl more insults when he saw something that might help.

In the courtyard, Kirby and his friends had been out playing a game of ball. They were in such an area that the band of thieves were running straight for them.

"Hey, Kirby!" He called out. "Why don't you make yourself useful and stop those bandits!"

"Poyo, wha'?" the little Puffal looked up in confusion, just in time to avoid being bowled over by Tac and his band. He recognized them almost immediately, but something else attracted his interest.

The cat was holding a pendant. A golden star pendant, just like the one the Lady Lynette had given him in his dream. He had to get it back.

Kirby's friend were calling out if he was alright, but he hardly heard them. "Come back!" He called out at the thieves as he ran after them.

"Poyah, Kaabii, p'yu!" Kirsti called out as she and the other babies followed.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ribbon asked as she tried to follow the running Puffals.

"I'm not sure," Tuff responded, "but I'm finding out! Hey, guys! Wait up!"

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"…an' once we get a whole lot of treasure, Ol' Biospark out there's got a boat all set up for us to go sail down the river and make out way out to that island in the Orange Ocean." Lanzor paused in his narrative to take a long drink of ale. He was sitting in Samo's bar, where he had found to his delight that the prices were much lower than in the tavern of the city.

He took out his flask and shook it, dismayed by its emptiness. "Hey, d'ya think ya could fill this up for me, uh…?"

"Samo," the Cappy said as he took the bottle, "and quite certainly. That will be two copper."

Lanzor reached for his wallet, but found to his dismay that there was nothing in it. "Well, about that…"

"Don't worry about it," the bartender said cheerfully. "Just come in and pay when you have the money." He handed the flask back to Lanzor.

The thief grinned brightly. "Thanks, there. You're nice. Nicer than the bar keeps in Tiramisu City. They'd have a…" He was about to finish his story when he looked out of the window and spotted his whole band, fleeing with sacks full of loot. "Uh, I got to go, but thanks for the ale!" With that, he dodged out of the bar.

Biospark had just been lounging out in one of the boats in the pier, which had been built to accommodate those Cappies who enjoyed river fishing. He was just about to take a nap when he spotted the members of his band running up. With sacks of loot. In broad daylight. "Oh, those morons," the ninja groaned into his hands.

"Hey, cheese it!" Tac yelled out as he and the others made it into the boat. "It's the fuzz!"

Biospark looked out and realized that the thief band was being chased…by that pink kid from before. The one that had befriended the Squeaks, and who had that knight guy looking for him. There were seven other little puffballs running after him, and seven other kids from various races after them.

"Of all the-" the ninja growled in annoyance as he untied the boat and push out into the river. "Did you really have to pull a stunt like this in the middle of broad daylight?! Are you really that stupid?"

"Just row!" the cat growled. "We need to get out of here now!"

Kirby made it to the pier just in time to see the bandits make it just out of reach. That wasn't going to stop him, though. Quickly, the little Puffal began to puff up, so that in a moment, he was flying, slowly and surely, to the escaping vehicle.

"Kaabii! P'yo!" Toby called as he and his siblings made it to the pier. They were too little to fly out with him, as their puffs could only take them up and down.

The others soon caught up, though only Lololo, Lalala, and Ribbon were able to follow. The others froze on the shore, trying to figure out what they could do. That was when Adeleine spotted the other boats.

"C'mon!" she called out as she hopped into one. The others nodded, following into the little vessel so they could help their friend.

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Meta Knight had been resting in his own room, half in a doze. He had stayed up for most of the night before, reading his father's journal. The warrior had been doing so for about a week, ever since he had received the book from Kirby's friends. Reading the words printed in the book brought him back to times past, times that he longed to return to.

He was, however, shaken from his rest by shouting. It was Dedede, who seemed to be making demands of some sort.

"I don't care if this is his day off!" the Pengu was yelling. "Meta Knight better get out here right this minute, or I'll go in there and bust some heads myself!"

"Please, sir, listen to reason," Sword pleaded. Inwardly, the veteran chuckled. He knew his knave was doing all he could, but the idea of Dedede, especially a worked up Dedede, listening to reason was rather ridiculous.

"Sir Meta Knight has been through a lot lately," Blade added, trying to back his brother up. "He's resting now, and it would be best if he were allowed to do so. If you will tell Sword and me what your problem is, then we surely can help out with whatever the issue is."

"You knuckleheads don't get it, do ya!" the Pengu retorted.

"Please, sir, there's no need-"

"Those bandits got away with my treasure, and if Kirby and those little friends of his don't catch up to them, then it's as good as gone!"

That startled Meta Knight into rising. He quickly donned his mask and cape and exited into the main living area.

There, the two knights in training were still receiving an earful from the enraged Dedede. Without bothering to make himself known, the veteran knight moved forward. "Thank you, Sword. Blade. I can take it from here."

Before he could say a word, Dedede immediately began addressing Meta Knight, and in the rudest way possible. "'Bout time you decided to get up," he snorted. "While you were lounging around, by palace was sieged by a cat and his group of criminals! Do you know how much I lost?!"

Meta Knight didn't bother telling the Pengu that the palace most certainly had not been sieged, only robbed. He had more pressing issues at hand. "Yes, I heard about the robbery. Now, what did you say about Kirby and the other children?" His eyes started turning a dark red, which Sword and Blade noted and started preparing for. However, the one person it would affect the most took no heed of the changing color.

"Oh, they were outside when the bandit ran," Dedede said, trying to get back to the subject of his treasure. "I sent them to stop the thieves, but the lazy brats didn't catch up! Now-"

"You sent who after the criminals?"

"Those kids! You know, Kirby and those other kids who tend to hang around him," the Pengu snapped. "Aren't you listening to a word I…" It was then that he noticed the rather upset look in Meta Knight eyes. "Uh, well, um."

"[Why do I assume you will ever use any amount of common sense?]" the warrior snapped, ignoring Dedede's confused look. "Which way did the children go?"

"They, uh, headed towards the village," the pretender muttered, shocked by the violent reaction.

Without waiting for a moment, he turned and marched out of the room. "Sword! Blade!"

"Yes, sir?" the two knaves called out, struggling to keep up with him.

"One of you go get the Ebrums. The other needs to go get Mr. Curio." Meta Knight continued out as he gave his orders. "I'm afraid their charges are in some sort of danger. I will go to try to circumvent any trouble, but I have the feeling that I might be too late."

"Aye!"

"We're on it! You can count on us."

Once the two knaves were on their way, Meta Knight made his way to a window, from which he was able to take to the sky. He'd head to the village, and hopefully by the time he got there, it wouldn't be too late.

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The chase between the boats went on as the traveled down the river. The kids had taken two boats since they couldn't all quite fit in a single one. The current took the three boats quickly down, which was only sped up by the fact that that all parties were rowing as fast as they could. Even those who were flying had to struggle hard to keep up.

Around the time that the three boats made it out of the Dreamland Delta and into the two oceans, Kirby finally caught up to the bandit's boat. He immediately released his air, allowing himself to tumble into the craft, grabbing hold of the star pendant as he did so. "Give it back!" he snapped as he pulled at it. "T'is Kaabii's!"

"No way!" Tac responded, pulling hard at the chain. "This is my payday! Let go, you brat!"

The other thieves were going to help him when they spotted something that made them more concerned than the little Puffal. "Uh, boss," Lanzor said as he and the others stared at the newcomer. "You might want to look at this."

"I know about the others!" Tac snapped, assuming that they were talking about the other children. "Come on! Help me!"

"You really should look," Lea said nervously.

"I'm not looking until I get this back from that little brat!" the cat snapped again. "Now help me!"

The bandits only stared for a moment. Finally, Biospark spoke. "It's your funeral." With that, the ninja bailed of the boat, followed closely by the rest of the band.

Tac was about to shout abuses at his cowardly band when he noticed a large shadow looming over the little boat. He only looked up in time to see the cannonball about to smash into them.

Crash! The projectile hit them hard, shattering the boat. Thankfully, neither Kirby nor Tac was hit by the projectile, but were flung to either side of the wreckage. Kirby was able to float to the surface, relieved to find that he was still gripping the pendant in one paw.

"Hey, Kirby! Are you alright?" Kirby looked up and realized that the two other boats, the ones that were carrying his friends, was coming up close. It had been Ribbon who had called out, and she and Lololo and Lalala were flying close to the two boats.

"Poy, Kaabii 'kay!" he called back, waving with the paw holding the pendant.

Seeing him wave, several of the babies leapt cheerfully into the water to go join him. Most of them were caught and returned, but both Andy and Marty were able to make it into the water and over to their eldest brother.

"Good!" the fairy called back as she returned one of the wayward infants. "I'll come over and get you, and then we'll make our way back to shore."

Before she could come, however, Kirby saw something coming up behind them, and realized that this was what had sunk the little boat before. It was a large ship, the likes of which the little one had never seen before. It had cannons sticking out, and was coming right behind his friends.

"Watch out!" he called out, hoping that he could get his warning across in time. However, it came too little, too late, as nearly as soon as the words had left his mouth was a large net launched out of the side of the boat, ensnaring them in the process.

"Hey, what gives?" Tuff asked as he struggled in the net.

"I think we're caught!" Adeleine exclaimed in fright.

"But by who?" Tiff asked nervously as the two boats were lifted out of the water.

Immediately, Kirby began to swim over to try to help, followed closely by Marty and Andy. However, nearly as soon as they got in proximity with the vessel, another net was shot out, catching and hauling up two of them. Only little Marty was left behind, watching in dismay as his friends disappeared from view.

In exhaustion, the little one froze where he was, just floating in the water. That was when he noticed where the ship was moving to. There was an island, somewhat a ways away. The people of Cappy Town knew of it, but had never bothered going there since the side that faced them was full of rocky cliffs.

Well, rocky or not, it looked like that was where the ship was going. Marty began swimming as fast as his little paws would take him to the island, and hoped that he's somehow find some help there.

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Meta Knight made it to the village rather quickly, but by the time he was there, the group had already passed. There was a gathering of Cappies around, conversing in confusion as they tried to figure out just what had gone on.

Chief Bookem was in the center of things, trying hard to get a clear and concise story from someone. The warrior approached him, addressing the police chief first. "What happened here?" he asked as he strode in. "What are all these people shouting about?"

"Oh, Sir Meta Knight, it's you," the chief said, somewhat relieved. Even after all this time, the Cappy officer still wasn't used to the more chaotic events that started happening in the little village, and having the knight around to provide backup was a great deal of help. "There was some sort of stampede that went right through the center of town. Knocked over several stands and everything. Not quite sure what happened though."

"Did it happen to involve a band of strangers?" Meta Knight asked, trying to figure out if D.O.O.F.U.S. might have anything to do with the stampede. "There would have been a cat, and perhaps a witch and a man in yellow armor as well."

"Well, I'm not sure about yellow armor," someone from within the crowd piped up, "but I did talk to a fellow who had purple armor today."

The two of them turned to see Samo, who struggled to get through the mulling crowd. Meta Knight nodded. He had heard from Daroach the descriptions of the bandits who called themselves D.O.O.F.U.S. "Yes that matches the description of one of them. Where did you see him and do you have any idea where he was going?"

Before the bartender could answer, there were more calls.

"Sir Meta Knight!"

"We got your message!"

It was the Ebrum parents, who were running up as fast as they could go, Blade trailing behind them. They had received word from Blade that something had happened with Tiff, Tuff, Lololo, and Lalala, and they had come running as fast as they could.

"What's wrong?" Sir Ebrum asked as they arrived in the group.

"Where are our children? What has happened to them?" Lady Like added, concern clear in her voice.

Meta Knight was about to speak, when another person entered the group. "I came as soon as I heard," Mr. Curio called as he and Sword joined as well. "What's going on? What happened to Ado and Adeleine?"

Meta Knight got to the point of the trouble without mincing words. "I'm afraid that Dedede's gotten the children into danger."

"What!" The cry of shock and outrage was unanimous from the three adults.

"What on Pop Star happened?" Lady Like asked.

"Regrettably, I'm afraid I am rather in the dark about the details myself," Meta Knight answered. "I know that their were thieves involves, and I believe I have an idea as to who the thieves are, but as to where they and the children are at this moment, I cannot say.

"However, it does appear that someone has an idea as to where they are going." He motioned over to Samo, who had just been watching the scene quietly. "You may continue, my friend."

"Oh, yes, right," the bartender stuttered out, trying to find his words once more. "Well, there was a strange fellow who came in, all dressed in purple armor. He didn't give a name or mention who he was with, but he did go one for quite a while about some big job that he and some companions were going to do. I assumed that meant they were delivery carriers or something like that. Well, he mentioned that once the job was done, they were going to head out to that island that's out a ways into Orange Ocean before dashing out."

"Why would he be going there?" Mr. Curio asked. "That island is just baron rock."

"Whatever the reason," Meta Knight said, moving out of the crowd, "it is the only clue as to the whereabouts of the kids. I will make my way out to find them."

"We're coming too!" Sir Ebrum declared, moving to catch up with the Puffal.

"It's our children who are in danger as well," Lady Like added.

Meta Knight paused and turned. "I cannot advise it," he said calmly. "We do not know what sort of dangers we may be facing there."

"It doesn't matter," Mr. Curio said. He was a good deal slower than Meta Knight or the Ebrums, but he had struggled to catch up as well. "If the twins are out there, of couse I'm tagging along."

Under his mask, the knight smiled. "Very well, but we much move fast. We have no time to lose."

The three nodded in response. "Good," he said, before turning to go. "I will catch up with you on the banks of the Dreamland Delta. First, I must find someone who will be coming with us."

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"Oof!"

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Eep! My wings are wet!"

"Poyah eee!"

"Hey! Let me go!"

"What's the big idea?"

"Ahh! Kaabii stuck!"

The kids let out a variety of cries as they were dumped unceremoniously onto the deck of the large ship. The nets had been removed and the little boats were tipped over so that the youngsters had no choice bit be sprawled out in the most undignified way possible. They hadn't even collected themselves when they heard a mean laugh.

"Well, well, well, what have we here?"

The children looked up to see who had addressed them. They saw a teen standing in front of them, dressed in a martial artist's outfit. There were others behind him, and the non Puffals noticed that a good number of them were Boxins. What they were doing on Pop Star was anyone's guess, but they didn't have any time to think over the question.

"A couple of brats who fancy themselves to be sailors, huh?" the martial artist said. "Well, you don't seem to have any treasure on you, so I suppose you'll have to go below the deck as slaves!"

Hearing this, Kirby sprang forward to try to defend the others. "No! Yew wet us go now!" he declared as forcefully as he could. "Kaabii Stah Wa'ee'ya!"

The opponent just laughed at that, until he spotted what was in the little one's paw. "Well, I don't know what a Stah Wa'ee'ya is, but I do know that little pretty belongs to the Cap'n now." He then reached forwards to snatch the little star pendant away.

Kirby jump back, moving the pendant out of reach. "No, not yo's!"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Ribbon scolded.

"Yah!" Tiff agreed, moving in to try to defend the youngster. "What kind of captain picks on a toddler?"

The man stared for a moment before laughing. "Oh, I'm not them Cap'n," he responded.

Before the kids could make a move, someone else reached in, snatching the pendant away from Kirby. "That would be me!" the newcomer shouted.

The children turned and saw themselves facing a large, dog-like brute. He had two long arms that looked like ears to either side of his body, of which his face took up much of. "The name's Cap'n Box Boxer!" the newcomer declared. "Master of the _Snarling Susshi_ and King of the Boxin Island!"

To be continued…


	43. King of the Boxin Ring, Part Two

"I don't see why I have to come along on this errand," Dedede grumbled as he stood on the beach just outside of the Dreamland Delta.

There was a small gathering there at the time, preparing for the journey to the island that currently held their only hope for finding the children. There was a small handful there: Meta Knight, his two knaves, the Ebrum parents, Mr. Curio, and Chief Bookem (who had insisted on coming to arrest the brigands when they caught up with them). Dedede was also there, though he was making it very clear that this was the last place that he wanted to be.

Inwardly, almost everyone was wishing that the Pengu would just pipe down and help with the preparations. "I have already told you," Meta Knight responded as he unloaded a pack of supplies into the boat. "Since you seemed to believe it was a wise idea to send children after the possibly dangerous criminals, it is also your responsibility to help retrieve them."

"Yeah, but how was I ta' know that they were gonna be heading out to some lifeless rock in the middle of nowhere?" The Pengu grumbled and leaned against a nearby tree. "'Sides, they didn't have to listen to me. Far as I can see it, it's Kirby's fault for taking off after them in the first place, and those other kids' for following him. I shouldn't have to be involved in any of this."

"The point still stands that you started this whole problem up," Sword said, relieving his master of the unfortunate task of having to spell everything out for the dim pretender king. "Yes, they are at fault as well, but had you decided to take responsibility for your own treasure, then they wouldn't have been caught up in the first place."

"Well, yeah, but-"

"Oh! I have had enough from you!" Everyone turned silent and stared in surprise at Lady Like, who had just about snapped from all the whining. She turned to the unfortunate Pengu with gritted teeth. "You sent our children out after dangerous criminals to go get back something you lost. You have the gall to blame Kirby because he was kind enough to go try to solve your problem, and try to avoid helping him and the others, even though they got into this mess helping you. Now listen here! Tiff, Tuff, Fololo, and Falala are out there, along with the Twins, Ribbon, and the little Puffals. You are going to come and help us find our children, save them from the dangerous criminals if necessary, and you are not going to complain about it once on this whole trip, or so help me I'll these oars and make you wish it was you who followed them out there. Do I make myself clear?"

Dedede could only stare in open mouthed shock. He had never been so terrified in his life. He could only make his way to the boat, nodding wordlessly as he sat down in it.

"Good." The message carried out, she immediately snapped back to her former demeanor. The Dreamlander lady casually brushed back several locks of hair that had come undone during her scolding. "Well, it looks like we are all set and ready to go. Shall we set out?"

"Uh? Oh, yes," Meta Knight said. He was as surprised as everyone else by the sudden tirade (except Sir Ebrum, who was aware of what his wife was capable of when her children were in danger). After he made a mental note never to ever anger Lisa Like-Ebrum, he continued with the instructions. "Yes, that was the last of the supplies. We shall head out and sail around the eastern side of the island. Hopefully, that will take us to an area where there will be more access to the interior areas. If the thieves are hiding out in that island, that is where they will be. Are there any questions?"

No one had any, so without further ado, the boats were shoved out, and the questers sailed forward, hoping to find sign of the children.

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"Well, Jukid, what do you have here for me?" Box Boxer grinned down at his captives. "A hassle of new slaves, eh?" He laughed a bit. "Well, blondie, you seem to be the eldest here. What's a group of kids like you just floating around in the Orange Ocean?"

Tiff crossed her arms. "My name is Tiffany Ebrum, not 'blondie,' and what we're doing out here is none of your concern. What will be your concern is who we are.

"My father is Sir Thomas Ebrum, the Chamber Minister to a king, and the pink Puffal is Kirby, the squire to Sir Meta Knight of the Star Warriors. If you don't release us immediately, then others will come out looking for us, and I wouldn't want to be you when they come!"

She let that sink in for a moment, expecting that her exclamation might do her and her friends some good. However, after a moment of strange looks from their captors, most of the men started laughing, though Ribbon noticed that none of the Boxin were.

"Well, do ya hear that men?" Boxer said, laughing as he spoke. "Missy there thinks that name dropping is gonna scare us into letting them go! Isn't that a riot?"

Most of the crew laughed in agreement. "Wonder where she got a stupid idea like that, boss," one of them, a creature the kids had never seen before who had a skull on his head, commented.

"Can't say for the life of me," the captain responded. "Looky here, girlie. I am master of the seas here. No amount of prime ministers, or metal knights, or what have you, is about to frighten me. You had better get it clear through your heads that you're my captives now, and I'll say what is to be done around here!"

It was at this moment that Ado realized something. The shock of getting had caused her to forget all about her paintbrush, which was still tucked away in her apron pocket. Quietly, she slipped it out, and silently motioned to Adeleine. The other artist recognized the motion, and quietly took out her own. The two nodded before springing into motion.

Ado was the faster of the two, making her way toward Boxer. She painted up several boulders, which she directed towards the pirate. Adeleine did likewise with Jukid.

However well intentioned, the attacks were not very well thought out. Boxer responded quickly, snatching one of the rocks up and flinging it back at Ado. While she was stunned by this, he grabbed her roughly and tossed her into her sister. The momentum of the throw knocked them both backwards, and over the railing of the ship. The battle was over nearly as soon as it had begun.

The kids looked over the edge in horror after what had happened, but the pirates barely even seemed to register that it had happened. "Well, it seemed the little artist brats attempted a jailbreak," Boxer commented simply. "Let that be a lesson to all of you about what will happen if you attempt to escape.

"Now," he said, turning to his men, "throw them down in the hold with the other troublemaker!" With that, the remaining children were snatched away and tossed into the darkness in the center of the ship.

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"Uh, what happened to me? I feel like I was hit by a freight train." Adeleine forced her eyes open after a moment. She was on a beach on the far side of the island. Sitting near her was Ado, who seemed as worse for wear as she was.

"Sorry 'bout that," her twin laughed. "That was me. Guess we didn't really think that through back there."

"Nope, guess not." Adeleine pushed herself up into a sitting position. She was bruised and sore from the confrontation, but thankfully nothing worse.

"Here," Ado said, handing over her twin's paintbrush. "Thankfully these washed up with us."

"Thanks." Adeleine quickly tucked it away in her apron pocket. "Now, where are we."

"Well, I know we're on that island," was the response. "Other than that, it's beyond me. We'll have to-"

"Sshh!" Adeleine quickly raised a hand. "I just heard something. Someone's near us."

Both twins sat as still as possible, waiting to see who it was that came upon them. They did not have to wait long, as the newcomer rushed out as soon as possible, crying out a happy, "'Do! 'Deleine! Poyo poy poyah poy!"

"Marty! You escaped too?" Adeleine asked cheerfully, scooping up the baby Puffal in her arms as she did.

"How did you get away?" Ado asked, joining up with her sister.

"Poyo Kaabii poy Aandii poyu poy p'yo, fwoosh!" Here, he spread out his arms in a pantomime. "P'yo poy p'ya poyo poyah poy."

The twins remained silent, realizing they had learned absolutely nothing from the baby, and that with his limited vocabulary they were not likely to learn anything of use from him. Instead, they decided to update him as to everything that had gown down in his absence.

"Well, after that, we were captured by these pirates, led by this guy named Box Boxer," Ado explained. "'Leine and I remembered that we both had our paintbrushes on us, so we decided to try to fight back against the pirates. It didn't go all that well, though, and we ended up knocked over board."

"Ohh," Marty said. He looked back up after a moment. "Poyo Fwiends? Kaabii? P'yu Kaastii, Miikii, Aandii, Saami, Cha'lii, Toobii?"

Adeleine shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry. I'm afraid that the pirates still have them."

"But don't worry about it!" Ado declared before the group could get too depressed. "They'll have to land sometime, and when they do, we'll figure out some way to get them back!"

"And I have heard enough." The kids jumped in shock when they realized that someone else had spoken. They turned to see who it was, and were greatly surprised by what they saw.

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It had been several hours after they had traveled off from the beach at the Dreamland Delta and made it to shore on the island. The group of rescuers had successfully pulled in and hidden the boat that they had brought, and were now preparing to head out to search for the children.

"Alright, stay close together everyone," Meta Knight said, withdrawing his sword as he prepared to enter the more dense part of the island. We don't know what we will find here, so everyone will need to stay close together. We will keep an eye out for any sign of the thieves or of the children."

"You mean a sign like that?" Dedede asked, pointing out straight ahead.

The warrior turned with an annoyed look on his face. "We do not have time for any smart remarks right now."

The Pengu, however, was persistent. "No, really, look!"

They all turned and realized what he said was true. Running at them at a speed that would have been thought improbable, was Tac. The cat seemed to be in a panic over something and was desperate to get away.

When they spotted the group from Cappy Town, however, they changed their direction. The adults prepared to fight if it was necessary, but much to their surprise, it wasn't so. As soon as he reached Meta Knight, Tac flung himself at the warrior's feet. "Please, save me!" he cried out in a panic. "There's a monster here who wants to kill me for no good reason! It already got the others! Please protect me!"

All of them stood in shock at the blubbering cat. "You do realize that by handing yourself over, you will be arrested," the Puffal said in a calm tone.

"Yes, yes, taking me in! Just don't let it get me!"

Meta Knight turned without a word to the thief. "Chief?"

Chief Bookem nodded. "Alright. I'm placing you under arrest for theft, assault, resisting arrest, and encouraging someone to leave Samo's without the intent of paying."

The arrest was interrupted when there was a crash through the trees. A large creature dressed up entirely in heavy armor stumbled out. "Where is that cat?" it growled darkly, wielding a dirk in one paw.

Meta Knight stepped in front. "The cat is coming with us. Rest assured, he will be punished for his crimes, but the job will not be done here and now. I ask that put that weapon away now."

They all waited for the newcomer to make a move. They all assumed that it would attack, and that they would have a fight on their hands. However, that was not what happened.

"Meta?" the armored figure said in a softer voice. "Meta, is that you? I thought you were dead."

This reaction was completely unexpected, and Meta Knight was rather taken aback by it. "I can't say I recognize you," he said, softening his voice. "Have we met?"

The other warrior let out a feminine laugh. "I would hope, even after ten Star Years, you would remember your own sister." With that, she removed her helmet, and the blue Puffal could not believe who it was.

"Alivea! You're alive!"

With that, the two siblings embraced, shocked and relieved to find each other alive once more.

"But how could this be?" he asked. "I tried to make contact with other Star Warrior ships but none answered."

"For a long time, I wasn't quite sure myself," the Boxin lady answered. "There was an attack on all fronts, and all of the major ships and stations were taken. As you know, Minney, Kasailee, Rhiennan, and I had been sent out to the station orbiting Rock Star. We fell under attack, and though we tried to defend the station, it was a hopeless battle. I'm afraid the others died in that fight." She looked down sadly before continuing. "Eventually, the few of us that were left were ordered to take the escape pods out. There were about five of us, but I lost contact with the others after landing.

"But what about you?" she said, turning the conversation around. "After the Downfall, I had assumed that I was the only one left, but since you're alive, that is apparently not the case. So, what happened? Did you succeed? Is Papa here as well?"

This time it was Meta's turn to look downcast. "No, I'm afraid not. I regret to say that I am the only survivor of that trip. However, much has happened since we have last seen each other, and explaining all that has gone down will take a long time."

"Ahem! Mind cluing us into what's happening?" a voice said from behind. It had been Dedede who had interrupted, but it was clear that the others were confused as to what was happening to.

Meta Knight nodded, turing to the others gathered around him. "Of course. Where are my manners." He motioned his arm to the Boxin lady. "This may be difficult to believe, but this lady here is my sister, Lady Aliveaniato of the Star Warriors. Alivea, you know Sword and Blade, but may I introduce you to Sir Thomas Ebrum, Lady Lisa Like-Ebrum, Mr. Thaddeus Curio, Chief Marcus Bookem, and *ahem* King Dedede."

Alivea gave a small hybrid between a bow and a curtsy, designed to be used by female warriors while in armor. "It's Aliveavaitger now," she said calmly. Before Meta could ask what she meant, she continued. "I am pleased to make your acquaintance, and hope to hear more of you." The others said they were as well, except for Dedede, who was trying to work out in his head how two people who looked so very different could be related.

"Now," Meta said, turning back to his sister, "there is much I would like to speak of with you, but at the moment, we are on a mission of the utmost importance. We came here, I'm afraid, because of a troubling occurrence. You see, the bandit you were pursuing was a member of a band of thieves."

"I know of them," Alivea laughed. "They tried to rob the village I am currently living in. The others were caught rather easily. I just needed to catch this brigand to bring them all in."

"Well, this goes beyond just them," the Puffal said, continuing. "Before we had ever had any idea of coming to this island, these thieves chose to rob the palace where Dedede lives, taking a good amount of his treasure. Instead of doing the sensible thing and trying to get adult help-"

"Hey! I'm plenty sensamible!"

"Yes. Instead of getting adult help, he chose instead to send a group of children after them. These children, of whom are mine and my companion's charges, chose to chase the villains here. That was the last we heard of them."

The Boxin nodded as she listened. "I see. You came here hoping that they wound up here and could find them. Well, I'm afraid I haven't seen any sign of any children, except of those belonging to the village. We are very careful to keep them within sight, as we have been having some other problems lately."

"However," she did say after a moment's thought, "now that you mention it, there were some reports of a newcomer walking around the island. Several others went out to investigate, but we can't say who it was. Perhaps it was your kids."

"Why don't you come back to the village," she recommended, motioning for them to follow her. "Certainly by know they will have discovered who it was, and if it was your kids, then things will have worked out. I'll explain my side of things on the way."

With that, she turned and headed towards the center of the island. Meta followed closely behind and was followed closely by the others.

While they were moving, Alivea turned to Meta and spoke in a hushed voice. "I truly hope your kids did make it," she whispered. "The village has been under attack for a while now by a pirate calling himself Box Boxer. He claims to be the king of the Boxshuri, though he is no Boxshuri himself, and as a result, he has kidnapped many of our number, including my husband."

Meta looked up a bit surprised by his sister's mention that she was married, but decided not to comment on that. "This does not sound good, but if the young ones have run into him, there is one hope. Kirby is among them."

She looked in surprise at her brother. "So the little one is alive as well? Well, I suppose that shouldn't surprise me. He is your son, after all."

"Regrettably, he is not," Meta said quickly. "You know as well as I that the terms of adoption were denied."

"True." Alivea shrugged casually. "But he still has too much of you in him to be easy to kill. Ah, we are almost there." She moved aside several branches and made her way out, leading the others in the right direction.

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The remaining kids were dragged into the darkness of the hold and flung into a cell at the back wall. Nearly as soon as they were in, the door was slammed shut and locked.

This would not take a damper on them, though. Immediately, they sprang ahead, pushing and pulling at the bars and doing their best to find their way out.

"Hey! You can't do this!" Tiff yelled. "Let us out!"

"Wet us go!" Kirby chimed in.

"I'm afraid that's not going to do us any good," a new voice said, speaking up at a pause in the complaints. "Noise doesn't travel up to the main floors of the ship, and even if it did, it wouldn't matter. We're stuck down here until we make it back to Ice Cream Island, and then it's into the slave barracks."

The kids turned to see who had spoken to them. It was another prisoner, who had been locked up in another cell near their own. He was a grown Boxin with dark reddish brown fur, though it looked black in the darkness. "My name's Turiovaitger, by the way, but you can call me Turio."

Kirby, never one to overlook the opportunity to introduce himself to a new potential friend, eagerly waved. "Hiii, Tu'o! My name Kaabii, and t'is is Kaabii's sistah Kaastii, and Kaabii's bwotahs Miikii, an' Toobii, an' Saami, an' Aandii, an' Cha'lee, an'…" he then turned, noticing the discrepancy. "Whe' Maatii?"

As the little Puffals turned to look around the cell for their wayward brother, Ribbon took over. "Hi. I'm Ribbon. This is Tiff and Tuff Ebrum, and Lololo and Lalala. We're from the village of Cappy Town, in Dreamland."

"Well, I've heard of Dreamland, but I can't say I've ever heard of a Cappy Town," Turio said, leaning back against the wall in his cell. "So, how did you kids end up here? I mean, ol' Boxer and his band's been a problem for us who live on Ice Cream Island, but as far as I know, he hasn't made any ventures onto the mainland.

"Well, we were chasing after some other criminals," Tiff said, explaining how she and her friends ended up in this predicament. "They had headed out down the river and to this island, and we pursued them in several boats. However, we were then attacked and taken aboard this ship, and," she added sadly, "lost several of our friends along the way here."

"I'm sorry to hear that," the Boxin said. "These pirates have been causing trouble for decent folks for a long time."

"Uh, Turio?" Lalala asked. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up in here?"

"I was living with a group of Boxin who had come to this island from Aqua Star," he said, answering the question. "My wife, Alivea, and I worked as the defenders of our village. It wasn't too much of a problem, for the most part. Pop Star doesn't have as many dangerous creatures as places like Aqua Star. As a result, we started to let our guard down a bit.

"That was our mistake. We had been on the island for about three months when Box Boxer showed up. At first, he pretended to be friendly, offering assistance in the work of the village, but after a while, it became clear that he wanted more than he was letting on. He wanted the Efferomite that was in the less inhabitable parts of the island."

"Effo-wah?" Kirby asked.

"Efferomite is a rare substance that that is found in several areas in the oceans of Pop Star," Tiff said, turning to the little Puffal. "Most of it is buried in areas that are underwater, but there are some areas, mostly islands or volcanoes, where deposits are pushed up out of the water. It can be used to power some types of engines, but it is dangerously unstable and you need to be very careful when mining it."

"That was the issue," Turio said, picking up with his story. "He wanted us to mine it for him, but he wouldn't tell us what he wanted it for. Because of this, we refused to help him."

"Well, he didn't take that well, and after a while, Boxer started kidnapping some of us and forcing us to mine it for him. It was mostly fishermen who had been out on the water. I was caught trying to find out where the missing villagers went. After a while, I tried to escape, but as you can see, that didn't go all too well."

"Isn't there any way to get out?" Tuff asked.

"Well, he has one challenge," the Boxin said, "but there really isn't much of a chance with it."

"Poyah?" Andy asked curiously.

"Aandii mean wha' is it?" Kirby translated.

"For some reason, Boxer is obsessed with boxing," Turio answered. "He has it on record that anyone who is willing to challenge him to a match can do so, and if they defeat him, they'll be free. However, he always arranges so that no one can defeat him." He gave a dry chuckle. "Only a few had ever attempted it, but no one's ever been able to stop him."

Hearing this, a plan came into Kirby's mind. He has been trained in Boxin Boxing by Meta Knight himself. Even if Boxer was a cheat, he'd have to give it a chance.

However, he knew the others probably wouldn't agree to it. He'd wait for his opportunity. Which would probably come when they made it to Ice Cream Island. The little Puffal hope that it would be soon.

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As they came into the village, the travelers were nearly swamped by five little Boxins, three little boys and two little girls. They immediately ran up to Alivea, eagerly shouting out all at once.

"Mama! Mama! Did t'e cat get caughted?"

"Who are t'ese people?

"Do t'ey know whe'e Daddy is?"

"T'at one kind of wooks wike one of t'ose kids who I'sanl'n bwought in a while ago."

"T'at's wight! I'sanl'n bwought some new kids he'e, Mama! Can we go say hi?"

There were others there as well, all Boxins for the most part, who stared in curiosity at the newcomers. However, they seemed to decide that it wasn't their place to speak up, and thus were content to watch as the group of excited children bounced up and down, shouting out their questions.

"Alright, alright, everyone settle down," Alivea laughed, calming the group down. "Now, first of all, there is someone here I want you to meet." She motioned over to Meta Knight, who was standing nearby, watching with a mixture of amazement and concern, his mind wandering over to his own missing charges. "Kids, this is your Uncle Meta."

The kids looked up in amazement, but seemed to accept their mother's words rather quickly. Several of them, two of the little boys and the lighter furred of the girls rushed over to him.

"Yew'r Uncle Medda?" the bigger of the boys asked. "My name is Ma'cious, and this is Joaiewin and Xiandwa." He then pointed a paw back to the two siblings who had lagged behind. "T'at's Hectoea and Sanda'wo, but t'ey aw shy."

"I am quite pleased to meet you," Meta said, giving a bow as he spoke. The kids seemed excited by this and eager to make themselves acquainted, but Alivea spoke up first."

"Alright, Marcious, thank you. Now, your uncle and his friends have some very important business to get to. It's an emergency, so we're going to need to talk with Chief Danlin right now. Where is he?"

The tot eagerly pointed to a wooden building that was located in the center of the camp. "He's in t'e main meeting ha'. T'at's w'eh t'ey took t'e new kids, and t'ey haven' come out."

"Thank you," Alivea said, gently ruffling her son's head fur. "Why don't you take your siblings and go see grandma? I'm sure she'd be happy to see you."

"A'ight! C'mon guys!" the Boxin pup called out, and he ran off, followed close behind by his siblings.

"My mother in law watches them all the time," Alivea said with a smile as she turned back to the other adults. "Now, we'll need to go in to see Chief Danlin. He's the one who lead the expedition here from Aqua Star. I'll introduce you, and he'll explain what our problem has been from there."

The group nodded, staying close to the Boxin Lady as she entered into the wooden building. The only exception was Chief Bookem, who decided it would be better that he stay outside and keep guard over Tac, who was just waiting for attention to turn so that he could get away.

It was dimmer inside the building than outside. The little cabin like structure had been built for discussions in secrecy, and as such, there were not windows in it. The light was mainly provided by several torches that had been set up along the walls. There were signs that the building was still under construction, so there might be other lights in the future, but the recent trouble had caused the work to pause.

There were several adult Boxin standing a large table, and an older white Boxin seemed to be presiding over what was going on. However, it was not the Boxins that first greeted them.

"Medikni!" Marty cried out excitedly, rushing over to greet his father figure. He, along with Ado and Adeleine had been seated at the table, answering the questions from the adult Boxins and explaining their predicament.

The two artists also sprang up in excitement when they realized who it was. "Look! Mr. Curio came too!"

"And the other adults from the village! Boy, are we glad to see you guys!"

As they group had their greetings, the white Boxin rose and spoke to them. "So, you are from Cappy Town? My name is Danlincaptano, and I am the chief of the Ice Cream Island village. I welcome you in, but I wish I could say this was an opportune time to visit."

"They already know about Box Boxer," Alivea said. "I explained to them what has been happening to us on the way here, and it seems that they might be effected by the pirate as well."

"We are!" Adeleine piped up. "When we were chasing the bandits out into the Orange Ocean, the boat the criminals were in was sunk, and the rest of us were captured!"

"Yeah!" Ado said in agreement. "The only reason Adeleine and I escaped was that we tried to fight back, and Boxer had us thrown overboard. He still has the others captured on his ship!"

"Poy poy poyo poyah poyu!" Marty yelled, doing his best to add in what information he could.

"Let us get things into order," Meta Knight said, raising a paw to try to calm down the group. "Now, first things first." He bowed respectfully to Danlin. "I thank you for your welcome, chieftain. My name is Sir Metanaito, knight of the Star Warriors. With me are Sir Ebrum and Lady Like of the Dreamlandian tribe, the Cappies Mr. Thaddeus Curio and Chief Marcus Bookem, my knaves, Sword and Blade, also of the Star Warriors, and the Pengu Dedede."

" _King_ Dedede," the Pengu called out in annoyance, though nobody really payed attention to him.

"Now, as my sister Alivea and the children have said," Meta said, motioning to the Boxin lady, "we have come here on a mission of great importance."

"I have heard." The elderly Boxin nodded. "The children have explained how their companions have been imprisoned by Box Boxer."

"Then as you know, we must find where the pirate is so that we can rescue our children."

"A task easier said than done." Danlin sat down. "We do know where the pirate band hides, but we have tried many times already, and none of our attempts has succeeded."

Meta Knight knodded. "I understand, but we cannot leave without fulfilling our mission."

"We can't?" Dedede whined. He was about to complain more, only to catch a hostile look from Lady Like. Realizing the position of danger he was in, the Pengu sunk down silently.

"I see." The Boxin chief nodded. "Then please let me catch you up on what we know, and then we can come up with a plan."

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It didn't take too long before the ship stopped again, and the kids along with their new friend were chained together (except for the Puffals, who were tossed in a sack) and hustled out. It soon became clear that they were in a cavern of some sort. They didn't have all too long to look around, however, as soon Box Boxer himself came up.

"Alright, you scum," he snarled. "It's time you all got to work. You're here to mine for me, and if you cooperate, you just might get to see the light of day again. Understand?"

The captives scowled, but no sound was made. They might not have liked the position they were in, but none of them could see a way out.

Well, none but one.

"No! Kaabii's fwiends not wo'k for bad man!"

Boxer scowled when he heard this. "Alright, which of you fools said that?"

Kirby struggled from within the sack. "Kaabii say so! Kaabii challenge Boxsah!"

Immediately, the guard tossed the little Puffal out of his prison, and Boxer snatched him up. "What did you say, runt?"

The Star Warrior squire was completely unafraid. "Kaabii challenges Boxsah to a boxin' ma'ts! If Kaabii win, yew wet ev'y'un go and give Kaabii's stah back."

"No, Kirby! Don't do this!" Ribbon called out. The other kids backed her up, doing what they could to try to convince the little Puffal not to go through with his plan.

However, Boxer seemed amused by the idea. "Well, you want to challenge me to a match, eh? Well, I don't see why not. If you win, I'll return this little star of yours and let everyone go. When I win," he added, "then you and all your friends will stay here and work for the rest of your miserable lives, and I keep whatever I want. So, do we have a deal?" He held out a hand to Kirby.

The little one frowned. This was a lot to risk, but he risked even more if he did nothing. Ignoring the cries of his friends, he reached out a paw to Boxer. "Deal."

Boxer laughed once the deal had been made. "Alright lads! We have a challenger! Take him to the prep cell, and take the others to the barracks!" The pirate laughed, ignoring the arrays of outcry that was coming from the captives. He enjoyed it when a slave challenged him to a match because he liked winning. Box Boxer always won. He made sure of that.

To be continued…


	44. King of the Boxin Ring, Part Three

"Thankfully, there is not a lot I have to catch you up on." Chief Danlin spoke as the group sat around a large table. Refreshments had been set out for the travelers, and they ate as they listened to the explanation. "Alivea has already updated you on out recent grievances with the pirate Box Boxer. Quite a few of our own people have gone missing since he began his campaign against us, and there is often little we can do against him."

"I've been able to take him and his men on a couple of time," Alivea commented. "However, I only have my own weapons from my time in the Star Warriors, and since I was the only one here trained by them at the time, I was often outnumbered. My husband, Turio, did what he could to help me, but since he wasn't a Star Warrior, and was unfamiliar with the weapons the pirates were using…" She drifted off, not wanting to finish the sentence.

Meta Knight nodded, placing a paw on his sister's shoulder. He knew what it felt like to lose one's spouse. "It will be alright. We'll find him."

She gave her brother a small smile in response. At the very least, the discovery of Meta's survival had been some comfort.

Taking the moment to begin speaking again, Danlin produced a map. "This is a map of the island that was drawn up shortly before we settled here," the elderly Boxin commented. He pointed out to the outcropping that was facing the mainland. "This is where the pirate is hiding. There is a cave opening in the side where his ships come and go. As far as we know, this is the only way in and out of the hiding place."

"Well, it seems pretty straightforward, then," Mr. Curio commented. "All we have to do is set up some sort of barricade from the outside. They cannot remain in there forever, and eventually, when they are not strong enough to face us any longer, we storm in."

The white Boxin shook his head at the idea. "Under most circumstances, I would have agreed with you, my friend. However, that is simply not possible. We have attempted that plan, you see. The pirate has weapons planted just outside the cavern, weapons the likes of which we have never seen before. None of our own ships have never lasted more than a few moments before were where shot out the water."

"Well, that is a nasty problem." Sir Ebrum scratched his head as he studied the map. "We'll need to figure out some way to get into there without those weapons being able to hit us, or us being detected at all."

"That is an impossible feat." Ilsanlain, a Boxin warrior who had been sitting in on the meeting, shook his head. There is no way for us to make it in there without any sort of detection. The cave is only accessible through the water, and any boat, even the smallest fishing dingy, will be seen in a moment. It's not like we can just fly in there."

Meta Knight gave a chuckle at that. "Or can we?" he asked, giving a knowing smile under his mask. "Chief Danlin, would you mind showing me the actual location of the cavern?"

The elderly Boxin nodded. "Of course. It is not too difficult find, but we much keep our distance for obvious reasons."

The warrior nodded. "Very well. I only need to see the layout." He looked up, and it was clear to see that his eyes were green. "I believe I may have a solution to our problem."

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Kirby sat in a small cell that had been set up for holding those slave who would accept Box Boxer's challenge. It was a large stone room, designed to hold a lot of prisoners, since in the early days many did accept the challenge. However, when it became clear that the "challenge" was just a façade rigged for the pirate's own amusement, fewer of the captives took it up, so the little one was on his own at the moment.

He looked down at his feet, thinking it over just what he was going to do. He'd only had a few lessons with Meta Knight since that first day. He had improved, even to the point where he had almost beaten his teacher, and had caught him by surprise several times.

Meta Knight, however, had been working with him and trying to train him. He was a tough teacher, but he was in no way the hostile opponent that Box Boxer was certain to be. Inwardly, the little one began to worry that he had made the choice too hastily, and that there was no way he could win this.

He forced those ideas away. No, the little one was certain this was the right path. After all, there wasn't any way this challenge was going to make anything worse. He and his friends were already captives, and it wasn't like Boxer had intended just to let them go.

No. This was the only chance that they would have to earn their freedom. Kirby had no doubt that Boxer intended to cheat. The Puffal would just have to expect it and prepare for the inevitable dirty moves, and compensate for them.

He jumped up at the sound of the doorway opening. It was one of Boxer's men. He glared cruelly at the little one. "Alright, runty," he laughed. "Time for your beat down."

Kirby wasn't quite sure where he was being led to. He hadn't seen any of the hallways he was seeing now on his trip to his cell. All the floors were sloping down, with none of them even vaguely hinting at up. They seemed to be traveling into the very center of Pop Star.

That wasn't a very comforting idea. The little Puffal remembered sitting in on one of his friends' classes at a local school house where he found out that the center of Pop Star, and indeed the center of every planet, was molten metal. He wasn't fond of the idea of having a match over molten metal.

Thankfully, when he came out into the ring, there wasn't any molten metal to be seen. Instead, there was a deep pit that had been hewn out of the stone itself. Inside, it had been filled with packed down dirt and there was a white circle that had been painted on the ground, just like a larger version of the one that Meta Knight had used to teach him with. Around the pit was arena style seating in two rows. A variety of Boxer's goons sat, eager to watch what was certainly to be a no barriers beat down.

As soon as they made it out, the guard delivered a swift kick, punting Kirby into the arena. "Alright, tubby. In ya go!"

The little one was unable to prepare himself for the kick, and was only able to catch himself in time to place his paws out in front of himself to cushion his tumble. "Poyow," he murmured, carefully nursing a bruised paw. It didn't hurt too badly, since his own body was so light, but it hurt none the less.

"Ahahaha!" he heard from the other side of the ring. "So the challenger approaches!" Kirby looked over to face the called, and saw Box Boxer standing at the other side of the arena. He had several bandages wrapped around his paws, and he grinned in anticipation. It was clear he was more prepared for the match than the little squire was.

"Now!" Boxer called, turning to the crowd of goons who had packed into the stands. "Shall I show this intruder who is King of the Boxin' ring?" There was a wild amount of cheers.

That was a bad sign. The crowd was against Kirby from the start, and the little Puffal was aware there was nothing that he could do to sway them. This fact, combined with the fact that Boxer was certain to arrange for a win for himself, all Kirby could do was work his hardest and focus on what he had been taught.

The first part of his lessons immediately sprang to mind: stay out of reach! He was a lot smaller than Boxer, which put him at another disadvantage from the start. All the pirate had to do was get one good grip on him, and the match would be over.

Thankfully, there was two things that were working in Kirby's favor. The first was that he was small. He stood a good deal lower than Boxer's reach would naturally go, so he would have no problem whatsoever in avoiding any aimed grabs. The second was that he was faster. His small size made it easier for him to move than the rather lumbering Boxer. If he could just stay out of reach, he might be able to come up with a plan for victory.

Thus, he dodged and ran as fast as he could around the arena. Occasionally, he got the idea to try to land several blows to Boxer, but the sight of those long sweeping arms changed his mind. Instead, he worked hard on running around in a rather panicked, pattern less fashion. That way, the pirate wouldn't have a clue as to how to rush him.

Well, Boxer wasn't having any of that. Once, when Kirby had just narrowly escaped getting caught, the pirate stomped a few times before pulling an unexpected move. He stepped back, and punched out at the youngster, unleashing several Vulcan Jabs as he did.

That took the little Puffal off guard. He had been warned in his lessons that other types of blows were permitted, but Meta Knight had not preformed any because he had not deemed the child ready for such a match. As a result, Kirby was only just able to avoid the attacks, which almost placed him in Boxer's reach. Thankfully, he realized where he was in time and was able to dodge away from the grab.

Boxer snarled and prepared to attack again, but this time Kirby was ready. When the pirate punched out for the first time, Kirby inhaled deeply, snatching the attacks up and copying it. In a bright flash, he transformed.

When the light faded, he was there, holding a fighting stance. He had a bright red cloth tied around his head and some bandages had appeared, wrapped around his paws. At the ends of the cloth were two bright golden stars. He had become Fighter Kirby!

For a moment, the pirates only could stare, not quite sure what they were seeing. They certainly had not been expecting to see the intended victim change like that, nor were they expecting for him to look so confident.

However, they got over their surprise fast. In particular, Boxer lashed out quickly, shooting out several attacks that he was sure Kirby wouldn't be able to handle.

Under normal circumstance, Kirby wouldn't have been able to handle the attacks. As Fighter Kirby, though, he was able to respond in a split second. He unleashed several attacks of his own with lightning speed, which collided in midair with the attacks from his opponent. They caused a lot of dirt to be thrown up, but by the time everything was clear, both fighters were still standing.

Boxer scowled, glaring darkly at his opponent, but this time, Kirby was unaffected. Now he too was at high skill level, and was fully capable of taking anything the pirate would throw at him, and dishing it right back out.

Because of this, the fight went on for quite a while longer than Boxer first intended. It became clear that with the transformation, there was going to be nothing that he could do to defeat the youngster in a fair fight.

So it was good for him that he never intended this to be a fair fight.

The pirate instigated a charge, swinging at Kirby while faking to the right. Kirby responded fast, swerving to the left to avoid the hit and accidentally ending up playing right into his opponent's hands. Boxer swung up, releasing a pawful of dirt into the youngerster's eyes, temporarily blinding him.

Shocked by the unexpected move, Kirby froze and began pawing at his eyes, trying to clear the debris from them. He was able to clear his vision after a moment, just in time to see as Boxer grabbed him and flung him heavily across the arena. The little one hit the other side so hard that he was forced to expel his ability, and the match was over.

Boxer smirked as he watched several of his minions take Kirby away. As he watched the weakened youngster being taken away, he remembered something that made him more confident. "Lock him away from the other slaves!" the pirate called out to his cronies. "I think this is the one that the big man offered a lot of money for." He gave a wicked grin before stalking back to his room.

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Meta Knight looked out on the cave from a cliff that overlooked the area. With him were Alivea, several others of the Boxin tribe, and Sword and Blade. The other adults from Cappy Town were waiting back at the village, ready to act when given the message. "So, you are quite certain that is where the captives are being held."

Alivea nodded. "We've watched that cave night and day waiting to see if there was any way that our kinsmen might be rescued. If it weren't so heavily guarded, than we might have been able to make it in sooner."

"If my plan works out, than we shall make it in this very day." Meta motioned to the large entrance. "I shall go there and try my luck from within."

The Boxin woman nodded. She knew her brother well enough to know that if he made it in there, he'd be able to get out again. It didn't matter if he had to use diplomacy or, more realistically, Galaxia, he'd make it out, and bring the captives out with him. "What shall we do to be of assistance?" she asked, determined to do anything that might assist the Puffal's plan.

He stared out, watching as several of the pirate's smaller ships went back into the cavern. "For the moment, go back and get the others ready. Success is dependent on stealth at the moment. I shall bring Sword and Blade with me. Once I have succeeded in my own goal, they will work to disarm the weapons and send a signal. Once you receive the signal, bring the boats in with as many as can fight."

"We shall move as swiftly as possible." Alive smiled, completely confident in Meta's plan. Turning to her own warriors, she gave the call. "[We must go to the village and prepare! Hurry!]" The soldiers nodded and followed where she ran.

Once they were alone, Meta turned to his two knaves. "And you too know your orders?" he asked, making sure the duo knew what they were supposed to do.

The two nodded. "Once we make it in," Sword said, narrating back what they had already been told, "I keep behind you, but make sure that no one else knows of my presence. Blade will break away and look for an opportunity to dismantle the weapons system."

"And both of you do what you can to make sure that Boxer's lackeys cannot do anything to keep the plan from going into motion." The knight turned, watching the opening for an opportunity. When he saw it, he turned quickly back. "Alright, we must move know."

The duo nodded, and he quickly grabbed the both of them, taking off in flight as he did so. Had anyone looked up at the sky that moment, they would have seen the odd sight of three heavily armored warriors gliding down off the cliff side and into the cave. However, the launch had been timed precisely that no one was watching when the flight was initiated, so they were able to make it in without any problems.

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Turio was currently by himself, working in one of the larger chambers of the caverns. The guards had been quick to separate him from the newcomers, who they had deemed to be far too chatty. He was now at work mending several of the boats under the not so watchful eye of several of the pirates, including Jukid. They seemed more interested in enjoying their loot and discussing the results of the last fight than on guarding a single rebellious slave.

The Boxin frowned as he heard about the results. It really wasn't a surprise that the poor little guy had been beaten. He had tried to warn him, but his advice had not been heeded. Turio had not seen the little puffball since the challenge had been given; he hoped the tyke was alright.

The slave was shaken by his thoughts when he heard a sudden uproar among the guards. Apparently, something had come up that startled them out of their state of slothfulness and into one of alarm. Turio looked around trying to see what had caused such as ruckus. It did not take long to find out.

A newcomer had somehow flown into the cave and descended to the floor. Several of the guards rushed him, weapons drawn, and attacked him. Turio couldn't quite see what happened, but he did know one thing. It was heavily one sided.

The stranger easily defeated the guards and turned to Jukid, the only of the pirates who had not attacked. "I have come here to have words with your captain. You will bring him here now."

"And what makes you think I'm going to be taking orders from you?" the pirate asked.

The newcomer made a show of sheathing his weapon. "As I have said, I have come here to have words with your captain. I will meet him here, one way or another."

Jukid got the point from that. He hurried off to Boxer's chamber to tell him, leaving Turio and the stranger alone.

It was now that the Boxin got a clear look at the intruder. He was rather short, truth be told, and closely resembled little Kirby and his siblings. The only differences were the facts that this one was a good deal bigger, and he was winged.

Once they were alone, the stranger turned to Turio. "[Greetings, my friend,]" he said in clear Boxin. "[Can you understand what I am saying?]"

It didn't take long to figure out what the newcomer was doing. He apparently could speak Boxin tongue, as could most of the captives, but the pirates would never understand. The Boxin was quick to answer. "[Yes. It is my native tongue.]"

"[This might sound strange,]" the other said in response, "[but it is mine as well. My name is Metanaito. May I ask what yours is?]"

"[Turiovaitger. If I am correct, then you are my wife, Alivea's, brother.]"

The Puffal nodded quickly. "[I am he. Listen, I have come on important mission. If I succeed, everyone held prisoner here will be freed. Have any new captives come into this place?]"

"[Yes, just this very morning. They were children from the mainland. I spoke with them as they were brought in.]" The Boxin motioned to a hallway that wasn't too far away. "[Most of them are being held in the slave barracks down that way.]"

"[Most of them?]"

"[Yes. Once of them, a young pink boy of the same species as you, challenged Boxer to a Boxing match. I do not believe it turned out well for him, but there has been no way for me to find out for sure.]"

Meta Knight was startled, but not surprised by this revelation. Of course Kirby would attempt something to try to help his friends escape from such a situation. He only hoped he hadn't arrived too late to be of any assistance to his young squire. "[Do you know where he is being held?]" he asked.

The Boxin shook his head. "[I'm afraid not. I can commend the boy on his courage, and he came closer to defeating Boxer than anyone else, but his abilities were not enough to face his opponent, and he was defeated. Boxer then had him locked away elsewhere, but I am afraid that is all that I can tell you.]"

The warrior intended to ask more, but the echoing sound of footsteps cut him off. He quickly decided to end the discussion, which would not likely be appreciated by the pirate. "[Thank you for your assistance,]" he said as quietly as he could. "[I have a plan in dealing with our opponent, and if it succeeds, then you and your companions will be free to leave.]"

Turio smiled, a bit skeptical of whether or not it would work, but by no means cynical enough to try to dissuade it. "[I wish you luck, my friend,]" he said quietly before turning back to work as if he had never paused in it.

Box Boxer was not pleased by the interruption. Until then, he had been having a perfectly good time. The match with the little pink runt had nearly been derailed, but he had been able to act fast enough to put that little creampuff in his place. Furthermore, the ability that had thrown the pirate off in the first place, that copy ability, was enough to tip off to the fact that this was the one the big man wanted. Furthermore, the spokesman he had spoken to had noticed the golden star necklace lying in a pile of loot, and had taken immediate interest. Boxer was looking at cashing out big time on not one, but two accounts, and was feeling very proud of himself.

The Jukid had come in with bad news. Apparently, some two bit stranger had somehow broken into the cave, getting past even the weapons system that the big man had given them, and demanded an audience with Boxer himself. Several of the crew that had been there had attempted to deal with the intruder, but had been defeated in less time then it took some people to prep their guns. Once he had made his show of aggression, the stranger again repeated his request, this time adding the threat of violence if his demands were not met.

Well, Boxer wasn't about to take that kind of attitude lying down. He soon came upon the newcomer and sneered at him. "Who are you and what do you want? Be quick about it! I haven't got all day!"

Meta Knight bowed politely and introduced himself cordially, ignoring the rather rude "greetings". "I apologies for my unannounced entrance, but I believed this was the only way that I would have an audience. My name is Sir Meta Knight, and I belong to the Star Warriors, a faction of the Galaxy Star Army. I am here on behalf of the Village of Cappy Town and the Boxin Tribe of Ice Cream Island."

Here, Boxer laughed, cutting the knight off. "So, those cowards from the village gave up in fighting for themselves and hired a merc, huh? Well, I assure you, creampuff, I'm not about to be intimidated by the likes of you!"

"I assure you, I am no mercenary." The Star Warrior once again ignored the rude comment, preferring instead to continue to explain his mission. "I hold connections in both villages I am representing.

"Now, recently, several children from Cappy Town, which is located on the mainland, disappeared while pursuing several criminals. Several of them were my students. We followed what trail had been left by their pursuit, and now have reason to believe that they have ended up in your prisons.

"Furthermore, upon arrival at the island, we were approached by members of the Boxin Tribe, who alerted us to the fact that many of their members had been abducted by your men."

"So they got you to come here and beg for the release of all my slaves?" Once again, the pirate snickered cruelly. "Well, let me tell you, shorty. I'm not about to change my mind because any amount of begging or pleading, especially from the likes of you."

Meta Knight's voice remained calm and level as he spoke. "You misunderstand why I came. I will leave, with all of the prisoners. I am merely allowing you the chance to cooperate with me instead of forcing me to have to defeat you in combat."

This was received by uproarious laughter, not only from Boxer, but from his men as well. "D'yah here that, boys! Little tin man here isn't here to beg, he's here to threaten!" He turned back to Meta Knight, mockery still in his voice. "From the way that I see it, shrimp, you're outnumbered here. I have more men, more armament, and more knowledge about this area than you do. So what makes you think you're going to be able to defeat me?"

"Simple," Meta said calmly. "I challenge you."

That was pretty much the last thing that Boxer was expecting to hear. "What did you say?"

"You heard me right. I am challenging you to a Boxing match, with the agreement that if I win, all of the slaves go free, as well as what other agreements were tied to every other match being honored."

"And what makes you think I'm going to accept?"

"You accepted the challenge from my student, a young boy named Kirby." There was a slight tone of mockery in the knight's voice as he spoke. "I would hate to think that a strong pirate captain like yourself would only accept a challenge from the student, while fearing to face the child's master."

"And if I win?"

"I will remain and work as a slave, permanently. I will not pull anything in any attempt to escape, and everything that I have will belong to you."

Boxer made a face as he thought. He really did not want to have to take on the strange newcomer, especially with such high stakes. However, since this one was the pink one's master, then it was likely that the big man would pay a high price for him as well. Furthermore, the greedy pirate was eyeing the golden sword with the ruby hilt that the knight was bearing. That alone would fetch a pretty penny.

Finally he spoke up. "On one condition. We fight, but we do this on basic rules. Only tape. No gloves, no weapons, no armor. Just man against man. What do you say?" He held out a paw, waiting to see what the warrior would say.

He didn't have to wait long. "We are agreed." Meta Knight took his paw and shook it.

To be continued…


	45. King of the Boxin Ring, Part Four

Turio rushed down the hallways, hardly believing what he had just heard. When the newcomer, Metanaito, had mentioned that he had a plan for defeating Box Boxer, he had no idea that it was going to include a near suicidal challenge against the pirate captain. The match was so completely unexpected that the whole place was in an excited state. It was only for this reason that the Boxin had been able to slip out.

He had his mind set on trying to find something, anything, that might help the Puffal. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he was determined to figure something out. He was so focused on this mission that he didn't notice when two arms reached out from the shadows and pulled him aside.

The Boxin struggled hard, thinking he had been caught by one of the pirates who was not so focused on the unexpected match that they were able to actually notice him. Instead, he found himself facing a young man in green armor.

"Be quiet," the armored individual said. "I'm trying to help."

Turio broke away, and spun around. It was pretty clear that the youth was not one of the pirates, and from the way that he was dressed, it was a pretty easy guess that he had come with the warrior. "Are you here to help Metanaito?"

The youth nodded quickly. "Yes. My name is Blade, and I am a knave in the service of Sir Meta Knight. He has ordered me to try to find some way to disable the weapons that are keeping any of the boats out."

"Wise move," Turio commented. "It's not going to be easy, however."

"Do you know where the controls are?" There was a high amount of hope in the youngster's voice.

"Yes. It's towards the center of the cavern." The Boxin motioned to another cave that lead away from the main room. "It has the controls to almost everything in here. If we can make it there, we can just about take control of the whole place. But I warn you, it's going to be heavily guarded."

Blade shouldered his weapon. "Just show me where it is and I'll deal with any guards."

Turio nodded. "Very good. Most of the guards will be occupied for a while; a match has a tendency to distract them. However, we will have to move. Hopefully your master will give them a good fight."

"You haven't seen Sir Meta Knight box," the youth responded, smiling brightly under his helmet. "He'll give us all the time we need."

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Meta sat calmly on one side of the ring. Unlike Kirby, he had not been given the few hours of time to prepare for the match. All that he had been allowed to do was take off his armor, cape, and mask, which he laid in a pile and placed Galaxia on top of it. He had no fear that they would be stolen, since no one would be able to remove the ancient weapon.

Even though he did not have any free time before hand, he did have a few minutes to try to come up with a strategy while Boxer showboated. In his mind, the Puffal went over the situation in his mind, working to come up with a way to victory.

First, he went over his weaknesses. Most blatantly, there was his blindness. Without his mask or the lenses within them, he would be completely blind. This, combined with the fact that he was already smaller and lighter than his opponent already put him at a major disadvantage.

However, there were advantages as well. For one thing, Boxer was not aware of his blindness. If Meta played his cards right, this could be used to the Puffal's benefit. Furthermore, it appeared that the pirate was a bit of a show off. This match was, to Box Boxer, as much about having his ego stroked as it was about defeating the warrior. If he kept these notes in mind, they would come to the knight's advantage.

Box Boxer did not share his opponent's propensity for planning ahead. "So, creampuff," he called out tauntingly, "you think you can do any better in this ring against me than your student did? He barely lasted three minutes in a bout. If you really taught him all you know, than I won't have to worry about you in the least, milk-eyes."

Meta Knight remained completely silent. Keeping complete composure despite his enemy's taunts would be very important right now.

"What, not one for speeches, are we? Well, have it your way. We fight now!" With that, the pirate rushed forward, charging right at the blue Puffal.

It was at that moment that Meta first sensed an advantage. Boxer was not one for stealth in the least bit. He stomped heavily from his position on one side of the ring to the side where Meta was, intending to reach out and grab for the Puffal. Because of this, the knight knew exactly what direction he was coming from.

With a quick movement, the Star Warrior dodged to one side, waiting long enough that the sudden avoidance caused Boxer to go off balance and stumble a bit. However, the pirate was able to catch himself before he fell out of the ring, meaning that the match was still on.

Boxer scowled and dodged at the Puffal once more, swiping again with one long arm, letting out an assault cry as he did so. This only alerted the knight to what he was doing once more. This time, Meta held completely still, waiting until the pirate was close to make his move. Once his opponent was in position, Meta made his move, leaping up and vaulting over Boxer's head. He landed lightly behind his opponent, not even shaken by the experience.

Now Boxer was mad. This puffball didn't even have the sense to keep running like the other one. Instead, he seemed to be using this as a way to humiliate the pirate. Now, he couldn't stand and let anything like that happen; not while he was the terror of Ice Cream Island.

As fast as he possibly could, Boxer spun around and launched several Vulcan Punches at the warrior. They were a bit harder for Meta to sense, but he could still sense them, and moved quickly to dodge them. Furthermore, he used the pause that naturally comes after a session of Vulcan Punches to move in and land several blows on Boxer's middle. This caused enough damage to briefly wind the bigger opponent, and in a nanosecond Meta Knight dashed away and was once again out of reach.

The pirate scowled. This guy was tougher than he looked. He had something planned, and if Boxer didn't take him out quickly, then he might actually become a major problem.

Remembering what worked last time, Boxer paused for a moment, grabbing a handful of dirt, before faking a charge at the knight. It worked; the warrior sensed the movement and responded in turn, moving with the sound so as to avoid the blow. In response, the pirate flung the dirt in the Puffal's face, hoping that this would cause the Puffal to lose enough momentum to allow him to make a grab.

However, it didn't even seem that the dirt even fazed the warrior. He moved through it, and while it did sting his eyes, he was already blind and had long ago grown used to much worse. He winced for a moment, but didn't lose any of his movement. Without missing a beat, he kept moving until he came closer and succeeded in landing several more blows to the pirate. That done to turned back and smiled, as if to say, _Is that all you have?_

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Several of Boxer's goons looked on in shock. The blinding trick nearly always worked. The boss never lost a match; he made sure of that. However, they had a backup plan in cases of times like this.

Several of them slunk off to the back of the arena, looking for the weapons that were stored towards the exit. Soon, they had armed themselves with several long knives and were prepared to deal with the stranger.

There turned out to be a wrinkle in that plan. "Hullo, what do you think you are doing?"

The pirates turned to see who had addressed them. It was a young warrior, clad in green armor. He had a sword buckled onto his hip, and a helmet masked his features. "You know," the youth commented, "the arrangements of the match were to be one on one combat. You do realize that no one else is allowed to interfere, right?"

A couple of the pirates sniggered, but the others just looked in shock at the newcomer. Where did this guy come from, and just who did he think he was?

One of the bolder thugs sneered at the young warrior. "We have our orders from our boss, and there no way that only you can keep us from completing them."

"Well, I'll have you know," the knight in training replied, "I, too, have orders from my master. We'll just have to see whose orders are fulfilled. Now, we could do this the easy way and discuss this like gentlemen-"

He was cut off as one of the pirates charged him with his knife. The warrior responded quickly, grabbing the pirate's knife arm and twisting it around, forcing the villain to drop his weapon. "I see you want the hard way," he sighed. "Very well. You shall have the hard way."

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"Come, friend Blade. The control room is this way." Turio motioned for the knave follow. They had been moving through the tunnels, trying their best to make as little noise as possible, even though they had not run into any trouble as of yet.

Blade complied as soon as he heard the message. "We have had luck so far," he said in hushed tones. "Do these villains always leave there base so unguarded?"

"They have become overly confident about the weapons system in the front," the Boxin answered. "There will be a few guards manning the control panel, but for the most part, the men are allowed to do as they please, provided they assist whenever Boxer discovers some treasure that he just has to have." He paused for a moment and leaned into the control room door. "Dang, they left more than I expected."

The knave looked over his companions shoulder to see what the problem was. Gathered around several monitors were about nine pirates, all looking over the various security feeds. One of them showcased the match, and it was around this one that most of the guards were gathered. "If I can get the panels clear, can you shut off the weapons?"

"Easily. I have seen it done before," Turio answered. "But how do you plan to clear them out."

"Just watch me." Blade withdrew his broadsword before stepping out into the control room. "Excuse me, I happen to be looking around this place, and I was wondering, how does a collection like your group come together? Was there some sort of recruitment, or did you all happen to wash up in the same place at the same time."

"It's an intruder!" one of the pirates called out. "Get him! Get him now!"

As soon as the fighting stated, Turio dodged into the room. Sure enough, the sudden brawl did, indeed, leave the control panel open, and the Boxin moved in as quickly as he could. He set to the controls, and within a few minutes, had the weapons systems down.

He turned, dreading to see what state his companion was in, but much to his surprise, the young warrior was nearly unscathed, with the group of pirates lying unconscious at his feet.

Blade moved forward to check out the monitor, not even bothering to acknowledge his victory. "Systems are down? Good, now we can send out the signal to the others." Before they left, he glanced up at the monitor showing the fight. "Huh, so Boxer thought a dirty trick like that would stop Sir Meta Knight? Shows how much he knows."

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Boxer was now becoming afraid. He had never before faced an opponent who has such a disregard for his own comfort that he was completely unconcerned by an assault to the eyes. For about fifteen minutes, he and the Puffal battled, but it was clear that none of his tricks were going to get the better of the warrior. He glanced around, waiting for the moment when his goons would come forward and overpower the knight. However, they never came.

Instead, Meta Knight took the pause as a moment to charge on his own. Despite his small size and light weight, the charge was so unexpected and had such a built up speed that it actually succeeded in knocking the much larger opponent backwards.

This snapped the pirate out of his shock. He turned to the Puffal, who was standing a few feet ahead. This time it was Meta's turn to give a small smile. "What?" he asked. "Did you actually think that you could blind a blind man?"

He was blind?! This whole time, the Puffal had been fighting completely without sight?! Box Boxer didn't believe it. There was no way a blind creature could fight as well as this puffball was. Still, the taunt angered the pirate enough that he decided to try one last desperate attack.

He charged the warrior, determined to grab ahold of him and toss him out of the ring. However, Meta was expecting this, and without difficulty, sprang up as soon as the pirate had come close. This time, however, he came down on top of his opponent. With a hard shove, he pushed Boxer farther than the thug had intended to go. With a loud thud, the pirate landed hard, outside of the ring.

"And that," Meta said calmly, "is a match."

Boxer scowled furiously. He had lost! But he never lost! No matter, there was no way this Puffal was leaving alive to tell anyone. "Men! Get him!" the pirate captain called out.

However, no one responded. Boxer looked up in shock and repeated his order, but once again, no one answered. "Didn't you hear me, you cowards?! Get him!"

Meta Knight gave a small smile. "I had supposed you would not hold up your end of the deal, so I had some backup of my own. Sword! Blade!"

In a moment, the two knaves leaped down into the ring, carrying their master's armor with them. Without saying a word, the duo assisted their master in replacing his armament. "You two have done very well," he said, congratulating his students. "Has everything gone as planned?"

"Yes, sir!" Blade answered. "The others from the village came and assisted in the freeing of the slaves. Between the warriors from the village and the freed slaves, we were able to take this place over completely. None of these thugs are going to be an issue any time soon."

Hearing this, Boxer scowled. He might have lost the match, and the cavern had been overrun, but he could think of one more move he could make to attempt to get out. He prepared to sneak up on the Puffal and take him hostage.

It was a desperate move, and a foolish one at that. Meta Knight did not have to do so much as turn around to realize what was happening. He spun around quickly, withdrawing his sword as he did so. "I would not move if I were you, pirate," he said darkly. "You have lost, and you are no longer the master of this place. Concede, if you wish to come out of this with your life."

Box Boxer looked for an opportunity to fight, but none that had victory tied to it could be found. Instead, he sank to the ground, his hands behind his head, surrendering. It was over.

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The victory won, the Cappy Town villagers prepared to leave the island back for home. "I wish you could stay a while longer," Alivea said as she and Turio assisted her brother in loading one of the little boats they were to ride back. "After all, we have only just found one another again. I would like to catch up some more."

Meta Knight nodded. "As would I, but many of us, myself included, have responsibilities back on the mainland, just as you have them here. Do not worry, though. I will return, and we will have more to discuss then."

"We look forward to that time," Turio commented. "We have much to thank you for. I only wish that you did not have to face our problem the first time you visited."

"Say nothing of it," Meta said, giving a small laugh. "I cannot guarantee the next time we meet I will not be the one asking for help."

They had just finished packing up the boat when he spotted to flash of pink to one side. "Now, if you will excuse me," he said, turning to the two Boxin, "there is something that I need to take care of."

They nodded, bidding a farewell before going to tend to their own pups.

Kirby had been sitting alone for the moment. There was a lot of celebrations going on, with all the kids greeting (and getting chewed out by) their parents, and all the ex slaves reuniting with their families, but the little one just was not feeling up to it at the moment.

For now, he just sat quietly on the beach. When he had been freed, he had finally been able to retrieve the little star necklace, and was now looking intently at it. He knew he had a connection to it, because of the lady in his dream, but beyond that, he knew nothing. The little Puffal rather wished that the pendant would be able to tell him.

He was focusing so hard on the little pendant that he didn't hear Meta Knight coming up to him. "So," the warrior said, coming next to him, "this was what all your panic was about?"

The tot looked down, somewhat ashamed. Meta Knight, along with the other adults, had already been told of the chaos of that morning. "Sowwy," he muttered quietly, clutching the little pendant tightly. "It jus, jus," he whimpered, doing his best to think of how to phrase what he was thinking. "Mama stah."

Meta Knight was a little taken aback by the statement. "So, you do remember her?"

Kirby nodded. "Little. Mama he'ped Kaabii 'scape fwom monstahs. T'en she put Kaabii in t'e stah ship and gived the neckwace. Don' know aftah t'at. Ev'yt'ing goed boom."

The elder Puffal closed his eyes. He had suspected that Lynette was the reason that Kirby made it out of the _Solarian_ alive, and a part of him hoped that meant that she had survived, too, and was out there somewhere, just waiting to be found. However, as time went on, it was looking more and more like a pipe dream.

He was shaken from his thoughts as Kirby went on. "Kaabii los' it afore t'e fi'st fight wi' Nightmewe. T'en, t'day, t'e cat had it, and Kaabii jus' wanna get it back." He began sniffling as he hugged onto the little star, and it was becoming increasingly clear that he was fighting back tears.

"It's alright." Meta Knight placed a gentle hand on Kirby's shoulder as he spoke. "I miss her too. There's nothing wrong with crying because you miss your lost loved ones. However, she would not have wanted you to do something as foolish as rushing off without telling anyone. You and your friends could have gotten seriously hurt, or trapped in there forever. We need to find a way to cap that impulsiveness of yours."

Kirby nodded, accepting the admonishment. "Sowwy."

"Now, we need to be heading back. It's getting late." The warrior turned, leading the youngster back to the boats.

As they were leaving, Chief Danlin gave a few parting words. "I can't thank you enough, Sir Meta Knight. Because of you, we now have the missing members of our tribe back. I don't know how we can thank you."

"Well, you have already assisted in the arrest of the burglar band from earlier," the warrior responded. "Chief Bookem was incredibly pleased you were going to allow for him to take the tag."

"We got enough on out plate as it is," the Boxin laughed. "Tonight, Boxer and his crew will be cooling their feet in their own cells. Tomorrow, we will decide what is to be done with them. Farewell, and good luck."

"As to you," Meta Knight responded with a smile.

As they began to push out, Meta was joined by both Ebrum parents, and it seemed as if they had something on their mind. The warrior tried to decide whether or not they wanted to talk about it, but he didn't need to.

"Sir Meta Knight, I do have to ask," Sir Ebrum said in a hushed voice. "That pendant Kirby retrieved from the pirate, it wouldn't be called the Warpstar Pendant, now would it?"

Meta looked confused. He had known the name of his wife's heirloom, but he had no idea how the name could have come to Pop Star. "Yes, it is. How did you know?"

Lady Like sighed. "I'm afraid we too have been keeping secrets," she answered quietly.

"And they are secrets we believe you must now be privy to," her husband added.

The Puffal nodded. "Not here. Back at the palace. Whatever you have to tell me can be told in secret there." The Dreamlanders nodded, and not another word about it was said until then.

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Box Boxer sat in his cell that night, stewing angrily on how everything had gone wrong that day. It was that stupid blue Puffal's fault. Everything had been going great until he showed up. Once Boxer got out, he'd find that puffball and make him pay for everything that happened.

"Well, Boxer, you appear to be in a bit of a fix. Do you still have what you promised us?"

The pirate looked up in a panic. He had completely forgotten about how he had contacted the big man. "Oh, uh, Honest John," he stuttered out nervously. "I wasn't expecting you quite so soon."

"I came as fast as I possibly could." The middleman grinned. He was flanked on either side by two woman, one being a heavily robed witch with a paintbrush in one hand and the other short, white haired woman with a large gun. "These are my associates, Lady Drawcia and the Collector. They were just as eager as I was to see if you had actually caught the Guardian. The Warp Star was a nice touch, but the Guardian is the one we really want."

Boxer was becoming incredibly afraid. "Yes, uh, well, you see…"

Honest John leaned forwards. "Now, you wouldn't have lied about having the Guardian now, would you?" he asked, giving a friendly smile.

"No! No, I didn't lie! I'd never lie to Nightmare!" the pirate exclaimed.

"That's very good. We all know what happens to those who lie to Nightmare." The man's toothy grin conveyed a wicked delight. "Now, where is the Guardian, then?"

"I-I did have him! I swear! It's just, well, he got away. And took the Warp Star with him." He covered his head with his arms waiting for the blow.

Honest John frowned as shook his head. "Well, that's quite a shame," he said in a voice almost like he was scolding a naughty child. "I'm sorry we've got to do this, but NME has a very strict zero tolerance failure policy."

"B-but I wasn't hired to capture the Guardian!" Boxer stuttered out.

"No, you weren't. You were hired to mine out Efferomite for Lord Nightmare." Honest John swept an arm back to the area behind him. "Now, where is the Efferomite, or the slaves used to mine it out?"

"Th-they escaped, and took it with them," the pirate said quickly.

"There, you see, is why you are a failure." The smile never faded. "Ladies?"

As the witch and huntress came up on him, Boxer decided to try one last attempt to save his life. "Wait! There's something else I found! Something that might be of use to Lord Nightmare!"

"Hmm, is that so?" The man raised his arm, causing his two cohorts to pause. "Alright, you can show us what it is. Now, remember, if you are trying to trick us, it will only make things worse for you."

Boxer led them on to a room where some of the most valuable treasures were held, the point of the Collector's gun pressing into his back. He gulped, hoping upon hope that this would save his life.

He led them into the cavern, and much to his relief, it was still there. He motioned to the painting on the wall. "There you are! What do you think?"

It was a portrait of a young witch, clothed mostly in pink and yellow. She had pink hair flowing out from beneath a witch's cap, and a pair of golden eyes peered out.

"Well, well," the Collector commented, smirking at Drawcia. "Looks like we found little sis."

"Oh, be quiet," the witch sneered.

Ignoring the two women, Honest John strode ahead. "Yes, Boxer, this is very good. Nightmare's had his eye out for this for quite some time. This will advance out plans very far."

"So, I can live?" Boxer asked nervously.

"Well, this is a major advancement," the man said, taking the portrait. "However, you still failed at what you were ordered to do. This means a termination of your contract." With a quick movement, Honest John opened up a portal to NME.

Before he left, he turned back to his companions. "Drawcia, Collector, make sure everyone here finds out what happens to failures."

The two women grinned cruelly before turning to the unfortunate Boxer.

To be continued…


	46. Fearful Symmetry, Part One

Moving as fast as he could, Lalo rush through the darkened hallways of the evil fortress. Never before had he been so glad that he could float, instead of risking his foot falls being heard. Still, if he was caught by the guards, there would be no way he'd make out it. He'd just have to be a careful as possible.

Not that it mattered all that much. He was almost at his destination anyway. It had been a while since he had seen Sir Meta Knight, and he had heard from several of the other slaves that the Star Warrior had been severely hurt in his last match. The boy wanted to make sure that he wasn't too badly hurt and see if there wasn't anything he could do to help.

However, as he moved closer to his destination, he began to drop his guard and forgot to keep an eye on the passageway he had come from. Thus, when he heard voices coming up to him, he startled and began to rush as fast as he could down a new passage.

That turned out to be a very poor decision. It turned out that the path he had chosen did not lead away from the guards, but rather, right into a training hall where it didn't take long for him to be noticed.

"It's an escaping slave!" one of the guard captains called out. "Get 'im!"

He turned around in a panic, desperate to keep ahead of his pursuers. Much to his dismay, this choice brought him right back to the guards he was originally running away from. He decided that his only option left was to float up as high as he could and keep out of reach.

As he moved, he suddenly felt a hand grip around his ankle. He struggled hard to break free, but he had been caught. He felt himself being pulled down!

And that was when both twins hit the ground. Startled awake by the sudden feeling of gravity winning, it took a moment for Lololo and Lalala to comprehend what was going on.

"Oh, I'm sorry if I woke you up," Lalala said as he attempted to float back up to her own bed. "I had such a nightmare and it caused me to fall out of bed."

"Don't worry about it," her brother said as he followed suit to his own bed. "I was having one, too. It's real weird. I've had this dream before. I'm in this really creepy looking building, looking for Sir Meta Knight."

"And then you get chased by the guards into this big gathering, right?"

Lololo nodded. "Yeah. How did you know?"

"Because I've had that dream, too." Lalala looked down. "It's been happening ever since we finished Sir Heavy Knight's journal." She shuddered as she spoke. "Sometimes, it goes on even farther, and I see Nightmare himself. It's real scary."

"I know what you mean," he nodded, "but it's only a dream. I mean, neither of us have ever even been inside NME. I'll bet we were just spooked by the journal, and everything will be fine in a while."

"I guess." His sister looked down for a moment. Suddenly, she looked up. "Lololo?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know where we came from?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, where we really came from. We know that Sir Ebrum and Lady Like adopted us, but I mean before that."

He shrugged. "Not really, but we never have. Why does it matter?"

"I guess it doesn't," she sighed as she leaned against her pillows. "It's just that we're finding out about everyone else. I mean, we recently found out that Ado and Adeleine are really princesses from another planet far away from here, and we know that Kirby is a clone of Sir Meta Knight. We've even found out something about Tiff and Tuff, if you count the Dreamlander Ruins. We, however, are still a blank."

"I guess it is kind of weird," Lololo responded, "but there's really not a lot that can be done. It's probably best that we don't worry about it too much."

"I suppose." Lalala sighed and turned to go back to sleep. "Well, goodnight, Lololo."

"Goodnight, Lalala."

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Marx scowled, pacing to and fro in his lair. Recent developments have just thrown all of his plans into chaos. Years of waiting, time spent searching, studying, interrogating, all down the drain, because of one little Puffal!

He turned to the two stars, a little red one and a pale orange one, that were held in a little glass box. He had been certain these were the Warp and Flight Stars, but now he was not so sure. Just a day ago, before that troop had come back from Ice Cream Island, he had been working to try to get the stars to respond to him. Now all the time he had spent on those had been wasted too! In anger, the jester used his powers to sweep a load of books and papers off of a counter top.

Once he had done so, he paused for a moment to take a breath. It hadn't truly been all for waste. After all, he now knew that whatever he had, he didn't have the Warp Star. It was likely that he did have the Flight Star, though he couldn't tell which one is which.

However, that lead to a new problem completely. If pinky had the Warp Star, Marx was going to have to figure out a way to get it off of him, which wasn't going to be simple. Wherever he had gotten it from, the little puffball was not of any mind to give it up. He had been wearing the pendant ever since he had gotten back and never seemed to take it off.

He was trying to work out a solution when an alarm went off on his monitor. He scowled, not really wanting to have to deal with the main force on NME at the moment. However, he brushed it off quickly before turning to the screen. "Honest John!" he said. "What might can I do for you this evening."

"Actually, today, it's something that I can do for you." Honest John adjusted his sunglasses before going on. "You are on the lookout for the two stars correct. "The Warp and Flight Stars?"

"Of course," Marx responded. "After all, how would I be able find the Fortress Stormholt for Lord Nightmare without them?"

The middleman nodded. "Well, we have good news. It appears that we have found the Warp Star."

Inwardly, Marx scowled, wishing he could wipe that cocky smile off of Honest John's face. Outwardly, he feigned delight at the news. "Is that so? Well, that is very good news. Where, might I ask, did you find it?"

"One of Nightmare's many contacts discovered it a while ago," the man responded. "Sadly, that contact failed to hold onto the Warp Star, among other thing, and had to be let go. We now have reason to believe that the Warp Star is in possession of the Night-Terror, but he has yet to figure out how to utilize it. That puts it with reach of you, does it not?"

"That is very interesting, but I'm afraid it does not." The jester took off his hat, doing his best to look apologetic. "While it could be reasoned that I could take the Warp Star due to proximity, any attempt to take it would give my cover away. You know the moment that the Star Warrior would catch on, than any attempt at finding the fortress would be futile."

Honest John stroked his chin thoughtfully. "You've got a point. Your work as a spy is very valuable to the NME cause, so risking the loss of your cover would be rather foolish."

He thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. "Hey, I know! Why don't we send over one of the monsters? We could send one of those over to you, and he could be the one to take the Warp Star. That way, you get your hands on the star, but your cover is still completely intact."

"An excellent idea," Marx responded, placing his hat back on. "We will get the star, and the fools back in the palace will never be the wiser."

"Exactly!" The man grinned brightly. "There's no way to lose! Though there is one thing."

"Such as?"

"I'm afraid we will not be able to send over a new monster," Honest John replied. "We have recently had a development from the same cohort from before that has put one of Nightmare's plans ahead, but it will require the full attention of quite a few of us, Drawcia included. That as it is, we will not be able to design and send over a new monster, so an old one, from before the time of the imprisonment, will have to do."

"That is of no matter," the jester responded quickly. "Old or new, it'll still serve its purpose. How fast can it get here?"

"Ah, you're a man with his eye on the prize. I can respect that." The middleman grinned as he punched a few buttons. "I can get it over to you by tomorrow morning. Just tell it what you want, and it will do it."

"Excellent," Marx repeated before hanging up.

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The next morning, everything was quiet and peaceful within the courtyard of the palace. Kirby sat at the side of the Fountain of Dreams. Things were typically peaceful next to the calm waters, so it was a good area just to relax and lie back.

It was also a good area for the little Puffal because it was also a place where he was likely to meet one of his friends.

"Hey, Kirby!"

"Good morning, Kirby. What are you up to right now?"

The little one looked up, somewhat surprised by the newcomers, but not unpleased. "Hi Lololo, Lalala," he called out cheerfully, waving for his friends to join him. "Jus' woken inna fountain."

The twins floated down and settled on the edge of the water, turning their gaze in the direction the pink Puffal was pointing out. For some unknown reason, the water that flowed out was often of differing colors and shades. A beautiful pattern was usually the result, and many liked just to sit back and watch as the sunlight filtered through like a flowing stained glass window.

"It is very pretty," Lalala agreed as she settled down next to the youngster. "We're lucky to live where we can see it whenever we want."

Lololo was about to speak in agree with his sister when he caught a glance at what Kirby had on hand. "Hey, isn't that the pendant that cat tried to steal?"

Kirby looked down at the little gold star and nodded. "Uh-huh. It Kaabii's, t'ough. It belong to Kaabii's Mama."

"But you didn't-ow!" Lololo began, only to be elbowed into silence by his sister.

"What he means to say," Lalala put in, "is that you've never mentioned your mother before. Can you remember much of her?"

The little one shook his head sadly. "No. Kaabii a'member a li'l, wike she was whi', and had bwue eyes, an' a nice voice. Not mo', t'ough." He looked down, eyes welling with tears, wishing he remembered more.

"Hey, don't worry," Lalala put in quickly, realizing that this seemed to be a bit of a sore spot to the little guy. "I'm sure you'll figure out more, someday."

Kirby nodded, looking down at the little pendant. He had already told Meta Knight about what he could remember, and the older warrior had agreed to tell him more. It was good to know where he had come from, but he still wished he could remember for himself.

"At least you've got an idea," she sighed, and her brother patted her shoulder. Rest hadn't come easy for them, and the looming question of their history still clung hard. However, they soon had something other than the question of their personal history to think about.

"Hey! Kirby! Lololo! Lalala!" The three of them looked up to see Tiff and Tuff, who were both carrying several full bags of supplies. It was Tuff who had called out to them, as his sister seemed focused on studying a piece of paper that she had on hand. "Hey, we're going out to the Dreamlander Ruins. Tiff thinks she's got the language figured out, so we're going to see if we can't see what those markings say. Wanna come?"

"Poyay!" Kirby called out cheerfully, wrapping the pendant's chain around his arm, and jumping up and running over to join his friends. The twins responded quickly as well, rising up to join their friends as they hurried over to the sight. There was no question about their curiosity in the area, so the small group rushed out to go see what secrets they could uncover.

Before they could go far, however, an idea came to the little Puffal. He paused for a moment before running back to his little house. "Go 'head!" he called out to his companions. "Kaabii gonna get somet'ing."

"Alright," Lololo responded as the others headed out. "Meet you there."

They eagerly rushed over to fulfill their goals, unaware at that moment they were being watched.

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It was about fifteen minutes later when Kirby caught up with the rest of the kids within the ancient ruins, staggering under the weight of a large book. By then, Ado and Adeleine had already caught up with the others, and the two of them were at work copying the paintings and adding the names in Common Tongue.

"Hey, Kirby, we're over here," Tiff called over, motioning for the youngster to come join them. "What do you have there?"

The little one struggled over to where the others were working before dropping the book down, grinning as broadly as he could. "T'a boo'!" he declared happily. "I foun' it in Medikni wibwary, and it has t'em!" He pointed an eager paw at the murals on the wall.

Tiff was the first one to go over to the book and begin leafing through it. "Whoa, Kirby, you've been reading this?"

"Uh, wookin' at t'e pictures, poyo," he said honestly, rubbing the back of his head.

Curiously, the others looked at the book, wanting to figure out what had been brought. "Whoa! What kind of book is this?" Tuff declared in shock when he got a look at it.

"It looks like one of those university books that Mr. Curio uses at times," Adeleine comments. "That's why there are so many words."

"It's called _Legends of the Founding of the Star Warriors_ ," Tiff said, never taking her eyes off of the pages. "There's a lot here I don't understand, but from what I can, we did find out at least one thing." She did her best to prop the book up, with the large two page spread showing out. "We've got an identity for these two, and we did translate right."

It was the picture that had the two warriors standing out, weapons ready for battle, as they face hordes of monsters. Now that it was near the wall of portraits, it could clearly be seen that, though the book's painting was far more detailed, indeed, the two warriors whose images had been found there were tied to the Star Warriors.

"It says here that these two are Sir Metian and Sir Erran," Lalala said, studying the picture closely. "That does match the translation, but it also says that it is uncertain if they were real."

"Well, I don't think it's uncertain anymore," Ado laughed. "Wait until everyone hears about this! Not only did we discover just who these people were, but we now have an undeniable tie between Dreamland and the Star Warriors! That was quite the find, lil guy," she congratulated, patting Kirby on the back. "What else is in that book?"

"Well, it looks like some kind of story," Tiff responded, pouring over the pages. This book, fascinating though it was, was several levels above her typical reading skill. Still, she tried her best to translate its contents. "It appears that the two knights met while they were both facing a creature called the Bukiset, and that they joined together to form the Star Warriors. It also said that they were assisted by a creature called Guardian, who was a photron…or was he called Photron, and was a guardian? Darn it, this text is so small!"

"Don't worry," Ribbon laughed. "I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to go over it. This is so exciting!"

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Marx watched the gathering of children from the shadows, waiting for the right moment to open up the portal and unleash the monster on its unsuspecting victims. He was prepared to open it up the moment that Kirby had joined his friends in the small group, but had paused when he saw the book.

So, the Star Warrior had known more about Metian and Erran than he was letting on. Well, that didn't matter all too much. He clearly either didn't know where Stormholt was or couldn't get in; otherwise he would have already taken it. Marx would just keep trying to squeeze the location of the fortress from those wretched Children of Erran, which he would do once he had Parm and Memu under his control.

Still, taking that book for what information the Star Warriors did have couldn't hurt.

Quietly, he slunk back and ducked behind a crumbling hallway. There he opened up the portal, allowing the monster to emerge from the vaults of NME.

It was a huge creature, pale green in coloring on the top half of its body. Its lower half was grey, and more mechanical in form, with four legs jutting out on each side. It had only two arms, each of which was wielding a huge scythe like weapon.

"You are the one who summoned me?" the monster asked, looking down at Marx with a questioning tone.

"Yes. Now this is very important." The little jester motioned towards the children who were still engrossed in the study of the book and painting. "The pink on there has a golden star. I need you to get that away from him at any cost. On a lesser degree, that book that they have would also be very valuable, so see if you can take that, too."

"And for the little nuisances themselves?"

"I don't care." Marx made a quick dismissive gesture. "Do what you like, provided they are out of the way." With that, he crept back into the shadows. He intended to make himself known in the village so that no one would suspect him of any connection with what happened at the ruins.

The monster nodded and turned back to his prey. They were completely oblivious to anything that was about to happen to them. He kept in mind that the gold star pendant and the book were to be spared from the carnage, but that the rest was of no concern.

As he moves forward on his prey, however, the monster notice something though. Two of the intended victims were familiar to him. They were a set of young Natani children, a brother and a sister. They were older now, but the monster had seen them before. In fact, he had seen them born.

If the monster had a mouth, it would have spread in a cruel grin. This was going to be fun.

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_"_ _Lord Nightmare! We have news!"_

_The dark emperor turned from his latest project to see what was being brought before him. It was one of the captains of the guard, who was dragging a Natani slave behind him. The young slave looked injured and worn out, as if he had just been through some hard struggle._

_This didn't seem to trouble the guard in the slightest. He tossed the slave at the warlock's feet before saluting. "Sire, this slave was discovered near the dungeon, and when he was spotted he attempted to escape. He was recaptured before he could go very far though."_

_"_ _Is that so?" Nightmare caught the young slave up, holding him by his foot. "What do you have to say for yourself, slave?"_

_Realizing where he was, the boy glared darkly. He didn't struggle, as if he realized that such an attempt would be futile, but there was still defiance in his composure. "You'll never win!" he yelled out angrily. "The Star Warriors will stop you! It doesn't matter how many forces you have, or what weapons you come up with! You'll eventually lose, no matter what!"_

_"_ _Oh is that so?" the warlock asked, a tone of amusement in his voice. "It's rather funny that you mention my weapons, and claim to have no fear of them. Well, how about you meet my newest monster? I was meaning to find a test subject anyway." He turned to the shadows where he had been working, tossing Lalo into them with a casual flick. "Slice 'n Splice, show us all an example of your power."_

_The monster emerged from where he had been hiding in wait. Lalo jumped back, surprised by the mech-like monstrosity that emerged, but the youngster was not fast enough. Almost as soon as he had revealed himself, the creature swiped down with one of his scyths, striking the slave hard with it._

_For a moment, it appeared that Lalo was unaffected by the strike, but in a moment, what had happened became very clear. The boy staggered back, apparently in pain, before his features vanished into a sort of glow. Slowly, the figure splint up, forming two separate silhouettes. These separated completely before reforming into two separate figures. When the whole process was finished, there were two infant Natani, a blue boy and a pink girl, left in the place of the purple teen._

_Once everything was done, Nightmare grinned cruelly. "Very good, Slice 'n Splice. Using this weaponry, every soldier too old to fight in my army will be split into two younger fighters! This way, I will amass an army that even the Star Warriors will never be able to match! This is quite the plan, don't you think?"_

_Not quite sure how to process what he saw but sure he didn't want to succumbed to that fate, the captain of the guard nodded quickly. "Of course, sire! Very brilliant. What would you like me to do with those two?"_

_"_ _Those two? Oh, yes, the whelps." It was clear from his voice that Nightmare cared very little about what happened to them. "They are of now use to me. I will have to think of some use for them. Until then, throw them in with the other experiments."_

_"_ _Yes, sir!" the captain said, saluting quickly. He then snatched up the little twins and left, heading towards the room of the cages._

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Remembering that turn of events, the monster crept up closely on its prey. He found it very amusing that he, the very creature that was the cause of their existence, would also be the source of their end.

The kids, who had their back to the hallway where the monster was hiding, were still engrossed in that silly history book. He'd have to get them away from that, and that pendant the baby Puffal had. No matter. He would start the attack and move his prey away from the artifacts that he was to collect.

Once he had succeeded at that, then his fun would begin.

To be continued…


	47. Fearful Symmetry, Part Two

The attack happened almost too fast for the kids to calculate. One moment, they were peacefully examining the book, and the next there was a loud crash. Bits and fragments of stone and dust was thrown around as they were attacked.

Scrambling for cover, the kids looked around in confusion. "What's going on?" Ribbon asked as she carried Kirby over to a pillar of stone where the others had taken refuge.

"Uh, I'd say that guy probably has something to do with this," Tuff commented sharply, pointing out over the ledge.

The rest of the children peered from behind there cover, and were shocked by what they saw. In particular, Lololo and Lalala froze in fear, unable to shake the terrible feeling that they had known this horror before.

There stood the monster, grinning maliciously at the youngsters. "Come out and face me, Guardian," he said with a cruel tone. "All I want is the Warp Star. Give it to me and I'll consider letting your friends live."

"Guardian?" Adeleine looked out in confusion at the creature. "What's a guardian?"

"And what's a Warp Star?" Ado asked in agreement.

"Kaabii go," Kirby said firmly as he looked out at the wreckage. He didn't know what a guardian or a warp star were, but he was confident he could take this new monster. There were far worse things he had faced before, and one more didn't scare him.

"Alright!" Tuff declared happily. He selected a good sized rock, which he hefted in excitement. "We're fighting back!"

"Hold on one second," Tiff said quickly. "Just because we can fight immediately doesn't mean we should."

"Are you saying we should just give in to that thing?" her brother asked angrily.

The blonde shook her head. "That's not what I'm saying at all. With more space, Kirby might have a chance of taking that thing out. However, in here, there's not much room for him to maneuver, so he'd get chopped up pretty quickly, and us with him. What I mean is that we should look for a way to stop him that has less of a chance of ending in our deaths." She looked around before spotting the open door. "Alright, let's make it into the woods. Once we're there, we'll have more room to move and the chance to get help. Sound good?"

Most of them gave an agreement, with the exception being Lololo and Lalala. They were absorbed in their thought, trying desperately to figure out where they had seen this strange creature before.

"I said, does that sound good?"

The restated question shook the two out of their shock. "Huh?"

"What?"

"We need to head into Whispy Woods," Ado said quickly. "Once we're there, we can see if Whispy will help us out. Alright?"

"Got it!" both twins declared in unison.

"I'm waiting, Guardian," the monster repeated. "You've got only so much time before I change my mind and take your little friends out too."

"Alright then," Tiff said. "We'll have to move fast but we can do it. Ready, go!"

With that, all of them took off as quickly as they could go. They were able to make it to the door, but had to squeeze through because of the small space.

Slice 'n Splice smirked inwardly when he saw them make a dash for it. So, they were going to try to make a break for it, were they? Well, that just made things all the more fun for him. He'd let them think they were getting away. It wouldn't take long to catch them.

The creature took off, smashing through the ancient building. This caused a fair amount of the wall to crumble, leaving much of the area in wreckage. The hunt was now on.

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Hearts racing wildly, the kids plunged as fast as they could, desperately hoping they could make it a good distance outside the ruins before the creature pursuing them had a chance to get outside. Glancing over her shoulder, Lalala looked back nervously. "Do you think that wall will be able to keep him back?"

"Not for very long, if even that long!" Ado responded. The artist pulled out her paintbrush. "Leine, Kirby, come here. I've got an idea."

"Got it!" Adeleine responded, moving to join the other two.

"Poyo!" the little Puffal called out cheerfully, eager to do something other than just run away. Before he got far, however, he remembered his pendant. Now wanting to lose it in a coming fight, he took it off and hid it under a small pile of leaves.

"You guys keep moving," Ado called back to the rest of the group as the three of them took their positions. "We'll try to slow them down."

"Be careful," Lololo responded, and the rest of them took off into the wilds.

"Here, Kirby," the girl called out, coming up with a large ball of paint and flicking it to her companion. "Catch!"

The Star Warrior squire responded quickly, inhaling the ball and taking on his paint ability. He grunted, frustrated once again at his particular lack of roller skates, but shrugged it off as they probably wouldn't be very practical in the middle of the forest.

"Alright, Kirby, we're going to attempt to keep that thing back," Ado said as they turned to face their foe. "We're going work on a distraction. Now, we've got to move so that we can get one up before-"

She was cut off by the sound of crumbling stone. Heavy thudding footsteps told them that their time to come up with something was running short; that it was now or never.

"Looks like we've got a new plan," Adeleine said, responding to this new turn of events. "Improvise!"

The three of them scattered, trying to figure out something to do, as they foe ran in among them. Kirby responding first, painting up a frozen slick of ice, causing the large, heavy monster to slip, sending him straight into a tree.

"Good idea," Ado called out. "It's my turn now." With a quick movement, she painted up a crack, which she sent straight at the monster.

Slice 'n Splice was too fast for that, though. He leaped up, moving away from the gap. Instead, the tree he had smacked into tilted over, falling into the opening.

"Be careful," Adeleine called. "We need to try to keep damage at a minimum. If too much of the woods is destroyed, Whispy's gonna be ticked at us."

"Try telling that to him!" her sister responded, pointing to the monster. At that point, he had sufficiently recovered from his slip, and was now on the warpath again. Not holding his opponents' apprehension to damaging the surrounding areas, he ran at them, chopping down trees in his wake to throw at his enemies.

The trio were able to react to his attacks, though. Quickly pulling out her paintbrush, Adeleine mimicked a sword beam to defend herself from a falling log. Much to her relief, the tactic worked, slicing the falling hazard expertly.

Ado, however, was not so lucky. While she was attempting to face the monster head on, a piece of debris ricocheted off of a still standing tree and struck her hard in the back. This proved enough to wind her, knocking her flat onto her face.

Slice 'n Splice decided to take advantage of her vulnerable stake, striking so that another tree fell, trapping the artist underneath.

"Ado!" Adeleine shot to her sister's side. "Are you alright?"

Seeing what was happening, Kirby took the moment to distract Slice 'n Splice, hoping to give the artist a few moments of relief.

"I'm fine," Ado said, struggling underneath the huge log. "My ankle hurts, though."

"Here, let me get it off of you." He sister started, working on a way to free her sibling.

As he fought, Kirby noticed something. Usually, if a monster was not solely interested in him, than it would attempt to attack others, even if he were trying to lure them away. Here, the monster was focused entirely on him. If he got away fast, than maybe he could buy Ado and Adeleine the time they needed to get away. The only question was: how?

He has the paint ability. In a fast movement, he painted up a rocket, hoping that it would get him far enough away to lure the monster away.

However, Slice 'n Splice was not about to have any of that. With a hard toss, he threw one of his scythes. Thankfully, the blade missed Kirby himself, but he was struck by the handle, and the shock was enough to force him to drop his ability. Furthermore, the moment it hit the rocket, it melted and Kirby started falling fast.

As he fell, the little Puffal wished hard that he could do something. He could float, but that would require him to take a breath, which at the moment he was a little too stunned to do. He also had no access to anything that might break his fall. He just closed his eyes and waited to hit the ground.

When he hit, however, it was soon, and not the forest floor. Much to his shock, he was on a bright golden star. It had appeared out of nowhere, and he had no idea why it had come.

It did give him a mode of transportation though, as he found that it responded to his thoughts. Immediately, he returned to trying to distract the monster.

Zipping several times around the monster, he then took off deeper into the woods. Thankfully, the monster took the bait, leaving the twins behind. The little Puffal looked back in relief. They were safe now. All that he needed now was to find a way to stop this monster.

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The other children had made it a good deal deeper into Whispy Woods by then. They were looking hard for Whispy, who would have no doubt by now noticed all the devastation going on in his forest.

However, the guardian of the woods had a tendency to jump from tree to tree, making locating him incredibly difficult. They pretty much just had to run around and hope that their search lead them in the right direction.

As they were searching, however, they soon began to hear the thundering of a chase. Taking cover behind a row of hardwood trees, they observed what happened from a distance. They, however, were not prepared for what they saw.

"Look!" Ribbon called out, pointing to the fleeing individual. "It's Kirby! He's flying on something, and the monster is chasing him!"

Lololo and Lalala looked at each other for a moment, before nodding in unspoken agreement. They both then took to flight.

"Hey, where are you going?" Tiff asked as they took off.

"We've got to go help Kirby," Lololo answered.

"Yeah, he can't face that monster alone, and we have the best chances of catching up because we can fly."

"I'll come too," Ribbon said, taking to the air after them, but she was stopped.

"No," Lololo said. "You stay with Tiff and Tuff looking for Whispy Woods. Once you find him, you can use your telepathy to find us and guide him to us."

The fairy still wanted to help Kirby, but had to admit that plan made sense. She nodded, and the three searchers went back to their task.

Now decided, Lololo and Lalala went back to their own mission. They only hoped that Kirby was holding out for the moment.

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Kirby wasn't doing all too badly, considering he was fleeing from a monster on a strange star he had never seen before. He had lured the monster away from his friends and was moving to try to take this fight into more open territory, where he might have a bit more of an advantage.

However, these hopes were shattered when he was once again clipped by the thrown scythe. It had struck the star, chipping it in the process. This caused him to lose control, and he spiraled out of control and into a tree.

The shock of the crash stunned him and he was wounded from the crash, and as such he could only look around for a moment after the shock. Lying a few inches away, the star had embedded itself into the ground by one point. Much to his shock, as soon as he was off, it shrank down, until he could recognize it as his mother's star. Why had she had something like this?

He didn't have much time to think on it, as the monster then came barreling through the trees. "Thought you could get away from me like that?" he asked mockingly. "Now, hand over the Warp Star, or its lights out."

Kirby had no idea why the monster wanted his mother's pendant, or why he was calling it a warp star, but the little squire wasn't about to just hand it over peacefully. "No!"

"We'll then, we're doing this the fun way."

Kirby covered his head, waiting for the blow to land. However, it never came.

This was because as soon as Slice 'n Splice raised his scythe, a midsized boulder came down on him. Both Kirby and the monster looked around in shock, trying to figure out where the projectile had come from.

"Hey, leave him alone, you bully!" Lalala called out as she and her brother rushed in to help, stepping in front of the injured Kirby to protect him.

Spotting them, Slice 'n Splice's expression changed. "You two, huh? I was wondering if I was ever going to get another go at you."

"What do you mean?" Lololo asked. He had an idea he had seen this monster before and he wasn't sure he wanted to know where such vague memories came from, but this might work to build up a distraction.

He was right in that he and his sister did not want to know the information that was about to come. "I made you two."

"What!" Lalala squeaked in horror.

"That's a lie!" Lololo shouted in disgust.

"It's no lie," the monster responded coldly. "You two originated when a slave was brought to me, a boy named Lalo. I was able to work my special ability on him, and, well, look at you now."

The twins were not certain whether to believe him or not, but this seemed to match up with the information from their dreams and the story of Meta Knight's imprisonment.

"That mean were really Lalo?" Lalala asked in a quiet voice.

Slice 'n Splice laughed at this. "Hardly! Haven't you noticed? You two are a lot alike, but you are different in some ways. You don't work entirely in unison and are capable of disagreeing. I remember watching some fights you had those first days after your birth. No, you two both came from Lalo, but he's dead. You two are just monsters of Nightmare, just like cloney over there."

That snapped the duo out of their shock. So they were half-clones of Lalo. That did not dictate what they did, no more than Kirby's birth dictated his. Both stood up straighter, determined to protect their injured companion.

"That doesn't matter!" Lalala said, punctuated by another tossed stone. "We'll still help Kirby, no matter what you say!"

"Yeah!" he brother shouted in agreement. "We'll fight to make sure you and your master are stopped, no matter what."

The fought against him, but the monster was too much for them. He swatted the duo down, knocking them close to where Kirby was still laying. "I've never seen what happens when I slice someone whose already been sliced," the monster said cruelly. "Guess it's time to find out. And once I'm done, I think I'll have a little fun out in that village. Bye-bye."

He lifted his scythes, prepared to strike down on the children. However, before he could land the blow, a large heavy root shot out of nowhere, smashing down right on top of the monster. He was smacked into the ground, and didn't get back up.

The kids looked up, trying to figure out what had saved them. It didn't take them long to figure out.

"You don't come in and destroy my forest," Whispy Woods said in a dark tone of voice, "and you don't threaten my friends."

"Guys!" Tuff called out. "Are you okay?"

Behind him, the other kids came up. Tiff and Adeleine were supporting Ado, who appeared to be limping from her injury.

"We came as soon as we found Whispy," Ribbon said as she flew over to join them. "Where's the monster?"

"Whispy dealt with him," Lalala responded as she and her brother helped Kirby to his feet. "Just in time, too. We thought we were done for."

"Thanks for that, by the way," Lololo said, turning to the big tree.

Whispy gave a small smile. It was clear he was still upset about his forest, but the culprit had already been handled. "Don't worry about it. No monster's about to go barging around my woods, killing willy-nilly like that. You guys better be getting home, though."

The children nodded, seeing the wisdom in the suggestion. On the recommendation, they began moving back towards the village, Tiff and Adeleine still supporting Ado and Ribbon aiding the injured Kirby.

As they moved along, a thought suddenly came upon Ado. She let out a small groan when the realization hit her.

Hearing this, her sister turned to her with a concerned look. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt worse?"

"No," Ado responded, pulling a wry smile. "I just remembered that this whole ordeal began in the Dreamlander Ruins. There's no way they're still standing. Mr. Curio's gonna have a cow."

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Sure enough, by the time that the news had come out, just about everyone was swarming the destroyed ruins. Just as Ado had predicted, Mr. Curio was in shock from the sheer destruction. There was little he could do other than stand and stammer in shock, and this he did in plenty.

"Why…what…all of it!" he exclaimed, looking in horror at the ancient stone walls, now just about reduced to rubble. "But it was so…was going to tell…"

"Now, there's no reason to blow a gasket," Sir Ebrum said quickly, trying to calm the flabbergasted Cappy. "We did preserve a lot of the information. Most of the murals were copied and have pictures of them, and there are still a good deal of artifacts left."

"The actual site," Mr. Curio mumbled, taking up a handful of gravel. "So much history, just…gone!"

"Now, now," Marx said, coming up from one side. "There's nothing to truly panic over. Nothing was really, truly lost." Inwardly, the jester was smirking. His plan had not succeeded fully, but he did had two items of importance. He had retrieved the book, which had been only slightly damaged by the battle, and he now knew for certain that the star the little Puffal had was the Warp Star. That left in question what he had, but he had a plan that would test that issue.

A plan that hinged on the younger Ebrums, of whom one was currently present and in position.

Tuff tuned from the sight, getting rather board. He and Ribbon had decided to join in the examination in the ruins, but Slice 'n Splice hadn't left all that much to find. Much to the kids' disappointment, the big history book on the Star Warriors had appeared to have vanished as well. That was going to be awkward to explain.

"C'mon, Ribbon," he called back in a disappointed voice. "There's nothing here to see. Let's head back."

He turned on one of the larger bricks, heading back to the exit, when it came loose, sending him heads over tails.

Seeing her friend fall, Ribbon rushed over. "Tuff! Are you alright?"

"Yeah," the boy answered, rubbing him head. "Kinda sore, but nothing worse. Hey, what's that?"

"What's what?" the fairy asked, genuinely confused as to what was being pointed out.

"That!" Tuff responded, and without waiting a moment, the boy sprang back onto the pile of rubble and began digging in it.

When he had gotten up from his tumble, a flash of orange color had caught his eye. Scrambling back onto the pile, he began digging as hard as he could, and with each handful of dirt he removed, the rest of the item was revealed.

"Got it!" the Dreamlander boy declared in triumph as he pulled the item loose.

Curiosity filling her, Ribbon flew over to Tuff. "What is it? What did you find?"

The boy grinned brightly as he held up his prize. "This!" he declared, holding up a dusty orange star. It was a little smaller than Kirby's pendant, but the resemblance was very close. The only difference was that the arms on either side were slightly curved, as if someone had bent them.

"Wow, it's just like Kirby's!" Ribbon said. "Where do you think it came from?"

"It must have been in the walls," Tuff said. He quickly pocketed the little star. "We'll have to show to this the others later."

From his hiding place, Marx gave a small grin. Yes, everything was going just as planned.

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In NME, other plans were also starting to unfold. Once again, Honest John stood in front the Prison Portrait. This time, however, he was not alone.

"I say let her rot in there," Drawcia said, her face the picture of sheer disgust. "The little brat isn't worth anyone's time."

"Lord Nightmare will be the judge of whether this is a worthwhile endeavor or not," Honest John replied, adjusting his glasses casually, as if he were merely discussing what to have for lunch. "Like her or not, her power is as necessary to NME's goals as yours are. As such, you will release her from her prison."

Drawci scowled, clearly not pleased with the plan, but also clearly not having a choice. "Fine. Just don't come crying to me when you see how obnoxious she is." With that, the sorceress went over to the picture and struck it with her paintbrush. "Alright, Paintra, time to wake up."

Like before, the painting began to ripple, and it seemed like a lot of energy was being released from it. In a moment, the pink clad witch emerged from the picture.

"Heehee!" she laughed, flying around the room. "Uhhmmm! It feels so good to get out of that picture frame. 'Bout time you got me out, Drawci," she commented, giving her elder sister a cheeky grin.

"I told you never to call me that," Drawcia replied with a scowl.

"I'm not sensing a lot of sisterly love between you two," Honest John commented dryly.

This seemed to be the first time that Paintra had taken notice of him. "Your suit is funny," she commented bluntly. "Who are you?"

Ignoring the rude comment, the middleman went into pure salesman mode. "I'm glad you asked," he said quickly. "My name is Honest John, and I represent Lord Nightmare, the Emperor of the Nightmare Empire, and your new employer, Sorceress Paintra."

Paintra snorted. "Sorceress? You've been listening to Drawci too much. She's a witch, and so am I. There's no need to be snooty about it."

Drawcia made a face like she wanted to slap her sister, but Honest John spoke up first. "I see then. Well, Miss Paintra, then, I am pleased to inform you that you have been selected to assist Lord Nightmare in one of his plans."

"Oh, yeah?" the young witch responded. "What's in it for me?"

"Well, for one thing, you will remain outside of your portrait."

"I catch your drift." Paintra's tone became a lot more respectful after this. "So what am I to do?"

"You and your sister are to lend your magic to assist in this endeavor." The middleman handed her a sheet of paper.

She looked it over and grinned. "Is that all? It'll be a bit tough, but nothing that can't be done."

"I'm glad you think so." Honest John grinned brightly. "However, there is more."

Paintra looked up, interested. "I'm listening."

"To sweeten the deal, Nightmare has agreed that if you succeed, the two paintbrushes of Calligra's daughters will be yours."

"Hey, that was my deal!" Drawcia snapped.

Honest John turned with a sly grin. "The deal is changing." Turning back to Paintra, he continued. "Calligra's daughters are here, alive and with their paintbrushes. When Nightmare wins, you and your sister will take one each. All you have to do is help him with some pest issues. So, what do you say? Do we have a deal?" he asked, reaching out a hand.

"You got it!" Paintra agreed, shaking the middleman's hand.

Honest John grinned. All was going as planned.

To be continued…


	48. Reprieve

Meta Knight looked down, frustration at the recent events bubbling to the surface. Several days ago, he had noticed that a book was missing from his collection. Under most circumstances, he wouldn't have thought much of the disappearance, but in this case, the book, _Legends of the Founding of the Star Warriors_ , was rather rare and valuable. It was one of the last books he had from his days before the downfall, and there was no question of getting another copy.

So of course he finds out today that Kirby had taken it. Most of the time, this would have only merited a scolding, but he had also found out that the youngster had taken the book to the Dreamlander Ruins…mere minutes before they had suffered a monster attack. Of course that meant that the book was lost, either buried under all of the rubble or otherwise destroyed.

As such, the warrior didn't dare to do any disciplining immediately. There would have to be consequences, of course, and he would think of something that would make a suitable punishment, but it would be best to decide at a time when he was not so angry. After all, the punishment should match the crime, and assigning something too harsh too hastily would not do any good.

He had sent the youngster to wait for his judgment in the little house for an hour while his mentor blew off some steam. He had traveled out to the practice grotto to do some sword training. It was a bright and clear morning, opportune for the activity he had planned. Too bad he was too angry to really enjoy it.

The knight hacked through target after target, burning off the energy that his anger had given him as questions ran through his mind. How in this great, wide universe did Kirby even know about his privet library? Meta Knight had always made certain to keep it as secret as possible. Furthermore, why would he take such a high level book? Certainly, there were pictures, but even these would not be understood if you could not read the wording around it. Kirby had been learning to read, and at an impressive rate for his age, but the tome had been a college level text; not something that your average preschooler would even give a second thought to.

Meta Knight sighed, taking a quick breather. Well, one thing was for certain. Kirby was not the average preschooler. Of course, the older Puffal had always known that. He knew Kirby was his clone, but he also suspected that there was something more about him, something that was reaching out, desiring to fledge.

In some ways, Meta Knight was proud of this, as any father would be proud of his son's development. Another part of him was fearful, however. While the Star Warrior knew of this part, Nightmare knew it too, and he was eager to quash him before it had the chance to develop. Meta dreaded this, and thus was torn between teaching Kirby at the faster pace he desired and keeping him back so that he did not attract unwanted attention.

He sighed before picking up his training, but he couldn't keep this train of thought down. Either way he looked, he could not see any better choice.

If he chose to accommodate Kirby's prodigy, there would be no question that the little one would develop fast. Once he was able to tap more and more into his own natural abilities, the more he would be able to handle any challenge that came his way at any time.

However, this would not go unnoticed. Prodigies have a tendency to attract attention, and that attention was not always good, especially for the child. Even at best, the area would be flooded with all sorts of people coming and going, all eager to get a glance at the wonder child. That would definitely affect Kirby negatively, and there would be little that Meta Knight would be able to do to protect him from that.

Matters could be worse, as well. Those who knew of the youngster's abilities but didn't want them developed would come, too. They'd do everything in their power to make certain that Kirby would not survive into his adulthood. Assassination attempts and other attacks would constantly plague the child and he would never have a moment to truly enjoy his youth.

On the other hand, holding him back also provided a quandary. True, there would be benefits if he took this course of action. No one would take any notice of Kirby. After all, a child learning at the pace that all of his peers learn at is not very noteworthy. Thus, the young one would be able to grow and develop, spending his childhood years as a child, which is how things are meant to be.

However, that wouldn't stop all the attacks. As Meta Knight already knew, some of Kirby's enemies were already aware of his potential, and eager to stop it. If Kirby was held back, and trained as any other child his age, then the risk was ran that he would be attacked early on, and he would not be able to withstand that attack.

Oh, it was all so confusing!

He prepared to strike another target when he felt a small tug at his cape. Surprised by the small movement, he turned to see who it was who had tugged.

He was surprised to see Kirby, who was looking up at his mentor rather nervously. "Medikni weady?" he asked in a timid voice.

"Kirby, I told you to wait for an hour," the older warrior scolded.

"Did," was the calm answer. "It been t'wee."

Startled by this reply, Meta Knight glanced at the sun. Sure enough, he had lost track of time, and it had been three hours since he had arrived in the shaded grotto. "Oh. I did not realize that much time had passed. I suppose now we must talk of what has happened. I must say, Kirby, I am very disappointed with you."

At those word, the little one burst into tears. "I sowwy," he said, whimpering between sobs. "I jus' wanna know mow abou' Stah Wa'ee'yahs. Didn' mean tah wose it!"

Meta Knight sighed, and his voice became softer as he spoke. "I know you didn't mean to lose it, and I know you are sorry. I'm not so much troubled by the books loss so much as I am that you took it without asking. That is no way for a warrior to conduct himself."

Kirby looked down, shame printed clearly on his face. There was a moment of silence, which was only broken by a mumbled "Sowwy."

"Now, there must be consequences for your actions, so every day for the next three months, after the training, you are to assist Sword and Blade in the minor repairs to all the gear. Do I make myself clear?"

Kirby nodded. "Yes, sah."

"Very well." The older warrior nodded with approval. "It is a wise man that accepts his correction. Now, go on, there is nothing left to discuss."

As he watched the youngster go, a subtle sense of pride filled the knight. Kirby was growing fast, and maturing just as well. Whatever may come, he would be ready.

His teacher would see to it.

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"Bandana Dee, what the heck is going on in there!?" Dedede snapped, waiting impatiently outside of the Wheelie stable. He had decided to go for a ride earlier that morning, but upon arriving at the stall, he found Mufflerkins lying down, looking rather uncomfortable. When he approached, the Grande Wheelie turned angrily and revved, making it clear he was not coming any close.

As such, Dedede did exactly what he would do whenever something troubling like this happened. Call someone else to fix it.

Bandana Dee had been called in to figure out what was the matter. He had gone into the stable and had been in there for nearly fifteen minute. Quite frankly, the Pengu ruler was becoming very impatient.

"What's the hold up in there?" he called out, banging on the stable door.

The door cracked for a moment, and the Waddle Dee peered out. He was just about covered in motor oil. "Well, sire, something is happening with Mufflerkins. You see, she's-"

"Just hurry it up!" Dedede snapped again, before going over to a corner of the room to sulk. Of course something like this had to happen, and on a day when he had nothing to do.

While he was sulking, he heard several little voices as newcomers approached the room.

"Poyo poyah poy, Toobii?"

"P'yu poyah. Poyo poy poyo poyu, Kaastii."

Much to his annoyance, two of the little Puffalings wandered into the stable. It was Toby and Kirsti, who had found the opportunity to wander off and have a look around.

Toby at the moment was more eager to get into every place that he could, with Kirsti looking around a bit more nervously. Within a few moments, they had both entered the previously empty stable.

Dedede scowled. The last thing he wanted to deal with right now was two of Kirby's little siblings. "Hey, you Kirbies, go hit the road, why don't ya? This is the private royal stables, not some playground!"

Kirsti looked a bit nervous, but her brother was not swayed. "Poy poyu poy," Toby snapped, just as frustrated by Dedede as the Pengu was with him.

"I don't know what freaky language you're speaking, but cut it out!" Dedede was losing what little patience he had left. "I told you I don't want to deal with you today." He scowled and slouched down, muttering, "Not that I ever wanted to deal with you," under his breath.

By now, Toby had observed the "King's" dealings with others, and especially with Tiff, and the youngster was unimpressed. As a result, he was not about to let the Pengu have his way, instead choosing to speak up. Regardless of whether or not he was understood.

The argument on went for a rather surprising amount of time, considering it was between an adult and an infant, and grew in intensity as time went on. As a result, Bandana Dee's attempt at an interruption went almost unnoticed.

"Sire?" he said in a quiet voice, almost fearful of raising it. "I think there is something you need to see."

"Not right now!" the Pengu snapped quickly before turning back.

"But it's rather important," the Waddle Dee repeated. Much to his frustration, however, he was completely blown off this time.

Bandana sighed, and supposed he might as well just wait for the argument to end. That was when he felt a slight nudge. "Poy, 'Dana Dee?"

He turned to see who had approached him. "Oh, hi Kirsti. What are you doing here?"

The little blue Puffal grinned brightly. She rather liked Bandana Dee. "Poyo p'ya poyo!" she squeaked happily.

"Oh, is that so?" the Waddle Dee asked, feeling rather awkward, since he had absolutely no idea what she had said.

Just then, he got an idea. "Hey, something really important happened in here. Would you mind helping me?"

"Poyah!" Kirsti squealed, and she rushed into the stable door.

It had taken a moment during the argument for Toby to notice that his sister had vanished off somewhere. He stopped fighting, ignoring Dedede mid argument, for the moment and began looking around for her.

It took Dedede a while to realize he was being ignored. "…and furthermore-Hey! Where the heck do you think you're headed off to? I'm not done yet!"

"Poyo poyo thbbbttt," Toby responded, blowing a raspberry at the so-called king before turning back to look for Kirsti. After a few moments of searching around the other nooks and crannies in the room, he then turned to the stable and peered in.

Once he had done so, the little yellow Puffal gave a delighted squeal and rushed inside. Confused by what was going on, Dedede was determined to figure out what had happened. He leaned into the room and was surprised by what he saw.

Mufflerkins was lying back. It had appeared that the Wheelie had been through some trying event, and had just now finished with it and was relaxing. Bandana Dee was rubbing the Wheelie down with a cloth, so as to help her recuperate.

More surprisingly, however, was what was happening in front of the resting Wheelie. There in front was a small newborn Wheelie pup. Kirsti and Toby had seen it first, and were happily playing with the little thing, who seemed rather energetic, despite just being born.

"Bandana Dee, what the heck is that thing?" Dedede asked quickly, pointing to the newborn.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you," the Waddle Dee responded with as much frustration as he dared to all to come into his voice. "Mufflerkins is a female, and for the last several weeks, she's been pregnant. She gave birth this morning. The pup's a girl, too, by the way."

Dedede could only stare in shock, though the little Puffals were enjoying themselves thoroughly with the new puppy. It seemed that they'd have a new friend.

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"So, do you have any idea what it is?" Tuff asked as Mr. Curio went over the little orange star. He, and a collection of the other children from the area had gone to the antiques shop and museum to try to figure out what the discovery was. They had hoped to ask Kirby to accompany them, but the little one had been rather busy, so they had to go without him.

"Not exactly," the older Cappy responded as he handed back the small item. "It is rather old, though how old I cannot say. It looks like it's made out of a topaz, but at closer inspection, I found out that it's made of metal, not stone. I'm not sure what's causing it to look like this."

"That's alright," Ribbon said. Since she had been with Tuff when he had made his discovery, she had almost as much interest in the strange little object as he did. "There's bound to be more about it than it first appears."

"Well, I'm sorry I couldn't be more of a help," the archaeologist said apologetically. "If there's anything more you'd like to ask, just come on down."

The kids said they'd be certain to come if they needed any help, and once they had said their goodbyes, they headed out.

"You know," Tiff said, looking over her brother's shoulder as they walked. "It's kind of weird."

"What do you mean?" Lalala asked, floating nearby.

"Well, it's this," the Dreamlander girl responded. "We've known about those ruins for quite a while now, but we haven't seen anything in it in relation to any stars. Then, out of the blue, it turns out that Dedede has a special star, which turns out to belong to Kirby's mother. We find out about it just in time for Kirby to figure out it's some sort of hover-type transport vehicle, and right afterwards, this new star, which looks very similar to Kirby's pops up from out of nowhere. Doesn't that seem kind of suspicious to you?"

"Now that you mention it," Adeleine responded, "that does seem kind of convenient, but what if that was what was meant? After all, these stars seem to be some sort of important treasure. Why wouldn't the people who made them try to set up some sort of fail-safe, like having to have one to get the other?"

"That does make sense," Lololo piped up. "That way, everything would fall into place when the time was ready. After all, we did discover a connection between the Dreamland Ruins and the Star Warriors, through Sir Metian and Sir Erran."

"I guess so," Tiff sighed, "but it still gives me a funny feeling."

No one said anything for a moment, but a question found its way into Tuff's head. After a moment of thought, he looked up. "Hey, if Kirby could fly around and do all sorts of cool things with his star, and this one's related to it, than maybe my star can do all that stuff, too!"

"Well, it's worth a try," Ado said encouragingly. "Why don't you have a go?"

The Dreamlander boy grinned brightly. "That's just what I'm going to do!" Holding the star up, he took of running and leaped, hoping that this star too would grow and allow him to fly on it. Much to his disappointment, however, the little star did not take off, and instead, remained the same size, tumbling down to the ground with him.

"Oh, well," Ribbon said quietly, "I guess that star doesn't work quite the same way that Kirby's does."

"It's got to do something!" Tuff exclaimed frustrated. "After all, if it didn't then why did the ancient Star Warriors bother with hiding it?"

"Maybe they didn't hide it?" Lalala said, more as a question than a suggestion. "Maybe it was just a toy that got lost one day, and its similarity to Kirby's Star is a coincidence."

"Oh, that can't be it!" Tuff shouted, stress clear in his voice. "There just has to be something to it!" To emphasize the last words, he gave the star a toss.

Much to their surprise, the star seemed to respond to that, beginning a light glow as it moved through the air, spinning fast. Once it had gone several feet from its owner, the star quickly hooked back, flying straight towards him again.

The others dashed out of the way to avoid being hit by the little projectile, but Tuff remained where he was. Almost instinctually, he reached out, catching the star deftly in one hand. Once he had caught it, the glow died down, and it returned to its former state.

"Whoa!" Lololo declared in shock. "How did you get it to do that?"

"I don't really know." Tuff looked over the little star back and forth. "I just wanted it to do something, and it did. It's kind of like it just responded to my thought."

"Try it again," Ribbon said excitedly. "That way we'll be able to see if it really can do that, or if it was just a fluke."

Tuff did so again, and much to the children's delight, it once more swirled back, hooking around and flying into place so that the young Dreamlander could catch it again. Once more caught, the boy beamed down at his prize. "This is so cool! I'm so keeping it!"

"Oh, hello children. Are you having a nice day?"

The kids looked up to see Sir Ebrum and Lady Like, who had been out on a morning stroll. "Oh, hi, Mom. Hi, Dad," Tiff called out.

"We found this super awesome artifact in the ruins!" Tuff exclaimed happily, holding up the little orange star. "It responds to my thoughts, and comes back to me when I call it!"

Up until that point, the two Ebrum parents had seemed very calm and unconcerned. However, their expressions changed when they caught sight of the star. "Uh, Tuff," Sir Ebrum said, trying to conceal a tone of nervousness, "where did you say you found that?"

"In the ruins," his son said quickly. "It must have been buried in those old walls. Well, I'm gonna go see what else it can do. Bye!"

The children said their goodbyes and hurried off after him. The parents, however, could only half-heartedly wave after them. When they were gone, Lady Like turned to her husband. "Do you think that is what I think it is?"

"I do, though I dearly hope that I am wrong," he responded in a lowered voice.

"But how could that be?" she responded quickly. "We spoke with Niernio not a year and a half ago, and he had it safe and sound. How could Tuff have gotten it?"

"I don't know." Sir Ebrum had a severely concerned look in his face. "A lot could have happened in a year and a half. I suppose we'll just have to contact the others."

"I hope this doesn't lead anywhere bad," Lady Like said, concerned.

Sir Ebrum put his arm around his wife's shoulders. "As do I."

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Deep within the heart of NME, dark things were stirring. With the discovery of the witch Paintra, Nightmare now had the power he needed to unleash a terrible horror. They now were standing around a pit, where a black concoction was bubbling up, much to the warlock's excitement. He had no intention to wait any longer to let his plans come to fruition.

His two aid, the witches Drawcia and Paintra, were not as certain about what they were doing. "Lord Nightmare," Drawcia said, a tone of nervousness in her voice, after she and her sisters had finished their spell. "If this works, are you quite certain you will be able to control it?"

Normally, Nightmare would have been annoyed by someone questioning his power, but right now, he was too close to victory to get upset. "It is of great power," he responded quickly, "but not in its prime. If it was in its prime, than I would have never even considered using it. As it is, it is weakened enough that it will be manageable, but not enough that it will be no longer useful."

The sisters considered asking more questions, but anymore thoughts were cut off when the black mixture started bubbling even more, and began lapping over the edges of the pit. It was almost like the goo was crawling its way out.

On the second glance, it became clear that it was not only like, but actually was! The mixture began reaching and writhing its way out of the pit, before converging in on itself. Slowly, a dark shape began to from out of the evil concoction.

"Is that it?" Paintra asked fearfully, moving away from the dark shape.

Nightmare grinned a wicked smile. "It is. Arise, Dark Matter, and do my bidding!"

The glop formed in on itself and finally finished taking its shape. Though Dark Matter held no true form on its own, it now selected the shape of a one eyed swordsman. Robes and a scarf formed from the black ooze, and in one hand was a sword with a black blade.

A minute passed by in silence. Finally, Paintra couldn't wait any longer. "Hey," she said timidly to the dark swordsman, "aren't you going to say anything?"

The swordsman merely turned to look at her, not saying a word. Despite the creature's silence, the paint witch regretted her call, and only wished that the single piercing eye would look elsewhere.

"Dark Matter has no voice," Nightmare said quickly. He seemed rather amused by the situation. "He can only respond in unheard tones to its master, and listens only to him."

"So than you can call that thing off?" Drawcia asked. She shared her apprehension from the strange creature.

"Ah, but I am not his master," the warlock said quietly. "He shall be arriving promptly."

As if waiting for a cue, a white orb began moving before rising out of the pit. It was small at first, but quickly grew in size, until it was larger than the pit that it had recently arisen out of.

An eye appeared in the middle of it, and as it did, a dark voice rang out. "I am among the living once again!"

"I-is that…?" Paintra stuttered.

"Zero the Conqueror," Drawcia agreed. "He was the one we were summoning?!"

Despite his companions' sheer terror, Nightmare himself was rather unaffected. "Hello, Zero," he said casually. "Remember me?"

The eye turned, and though his form made him incredibly difficult to read, it was clear he was not pleased with what he saw. "Nightmare! You are the one who called me!?"

"Indeed." The warlock remained completely level. "You do not really have room to be all that shocked. After all, you once summoned me in the very same fashion. Does it really surprise you that I would one day call on you to return the favor?"

"It is your mistake that you did so!" Zero snapped. He quickly turned towards the black swordsman who was looming closely. "Dark Matter! Take Nightmare out, now!"

The swordsman nodded silently and charged at Nightmare.

The two witches hurried for cover, but Nightmare did not respond in kind. He remained calmly where he was, staring the black creature down.

That was when the shock hit. The closer that Dark Matter got to Nightmare, it began to melt, unable to hold form any longer. At the same time, bright red cuts appeared around Zero, and he called out in pain.

As the eye was forced to call the ooze back to himself, the warlock laughed. "Do you really take me for a fool, Zero? Would I really summon another Ancient if I was not prepared to keep him in line? I learned that from you, and much more."

Zero groaned, clearly unhappy with the lot granted to him. However, he was not stupid enough to risk another attack of the same sort, so he complied. "The matter you deal with must be grave, then. Has your Guardian already arisen?"

At this, Nightmare's smile vanished. "He has. It is a member of the Puffal race, young and strong, but not unbeatable. That is why I have need of you. Or, more accurately, of your Dark Matter."

Zero nodded. "Very well. I will do as you say. Direct Dark Matter to his target, and he will deal with him. But I warn you, Dark Matter cannot possess a Guardian. I know. It didn't work for me."

"He does not need to possess the Guardian himself. There is a powerful ally that I intend instead."

"So be it." With that, Nightmare turned to leave, but Zero wasn't finished. "Just remember," the eye called out. "Once, our situations were reversed. It can become so again."

"Very unlikely," the warlock responded, "unless Stellara was unskillful at her craft. Just do as you are told."

It was a while after the two of them had left that the two witches felt that they were safe to emerge. So, it was Distorts they were dealing with? Well, they didn't regret their deal, but they were beginning to question just what they had gotten into.

Only time would tell.

To be continued…


	49. The Meta-Knightmare, Part One

"Meta? Meta, can you hear me? Oh, please say you can hear me!"

The woman's voice came to the warrior out of a darkness. Meta Knight struggled against the oppressive feeling of blackness and focused in on that voice. He had no idea where he was or what was going on, but the voice was comforting and familiar, so he worked to try to get to her.

With some struggle, he forced his eyes open and found himself lying in a brightly lit room. He was resting on a bed, and had bandages tied around his head, which throbbed with a dull pain. Turning over onto his side, he looked around, searching for the person who had called him from the blackness. However, when he saw her, he could only stutter out a single word. "Lynette!"

The ivory Puffal woman smiled brightly and hugged him once he spoke. "Oh, Meta! You're alright! I'm so relieved."

"Wait, what is going on?" he asked.

"What's going on," another familiar voice put in, "is that you took a pretty bad hit to the head. You scared us."

Meta spun in shock, as this newcomer was someone else he had not expected. "Papa! How are you alive?"

Heavy Knight looked surprised for a moment before shrugging. "That's right. Dr. Yabui mentioned that strange dreams sometimes accompany these sorts of injuries, and that the injured might not be able to separate dream from reality."

"Injury? Dream?" The Star Warrior was more confused than ever. "What do you mean? And how do you know Dr. Yabui? You died before I settled in Dreamland."

Lynette frowned. "That bump did more damage than we supposed."

Meta was going to ask again, but Heavy Knight began explaining first. "You were out with Kirby and some of the other recruits in Whispy Woods when some brigands attacked. You fought valiantly, but the fight had done some damage to the surrounding trees, and a particularly large branch was cut off and struck you hard. The kids got you back here, which was a relief in and of itself, but we started to get worried when you began speaking in your sleep."

"Funny," the blue Puffal murmured, going through his memories. "I can't remember anything like that. I can recall many other things, though. Things that would contradict what I am being told."

"That's the injury again," Lynette said, gently taking her husband's paw. "Sometime, when there is an intense injury, false memories can come up, and even force the true memories to leave."

"That would explain why you thought that I was dead," the Boxin added.

"I'm afraid that I'm still lost," Meta responded apologetically. "How did you survive your encounter with Nightmare?"

This got the response that shocked the Puffal even more. "Nightmare? Who's Nightmare?"

"What do you mean, 'who's Nightmare'? He's the very foe we've been facing for centuries! The bane of the universe! We've been facing him since I was younger than Kirby." The confused look on his companions' faces were fare from comforting. "Haven't we?"

Sensing her husband's distress, Lynette gently squeezed his paw. "It was all just a dream," she said quietly. "A horrible dream, from the sound of it, but only a dream. You're safe, at the Star Warrior base located in Dreamland, and there's nothing here that you have to fear."

Hearing this, Meta slumped back into his pillow. His head was swirling now, which did not improve with the steady throb. "I'm afraid I still haven't any idea what's going on."

Heavy Knight nodded. "You're still recovering from that bump on the head. Don't worry, once you've had a little rest, you'll be feeling right as rain. If you still don't understand what is going on once you wake up, we'll give you a bit of a reminder to see if we can't jog your memory."

"We'll let you get back to sleep." Lynette kissed his cheek before turning to go. "When I come back, I'll bring the children. They'll be relieved to hear that their daddy is alright."

"Your mother and sisters will want to know, too," Heavy Knight laughed. "Just be prepared to wake up to a veritable crowd."

Once they had left, Meta Knight relaxed, trying to focus on his past. He could vaguely remember being out with Kirby and some of the other children when a black shape hit him. Maybe it was a branch, and everything he remembered was just trauma. He didn't particularly like that idea, but if that was what had happened, he could accept that.

A he drifted off to sleep, a single word said to him before came back, and another weird premonition filled him. "Daddy?

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"Hurry! Hurry! C'mon! He's in here!" Tiff and Tuff rushed through the palace halls, a very confused Dr. Yabui in tow. Behind them, several others, mostly the local kids, who heard the commotion also followed, curious as to what was causing all the dismay.

"Who's in here?" the doctor asked before they came up to the room. "What's going on?"

"It's Sir Meta Knight," Tiff said quickly. "We were out in the fields, and he was training Kirby, when this weird black thing came out of nowhere and attacked him. He fought it off as best he could, but after a few minutes, it seemed to go into him, and then he started thrashing around. C'mon, you gotta come see him!"

Sure enough, as they entered the room, they could see the state Meta Knight was in. He had been strapped down to the bed because of his thrashing, and his skin had an unhealthy tone. It sure looked as if he was in a bad state.

Kirby sat nearby, tears welling in his eyes. He was clutching his master's cape, though the mask had remained in place, and sheer terror could be felt. "Medikni gonna be 'kay?" he asked anxiously.

"Oh, my," the doctor said, surprised. "I've never seen anything like this before. You kids had better stay out of here. I'll need to examine him closely. Nothing like this before has ever happened in Dreamland."

The children reluctantly allowed themselves to be shuffled out of the room. They then gathered together to discuss what had happened, except for Ribbon, who flew to the crack in the door to try to watch. She had turned deathly pale, and seemed intent on figuring out just what was going on.

"Do you have any idea what that black thing was?" Adeleine asked as the group settled down. "Maybe if we can figure out what attacked him, we can figure out how to save him."

Tuff shook his head. "No idea. Tiff didn't really get a good look at it, but I did. It was huge and black, and had a giant eye peering out of it. It charged at me an' Kirby first, but Meta Knight jumped in front to protect us. The thing didn't seem to like Galaxia, but it was able to get around. The weird thing is, once it had an opening, the thing seemed to go into Meta Knight. That's when he started acting funny, and Galaxia and his mask were fused to him."

Kirby whimpered and clutched the Dimensional Cape. He wished he could have done something more, instead of standing uselessly nearby.

Before anyone else could say another word, Ribbon flew over. She was horribly pale and looked terrified. "It had an eye, you say?" she asked quickly. "Did the eye take up most of its body, and was it yellow in color, with a red rim around the outside?"

"Yeah, I think so," Tuff responded. "Do you know what that is?"

"Yes, I do, though I've never seen it for myself." The fairy slumped down against the wall. "It is a monster known as Dark Matter. It's a huge ball of slime that is capable of possessing its victims, so as to get a high on their emotions, like a drug. While they are possessed the victims are mutated, and eventually the possession will end with the victim being used up, and left behind as a shriveled husk."

"That's horrible!" Lalala declared. "How in the universe did you discover this monster?"

"Because this creature has attacked before." A change overcame Ribbon, and it became clear that she didn't like the topic, though she continued. "Eons ago, the Dark Matter attacked Ripple Star, causing much pain and destruction. It was commanded by a creature called Zero the Conqueror. He had many slaves, but usually attack with his Dark Matter. Using these, he almost overran the whole planet, and would have too, if it wasn't for Queen Stellara.

"She was the fairy queen who took the throne during the time of Zero's attack. Even when she was young, the invader seemed to have an intense hatred of her, and he tried to destroy her repeatedly. However, he was unsuccessful, and one day she figured out how to defeat the terror."

The question was nearly unanimous among the listeners. "How!?"

She gave an awkward shrug before sighing. "I'm afraid I don't know. It's been so long since the time of Stellara that the story is rarely spoken of, except as a legend. We never expected that Dark Matter to return, and if Zero has returned as well, too, then we are in extreme danger." The others looked downcast, but then a thought struck Ribbon. "Or maybe there's something that I can do."

"Wibbon 'amember somet'ing?" Kirby asked hopefully.

"Well, not exactly," she responded. "But I do think that there is a place I might be able to figure out how to help. As I said, Stellara was the fairy queen at the time. The histories of the past fairy queens are vitally important in the education of the future fairy queens. I'll bet Queen Soleena will know how Stellara defeated Zero."

"That's great and all," Lololo said questioningly, "but how will you get to Ripple Star and back in time to help Sir Meta Knight?"

"Through the Fountain of Dreams, of course," Ribbon responded, taking to flight. "The Fountain here is connected to all the other fountains, including the one in the Palace courtyard on Ripple Star. All we have to do is travel down the Stream, and we can hurry right back, and hopefully with a cure. Kirby, will you come with me?"

Kirby looked down nervously. Frankly, he wanted to stay by Meta Knight's side and make sure he came out of things okay, but if the queen of Ripple Star might know a way to help the warrior, then it was probably best that he go with her. He nodded. "Kaabii go," he said firmly, strapping the Dimensional Cape on himself.

"Good," the fairy responded, picking him up. "We must go now, but we'll hurry back as fast as we can."

The others wished them luck and watched as they flew off to the fountain. They were so preoccupied by the sendoff that they didn't notices the subtle snap from the other room.

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Having woken up again, Meta Knight had found himself alone this time, and had decided to leave his bed and wander around the hallways a bit. He could barely believe everything he was seeing.

It appeared that everything he had been told was true. He was on a Star Warrior base that had been built out into the center of Whispy Woods. It had been there for some time, apparently, and he and his family had been living there for quite some time.

Now, this much would have been normal, had they been a secret from the people of that world, as they had been in the days of his childhood. However, that didn't seem to be the case.

Indeed, they were still located near the Cappy Town village, and were not only tolerated by the people, but eagerly welcomed. He had discovered this through a long list of well-wishers, who had come and gone as he slept.

This was all well and good, but he still got the feeling there was something wrong about this all. Only bits and pieces seemed to match up with his memory.

Furthermore, it had taken him a while to realize it, but he could now see without his mask! He hadn't noticed at first, because of his grogginess and confusion, but now could tell in full. As good as that seemed, he was wary. He remembered the last time that happened, and it had meant no good.

He was so deep in these thoughts that he almost didn't notice when several other people came up to him.

"Hey, Meta! You're up already?" the first voice, a male voice, called out.

"It's good to see you up and about again," a second voice, this time female, chimed in.

"I do hope you have sufficiently recovered from your arboreal assault," another male voice put in.

Not registering the voices totally at first, Meta waved them off. "My head is better, thank you, but I'm afraid I'm still rather in a daze." Once he had said this, however, he recognized who the speakers were.

"It's you!" he exclaimed, spinning around in surprise.

"Of course it's us," Jecra laughed. "You wouldn't think that your own teammates wouldn't want to check up on you."

Sure enough, standing in front of him, as impossible as it seemed, was Jecra, Garlude, and Daroach. The former two seemed largely unchanged from how he remembered them, if a bit older, but the latter was wearing his red cape and hat.

"No-I mean-it's just that," he stammered out in surprise and joy. "I thought you were dead!"

"Dead?" Garlude laughed. "Why would we be dead?"

"It's a very long and unpleasant story, I'm afraid," the Puffal answered. "However, it appears to be one that was a dream, and nothing more."

He then explained everything he thought he had remembered. Everything about Nightmare, the centuries-long war, the many battles, the betrayal of the Forces by Yamikage, his own imprisonment, the birth of Kirby as a clone, and the ultimate Downfall all poured out, as if some sort of cork stopper had come undone. Much to his delight, he had a concerned and patient audience, who listened wordlessly to what he had to say. When he had finished, he sighed. "I know this probably all sounds like madness to you, but I can promise, this is how I experienced everything."

"We aren't accusing you of madness," Daroach responded, putting a paw on his friend's shoulder. "We are aware these kinds of dreams can come from trauma such as the like that you have endured. I do have to say, though, I haven't heard such an intricate dream before. It seemed to get some details correct and others very wrong."

"Well, it's over now, and you've come back to us," Garlude said, grinning brightly. "Old dreams needn't trouble you."

"Now, since you can't seem to work dream from reality," Jecra commented, "then you probably have a ton of questions to ask. Go ahead, ask away."

"First things," Meta said, touching a paw to his cheek, "There are several things in my life that I have been told of that I can't seem to work out. For one thing, Lynette mentioned that we have children. How can this be? I cannot remember any eggs."

"For one thing, only Kirby was your egg," Garlude explained. "One thing the dream did get right was that he is of your blood, though it is weird that detail was translated into clone instead of son. As for you other little ones, they were orphaned eggs. You and Lynette were sent to return them to Popopo, but they hatched before you got anywhere near the planet. It seemed wrong to separate the little ones from the parents they imprinted on, so it was decided that they would stay here with you two."

And so it went on for this for a while. Meta would ask a question about his life or the goings on of everyone he knew. He was answered promptly, and thus learned about everything that had happened that he could no longer remember. Some of this still seemed suspicious, but he was so relieved to just see that his friends were still alive, so he decided to just relax and enjoy what had happened.

This had gone on for about an hour or two when a doctor emerged from nearby hallway. "Sir Meta Knight," he called out. "Your family is wondering where you are. You had best return to your room."

The warrior nodded and said farewell to his partners, who assured they would see he later. As he moved on, Meta supposed that he could like this world.

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"I hope they'll make it alright," Lalala said as they turned away from the window. "And I hope they have something that can help Sir Meta Knight on Ripple Star."

"Hey, Ribbon said they'll be able to help," Tuff replyed confidently. "Everything's going to turn out alright. You'll see!"

"I sure hope so," she responded.

Before anything else could be said, a sudden cry interrupted everything. It was a shout, followed by some odd, animalistic grunting.

"What on Pop Star was that?" Tiff asked in surprise, before bolting back to the resting room, followed closely by the others. When they arrived, however, they could not believe what they saw.

Standing in the room, having broken free from the strap that had been holding him down, was Meta Knight. However, it only barely appeared to be him. He had certainly grown since last time, and his normal blue color had darkened to black. The only vestiges of him that remained were his mask and the sword Galaxia, but both had apparently fused on to him. The sword in particular seemed to have melded into his arm, and was sparking madly in a futile attempt to separate the evil being from its master. The other arm have mutated into a claw shape. He also stood much taller, and he seemed to fill up the room like never before. Worst of all, however, were the four eyestalks that had sprouted, apparently out of the mask itself. Each one was topped with an eye that was a smaller copy of the one that had been present in the figure of the Dark Matter, and was waving around wildly, as if looking for something.

"Wha-what is that thing?" Adeliene asked in horror.

"I think that is- or at least used to be- Sir Meta Knight," Tiff responded, her own fear very poorly masked.

At this, the creature that used to be Meta Knight turned, as if noticing them for the first time. It once again let out the guttural cry that it had previously uttered before charging toward the gathered youngsters. Without any other option, they scattered, quickly moving away from one another, hoping that the erratic running pattern might keep the beast off.

It worked somewhat, as the beast was forced to choose a party to chase after, allowing the others to flee. This choice did not take long, however, and the beast took off after the larger group, who had run off in the direction of the middle of the palace.

Lololo and Lalala had been forced deeper into the room by the charge of the beast. They took refuge behind the bed, which had been flipped over onto its side when the mutation had started. Once there, they caught sight of Dr. Yabui, who was similarly hiding behind a nearby dresser.

When the dust settled a bit, they went over to question the doctor over the occurrences. "What's going on?" Lololo called. "What happened in here?"

"I'm still not entirely sure myself," the doctor said honestly. "I was examining the patient to try to see if I could find a way to calm his spasms when he suddenly began to grow. He soon became too big for the restraints and broke free, before turning into that…creature. I'm afraid have no idea what triggered the transformation."

"I think we do," Lalala said sadly. She and her twin quickly explained everything that Ribbon had told them; about Dark Matter, it's history of terrorizing Ripple Star, it's horrible commander, Zero, and how there might be hope for the Star Warrior on Ripple Star.

"That's where we were when this all happened," Lololo finished off. "Ribbon and Kirby headed out to Ripple Star to go ask Queen Soleena is if there is anything that can be done."

The doctor nodded. "Hopefully there will be something that can be done. If not, I don't want to think what that creature will do in Dreamland.

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The trip through the Fountain of Dreams was rather disorienting, and afterwards, the passenger would not be able to describe it, but it always like that. No one really knew what connected the fountains of the universe, or allowed passage through their waters, but it was well known that if a fountain had a power source, then it could be opened and utilized.

It was in this fashion that Kirby and Ribbon arrived on Ripple Star, the home of the fairies of the universe. It was a bright and beautiful world, not unalike Pop Star. At the moment, the courtyard of the palace of the Fairy Queen was rather empty. There were only a few young fairies who were flying about, enjoying the bright morning air.

One of them, a brown haired fairy girl wearing a yellow dress, was the first to notice the arrival of the newcomers. "Hey, Ribbon!" she called out, waving. "Hi! What are you doing back from Pop Star? Is it time for you to report back to Queen Soleena already? Is that Kirby?"

"I don't really have a lot of time right now, Flossie," Ribbon said quickly. She knew the brunette fairy from before, and while she was nice enough, once she started talking, it was unlikely that she would stop anytime soon. "Yes, this is Kirby, but we're in a bit of trouble. We need to talk to the queen right now."

"Oh, Queen Soleena is in her library right now," Flossie responded. "If you would like, I could take a message-"

"We don't have time for a message," Ribbon said quickly. "Dark Matter is back!"

At the name of the dark creature, the fairy turned pale. "Th-this is horrible!" she exclaimed. "Terrible! A calamity! Oh, Ripple Star is doomed! What are we to do? What are we to-"

"We need to tell Queen Soleena immediately," Ribbon said quickly, snapping the other fairy out of it.

"Oh, quite right." Flossie straightened her dress before turning. "Follow me. I'm sure her highness will want to hear about this right away."

As they hurried through the palace, Kirby ran to keep up with the two fairies. He was at a bit of a disadvantage, since he couldn't fly nearly as fast as a fairy. He clutched the clasp of the cape to keep it from flying off.

Inwardly, his stomach turned. If this fairy was having a reaction like this to just hearing of Dark Matter, then what sort of horrible fate awaited his master id there was nothing that they could do? He didn't want to think about the answer.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long for the trio to reach the Fairy Queen's library. The current queen, Queen Soleena, was currently seated by a table set up in the center of the room as she went over one of the books.

Upon reaching the room, Flossie went forwards and curtsied. "Your majesty, the Lady Ribbon has returned from Pop Star with urgent news."

Kirby looked a little surprised over at Ribbon, and gave a questioning, "Poyo?" He had not been aware that Ribbon had a title.

Seeing them enter, the queen smiled at them. She was just what the little Star Warrior imagined a queen should look like. Soleena was slightly taller than most other fairies, and had long dark hair that was often tied in a pair of braids.

"Ribbon, you are early," she said simply as she arose to meet them. "I wasn't expecting your report for several months now. Welcome, and welcome, Squire Kirby. Thank you, Flossie. I can take things from here." The servant fairy curtsied and turned to leave.

Ribbon curtsied, and Kirby gave a gallant bow. Or, at least he tried to, but his clumsiness and orb shape made it turn more into a somersault.

Soleena chuckled and helped the little Puffal back to his feet. "You are learning much from Sir Meta Knight, aren't you?"

"I'm afraid I have bad news," Ribbon said, "and it involves Sir Meta Knight."

Turning grave, the queen turned to her. "I know you would have not come here so quickly if it wasn't urgent. What is wrong?"

"My queen," the pink fairy began, "I'm afraid that Dark Matter has returned, and some of it is currently possessing the Star Warrior."

Hearing this, Soleena's face darkened. "Are you quite certain? It has been millennia since the time of Queen Stellara."

"Completely." Ribbon explained what had happened, and what Tiff and Tuff had described about the attack.

As she listened, Soleena's expression was severe, but never betrayed any fear. When Ribbon had finished, she nodded. "You did well to come and tell me, both of you. There is something that can be done, but there is a part of the story that you don't know. Come with me. I will explain everything, and we will return to help out ailing friend." With that, she turned and walked into the hallway.

Ribbon immediately took off after her and Kirby trailed behind. Both of them were not quite sure what to expect, but were eager to help in some way.

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"Run!" Tiff yelled out as she ran. Close behind her, Tuff and the artist twins ran as hard as they could to keep up. As the four barreled through, the various creatures who they passed by, mostly Waddle Dees but also the occasional Cappy jumped back, confused as to what was going on.

They were glad they did so, though, since close behind the children came a huge brute the likes of which they had never seen. Before. Several Waddle Dees fainted, and one Cappy commented that he didn't know what the kingdom was coming to, but none of them had any eagerness to discover just what the creature was.

Soon, all the palace was in an uproar. At that time, Dedede had decided to attempt to take his second midafternoon nap when he heard all the yelling that was coming from the hallways in the lower levels of the palace. Annoyed by all the commotion, the Pengu himself went down to the main lobby to see was all the fuss was about.

"What is going on down here, a race?" he called out in irritation when he saw the fleeing children. "I was trying to-what the heck is that!?"

It was at that moment that the hulking form of the Dark Matter possessed Meta Knight plunged in. Unfortunately for Dedede, his outburst caused the creature to turn its attention from its former prey to him. It let out a muffled cry before lunging off at the Pengu.

Smack! Dedede responded quickly, landing a hard blow on the creature with his hammer, sending it flying backwards. The monster crashed into a pillar and lay still.

Realizing they were no longer being chased, the kids crept forwards to see what had happened. "Sir Meta Knight," Adeleine called out, hoping to get a response, "can you still hear us?"

"Sir Meta Knight?" Dedede asked in confusion, leaning against his hammer. "Why the heck did she just call that thing Sir Meta Knight?"

"Because that is him," Tuff responded. "This really weird monster thing called Dark Matter came out of nowhere and took over his body."

"Please, Sir Meta Knight," Tiff said, still not wanting to get hurt but wanting to make sure the Puffal was alright. "Please say something."

The Creature stirred, and a dark chuckle emerged. It got up, and there were several details that could now be seen. For one thing, the blow Dedede had dealt had smashed the mask. It was still fused to the creature, but now was broken into two pieces. Furthermore, they could now see the Puffal's true eyes.

They were closed.

"Sir Meta Knight?" the creature said, in a voice that was both Meta Knight's and someone else's. "Meta Knight's not here right now. I am the Meta-Knightmare!"

To be continued…


	50. The Meta-Knightmare, Part Two

"The story I am about to tell you starts many years ago," Queen Soleena began as she lead Ribbon and Kirby through the halls of the palace. "You already know the story of how my ancestor, Queen Stellara, banished the monster Zero and all his minions. However, there is more to the story than that."

"What do you mean?" Ribbon asked.

Initially, Soleena said nothing, merely pausing for a moment in front of a portrait of a fairy queen of times long ago. Finally, she sighed. "Have you ever wondered why there is no portrait of Stellara, like there is one for everyone else?"

"Well, I suppose so," Ribbon commented. "I had just assumed that it was so long ago that no one had any portraits yet."

"That was not the case." Here, the fairy queen opened a small door that had been hidden behind the painting and motioned for them to follow her. "The full story is one that has only been told to queens for many years, and it is time that you know too. Both of you."

They followed her into the passages, and were soon blown away by the amazing murals that was painted within. Soleena smiled, allowing them to take in the painting's majesty before explaining its meaning.

"I'm afraid Zero was no ordinary monster," she began, pointing out the first painting, which was of a huge eye surrounded by smaller eyes in black goo. "Most creatures have to have been born at some time, and they are observable from youth. Not so with the terrible eye. He emerged from darkness one day, and through the use of his horrible minions, began draining every world he came to."

"Dwaining?" Kirby asked.

"Yes," the queen nodded, "and of everything that could be of use to him. Water, energy, food. Worst of all was when he would send his Dark Matter to absorb the people's knowledge. The creature would do this by taking over people, horribly mutating their victims for the high it produced. Once the victim could take it no more, the poor person would burn out, and the Dark Matter would return and transmit everything that person had known to its dark master.

"It was during this reign of terror that Stellara was born." Here, she motioned to a picture of a small picture of a little fairy girl. However, there was something different about her than about most fairies: her wings were feathered, and more like the wings of birds than most fairies. "Even though she did not know she was to be appointed queen, she was always marked for destiny."

Here, she turned to Kirby. "Not unlike you yourself were," she said with a smile. "Feathered fairies are just as rare as pink Puffals. But I digress."

She pointed back to the story. "Zero seemed to hate the young Stellara from her birth for this, and attacked her time and again, seeking to destroy her before she could reach the prime of her power. This, however, worked against him, as it forced her to develop her power faster.

"The last straw for Zero came when she was elected to be the new fairy queen. He decided that this insult would not stand, and he started a full force invasion of Ripple Star.

"Because of this, the people were thrown into turmoil. Many armies went out to fight the fell creatures, but time and again they were driven back, unable to deal with the wicked creatures. It just appeared that there was no weapon that could harm the foe.

"In her desperation to save her people, Stellara sought the help of an ally she had met upon her travels, the king of the fire people and the master smith, Photron. Under his guidance, Stellara forged two weapons, the likes of which had never been seen before, and she used these weapons to face Zero and his monsters."

"Stah Wod!" Kirby declared happily when they moved to the picture that portrayed the fateful battle.

"Indeed," Soleena nodded. "One of those weapons was indeed the Star Rod, used to destroy evil. With it and its twin, the Heart Rod of cleansing, Stellara went out and faced Zero in battle, eventually overcoming and defeating him.

"Since the war had been won, the times faded into a time of peace. Stellara left the Star Rod on the nearby planet of Pop Star as a sign of good will, and the Heart Rod remained as a treasure of Ripple Star.

"And if Dark Matter had returned, then the time to use them in battle has come again." Here, Soleena tuned to a box that was located at the end of a long hallway. "We must move fast. If the Dark Matter has started to consume Meta Knight, then we must move fast to purge him of it before it destroys him." She opened up the box and removed the Heart Rod. "I shall come back with you."

"Then we can stop the creature!" Ribbon said excitedly.

"Save Medikni!" Kirby cheered.

Soleena nodded. "Indeed, but Dark Matter moves swiftly, so we must move faster. Come, we return to Dreamland!"

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"Papa!" Meta Knight was taken completely off guard when he felt someone launched at him and gripping him tight from behind. The happy cry was accompanied, albeit from more of a distance, by a happy chorus of poyos, mingled with a cheering of the word papa.

It was just an hour later. After he had been called, the blue Puffal had spent a good amount of time meeting up with his family, who were also more than willing to answer all of his questions. It was wonderful for him, as he had believed he would never see most of his family again.

He was now taking a minute to work out his thoughts and be alone. However, it seemed that this was not exactly going to happen easily.

He spun around, and realized the instigator of the greeting was Kirby, who was happily clinging to his father's cape. "Papa 'key now?" the little Puffal asked.

Meta Knight was rather taken aback for a moment. Even though everything that he couldn't remember had already been explained to him, he still was not used to being called Papa himself. However, unused to it as it was, it was not unwelcome.

"Yes, Kirby," he said, patting the youngster on the head. "I am much better now. I still don't remember everything, but things being explained to me."

As he had been explaining this, the remainder of the Puffalings raced up on their elder brother's heels. Meta Knight was soon surrounded by a crowd of squealing little Puffals, all eager to see their father up and about again.

Other voices came from behind.

"Hey! Come back here!"

"You're supposed to stay with us, not run off!"

The warrior looked up in time to see Sword and Blade come racing up. For once, they were not in armor, and had apparently been attempting to keep up with the little ones.

The duo soon realized that Meta Knight was standing right in front of them. They quickly threw a salute. "Oh, uh, good afternoon, Sir," Sword said quickly. "We were keeping a eye on the kids, but they seem to have, uh, well…"

"They took the opportunity to choose their own destination," the warrior put in. There was a slight laugh to his voice.

"Yes, quite right," Sword responded. It was clear he was embarrassed by the youngsters giving him the slip.

Seeing his brother's awkwardness, Blade stepped in. "We apologize if they bothered you. We'll take them back right away."

"No need," Meta Knight responded calmly. "They haven't bothered me in the slightest. But I do have to guess, where is the rest of your company?"

"Our company?" Blade asked. "What do you mean?"

"The rest of your classmates. I may not have everything clear, but I do remember that you were not the only knights in training around here."

"Oh, well, in that case, Ax and Mace are still in the training hall, though for the life of me I couldn't tell you where Sailor Dee is. He's always slipping off somewhere. If you mean the students of the other Forces as well, Joe's out running several errands, and Silica's out in the target practice gym, and both Spinni and Storo were out in the main grounds."

"Is that so?" Meta Knight gave a small smile. "Thank you for telling me. Now," here he turned to the little Puffals. "You all need to go back with Sword and Blade. I am resting at the moment, and would like to be alone."

There was a loud chorus of disappointed poyos, but all became silent when the warrior raised his paw. "Now, I think you'll all wish to join them. After all, it wouldn't be all too much fun to miss out on the cookies they are going to pick up in the village."

At the mention of cookies, all eight of the little ones brightened up. Indeed, there are few things more capable of distracting a small Puffal then the concept of food close at hand. The idea excited them so much that they practically carried the duo of knaves off in their eager quest for the sweet treats.

As they left, Meta Knight gave a small smile. So this was his life, huh? Well, he could get used to it, though there were many things that still confused him.

Apparently, the dream world that he had previously remembered had blended and separated everything, so that some things he remembered were real, some things were not, and some things were real, but not in the way that he remembered them.

Basically, from everything that had been told to them, he had worked out some sort of timeline. Here, there was no Nightmare. There never had been. As that was the case, there had never been any war. The Star Warriors, while still somewhat nomadic, had more permanent settlings, of which Pop Star was one of them.

Because of the lack of the war, everyone that the warrior had known in his childhood were still very much alive and well, and all lived here on the base. His parents and sisters were alive, and most of his sisters had married and were having children of their own, except for Minney, whose boyfriend was currently on a different planet. Furthermore, because he was never kidnapped, Kirby was his eldest and only biological son, rather than his clone.

The little ones were still only adopted, though Popopo was still alive. Their eggs had been orphaned and stolen, and when the recovered by the Star Warriors had hatched, imprinting on Meta Knight and Lynette. Since they were orphans and had imprinted, it was decided that they would be kept as well.

All this was well and good, but there were elements that came from the war memories well. For instance, Sailor Dee was among his students, and Daroach still held his title as Red Thief Lord. However, these had come to be in less tragic circumstances than he had recalled.

Quite frankly, this was all giving him a headache.

"Meta, are you alright?"

He turned to see Lynette coming up to him and smiled. "I'm fine, thank you. I was actually hoping to see you soon."

"Well, how can I help you?" she responded.

"Just being here," he said calmly, taking his wife by the paw. "This is all rather surprising, considering what I remember, but now that I am certain this is for real, I am just content to be here."

She smiled and hugged him in response. "I'm glad you're feeling yourself again." With that, the two turned and walked, just speaking with each other, pleased that the trouble had blown over without too much trouble.

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The same could not be said of those gathered around the monster. Now that the mask had been shattered by the blow, the creature could now speak free. However, the speech did not seem to be aimed at the surrounding onlookers.

"It is mine now," it said in a wild, but at the same time quiet, voice. "It is mine, and I will enjoy it."

"'It'?" Dedede asked. "What the heck is 'it'? What the heck is this thing?"

"I told you already!" Tuff declared in annoyance. "That's Sir Meta Knight. This blob of goo called Dark Matter took him over and turned him into a monster."

"Well, Meta Knight or no, that thing's wrecking my palace." The Pengu hefted his hammer as he spoke. "I'm smashing that thing before he can break anything else!" With that, he raised his weapon and charged at the dark figure.

The Meta-Knightmare responded quickly, almost sensing the coming attack before it was even launched. It let out a loud, raucous laugh before swinging with its crab-like claw, knocking him backwards. He was only just able to dodge out of the way in time for the claw that had been fused with Galaxia to come smashing down.

The creature laughed as he saw Dedede run. "Stupid bird-man," it spat in a feral voice. "You were never a match for it, even before Meta-Knightmare improved it. Now that it belongs to me, there's nothing that you could even imagine doing to stop me, you bloated imbecile!"

"Who ya callin' bloated?" the Pengu snapped. With that, he charged at the creature again. However, this time he was even more out of luck, since the creature caught his hammer easily with one claw, and with the other smacked him hard with Galaxia.

Dedede had been lucky. The Meta-Knightmare was a fierce foe, but it was more focused on brute attack then skilled maneuvers. As a result, even though he was hit by Galaxia, the creature accidentally only used the flat of the blade. Still, since the blade itself was alive with electricity in resistance to the monster, the experience was not a pleasant on for the so called ruler, and he was knocked unconscious.

The creature loomed over its prey, fully prepared to strike down with the blade and make the killing blow. However, as it slashed down with the sword, there was a resounding clang as metal struck metal. When the shock of the blow wore off, it became clear for all to see what had happened.

Sword was standing between the creature and Dedede, holding the golden blade off with his own Zweihander. "Get him out of the way, quick!" the knave called out to several Waddle Dees, who had for the most part just frozen in shock when the creature came barreling in.

That seemed to shake them from their stupider and they rushed to obey, hurrying their master away from the area. Just in time, as well, for just as they were escaping around the hallway, Sword became unable to hold the strike back any longer, and was forced to move quickly to one side to avoid being hit himself.

He didn't have to wait too long for aid. As the creature's blow struck the ground, Blade arrived too. Wielding his broadsword high, he jumped at the creature and succeeded in severing two of the eye-stalks. They fell to the ground, splattering into black goo as they did.

Impressive though this move was, it did not truly help all too much. Once the goop had hit the ground, it began to move again, and slithered right back over to the creature, who had already regenerated the eyes.

"You two," the creature said, turning its gaze on the two knaves. "You belong to it. Once it's used up, maybe I can use you, too." The creature then gave a loud cackle.

"What is that thing?" Sword asked, turning to the children, who were still watching from behind the cover of some nearby rubble.

"It's Sir Meta Knight!" Adeleine responded. "He's being possessed by some creature called Dark Matter. That's-"

"You don't need to tell us what Dark Matter is, kid," Blade said quickly as he and his brother were forced to fight. "The conquests of Zero are well known to the Star Warriors."

"Ribbon and Kirby went to Ripple Star to attempt to get something to help him," Tiff put in while the duo faced the creature. "He turned into this once they left!"

By now, the creature had taken somewhat notice of the children, though his attention was fully on the two Star Warrior knaves. "Gone to the fairy world, hoping to save it, have they," it cackled in a sing song voice. "Hopeless task now. Once Meta-Knightmare is done here, go to fairy world to finish the job."

While it was talking, Sword took the opportunity to launch himself on the creature's head. "Please, sir!" he said as he clung on, desperately trying to get through to his master. "You have to break out of this! The creature is using you, and it will kill if you can't stop it!"

His words fell on deaf ears. The creature succeeded in snatching him off, and once it had done so, flung him heavily at Blade, who had been attempting his own attack. "I told the whelps already," the creature said in a menacing voice. "Meta Knight isn't here. It belongs to me now." With that, it let out another wild bout of laughter.

The listeners froze in horror, hardly believing that this had happened. Their master, protector, their friend, taken over by this monstrous being, who was now using him for its own purposes. What could they do?

Well, one of them had an idea, anyway. Tuff shook himself out of the fear-caused shock and began fumbling around in his pocket. It had to be around there, and if it was, then maybe he could do something about this.

A bright grin spread across the Dreamlander boy's face as his hand fell on the object he was looking for. "Hey, ugly!" he called out, wielding his little orange star high. "Try this on for size!" He flung the little star hard.

The other watchers could only look in shock at the boy's boldness. Certainly, if swords and spears didn't do anything against the creature, then a little star wasn't going to do anything either.

However, those who doubted were soon surprised. As soon at the star made contact, the creature let out a loud cry of pain. Indeed, where it had struck, Meta Knight had turned back to his old self. This was just for a brief second, though, and soon the corruption took over again.

Tuff quickly called the star back, catching it again before the creature could try to grab it away. He was prepared to throw it again, but the monster responded first.

"That…hurt!" the creature cried out, before lunging at the boy. It was clear that the creature intended to kill him.

Thankfully, he was able to dodge out of the way in time. By the time that Tuff had made it a good distance away from his attacker, Sword and Blade, too, had recovered enough to reprise their own offense.

Realizing that, for all its power, a weakness had been revealed and it was in danger of losing its victim, the monster decided to retreat back for the moment. It backed up, spreading out four wings and took off into the sky.

Without any flyers themselves among the group, the group could only watch in dismay as the black figure shrank into the distance. Not wanted to waste time, Sword quickly turned to the kids. "You are certain that thing was a dark matter?"

Tiff nodded. "Tuff and I saw it clearly, and Ribbon verified it."

"Then we don't have much time. A few days at most, if we're lucky." Blade quickly sheathed his weapon. "C'mon. We'll need to catch up to him before he's absorbed into that thing, or before he hurts anyone. Tuff, you'll need to come with us."

"Me?" The boy was clearly delighted by the prospect, even if he was a bit confused as to why.

"Yes, you," Sword responded with a nod. "So far, that star of yours has been the only thing that's been actually able to damage that monster. We most likely will need to use that ability again."

"You got it!" Tuff jumped up, eager to go stop the evil creature.

Sword then turned to the others. "Ado, Adeleine, do either of you have your paintbrushes on you?" They both shook their heads, as they had left the brushes back in their room that day. "Then go run and get them," the knave responded. "We're going to need all the help we can get. Tiff, you wait here and tell Kirby and Ribbon what happened when they get back."

"But I can help!" the Dreamlander girl put in, clearly unhappy at being promoted messenger.

Blade shook his head. "You don't have a way of protecting yourself. It's bad enough that Tuff and the twins are needed. If we don't need to risk you, we won't."

"But I have-"

"Besides," Sword put in, "if Ribbon and Kirby have found some way to get that thing out of Sir Meta Knight, then they'll need to be told as soon as possible. Understand?"

Tiff crossed her arms, seeing their argument but still not pleased with the arrangement. "Fine," she grumbled, "but don't expect me to stay back once they get here."

The two knaves nodded, and everyone rushed off to their own places to deal with the emergency.

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When Kirby and company made their way back through the Fountain, they were surprised to find that a huge section of the palace wall, which had been whole and peaceful enough when they had left, had been near completely torn apart.

"What happened here?" Ribbon asked in shock. "It was nothing like this when we left, and we were only gone for about forty five minutes."

"He's stronger than I supposed," Queen Soleena said as she examined the surroundings. "The Dark Matter's working fast. We'll have to hurry if we are going to be able to help him. Kirby, do you know where the Star Rod is?"

Kirby had frozen up the moment he had set foot in the palace grounds. Indeed, the wreckage spoke as an ill omen to him, and his mind immediately began racing to everything bad that might had happened to his friends. He had been in such a state of shock that he practically jumped out of his skin when Soleena spoke to him. "Poyah wha'?"

"I said, do you know where the Star Rod is?" The queen said, repeating herself. "If we are to save Sir Meta Knight, then its use will be vital."

"Oh, Stah Wod, yeah." Kirby floated over the Fountain of Dreams and removed the power source. Dreams would stop for the time being, but hopefully it would only be out for a short time. "Hewe 'tis."

The fairy queen nodded, withdrawing the Heart Rod as she did so. "Good. Now remember, the Heart Rod needs to be used first, then the Star Rod. The Heart separates and the Star destroys. Used out of order, and the Dark Matter would die, but Meta Knight would, too."

Kirby and Ribbon nodded quickly. They had no intention of killing the Star Warrior, so they'd be careful only to attack when the time was right.

They moved as quietly as they could, doing their best not to be seen by the creature that had caused this if at all possible. However, the farther along they got, the clearer it got that they were too late. Groups of Waddle Dees were hard at work clearing away the rubble and the odd Cappy had come by to gape at what had happened, but otherwise, it seemed the place was deserted. Whatever had happened it had passed.

"Hey! Kirby! Ribbon! There you guys are!"

The three turned to see Tiff running up to them. The girl looked a bit bedraggled, no surprise, considering her surroundings, but otherwise was alright.

"Hi, Tiff," Ribbon responded as the blonde joined them. "This is Queen Soleena of Ripple Star. She's going to help us heal Meta Knight."

Hearing this, Tiff curtsied. "Welcome to Dreamland, your highness," she said. "I wish I could say you've come at a good time, but as I'm sure Ribbon and Kirby have told you, we're having some problems at the moment."

The dark haired queen nodded. "So I have heard. We have a way of separating the Dark Matter from Sir Meta Knight, but time is running short. It is vitally important that we get to him soon. Do you know where he is?"

"Well, I'm afraid not," Tiff said, beginning her explanation. "You see-"

She was cut off by the thundering sound of an explosion. Everyone turned to the direction it came from. "Well," Tiff said, revising her comment, "I guess we do now."

"Poyo, Medikni!" Kirby exclaimed as he took off running, still clutching the Star Rod tight. "Gotta go help Medikni!" He took off as fast as he could, holding tight to both the weapon and the cape. He wished he had some way to get their faster.

A few seconds after he had wished it, it felt something come up under him and pick him up. He looked down in surprise and saw that it was his star, which he had previously left in his room. He had no idea how it had gotten here, but he was very glad to see it.

Kirby directed the star in the direction that the explosion had come from. He had no doubt that would lead him to Meta Knight. Close behind, the two fairies were flying along with him, Ribbon now carrying the Heart Rod and the queen giving Tiff a lift.

They had to get there soon.

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Right now, the fighters really needed the backup. The creature, having broken out of the palace, had turned its attention to attacking the nearby village. Thankfully, as of yet, no one had been hurt, but a lot of the surrounding buildings had been destroyed, with a group on onlookers watching from behind cover.

Sword, Blade, Tuff, and the artist twins had arrived just in time to get a good portion of the post office flung at them. "It is mine now!" the creature bellowed, preparing to fling another armload of debris off. "You can't have it!"

The five were able to avoid the attack, but much to the girls' dismay, a huge portion had landed in front of the door of the antique shop, cutting them off from their paintbrushes. It looked like, for the moment at least, the boys were on their own.

Tuff acted first, launching off his star, hoping to get another reaction like before. However, this time, the creature was prepared, and it responded, flinging a large portion of brick, taking the little star down.

Though this had not aided in the way that the Dreamlander boy had hoped, it did mean that the creature was distracted long enough for Sword and Blade to come in for a closer attack. They launched themselves at the creature, swinging away in hopes of catching some weak spot.

This hopes was, however, in vain. Nearly as soon as they had caught on, they were flung off again. "Foolish whelps!" the terror bellowed. "There's nothing you can do now! Your pitiful knives do not bother me!" The creature let out another cackle.

I was going to strike again, when suddenly, it was interrupted by something else landing the blow first. It was a bright gold star, which had hit the monster right in the middle. Just like when the orange star had made its landing, the area hit briefly turned back to its natural blue, before fading back to black.

"Stop!" Kirby cried out. "Medikni, we wanna help yew!"

The creature backed up, stunned for a moment. It looked in shock, before screeching. "No!" it cried out in an enraged voice. "No Guardian! Guardian stop me last time! This time, Guardian will not take prey!" With that war cry the creature lunged for Kirby.

The little Puffal flew up in the sky and rammed the creature again with his star. He had the Star Rod clutched tight in his paws, but he didn't dare to use it yet. Not until Queen Soleena had used the Heart Rod First.

Thankfully, she was not long in coming. "Stop, monster!" she called out in a commanding voice. She set Tiff on the ground and took the Heart Rod from Ribbon as she spoke. "This good warrior is not yours to take. Release him now."

The creature looked at her for a moment, as if trying to work out if she was serious or not. Afterwards, it laughed a loud cackle. "You do not scare me, pixie," it barked back mockingly. "It is my prey now, and I will keep it. There is nothing you can do about it!"

"Is there?" Soleena asked. Quickly, she swung the Heart Rod in the creature's direction. Like the Star Rod, its twin, the Heart Rod unleashed a bright projectile, this time in the shape of a heart, which flew fast at its target, and struck home.

There was a bright flash as the projectile met its target. Everyone who witnessed froze, waiting to see what would come of the blow. Soon, the light cleared and the result was clear to see.

The blow had stunned the creature, but Meta-Knightmare still stood.

Immediately, the creature laughed and swung a blow at Soleena. She was knock backwards by the blow, and was completely unconscious.

As he onlookers rushed to her side to make sure she was alright, the creature gave a triumphant howl. "I am Meta-Knightmare!" it roared. "I am invincible!"

To be continued…


	51. The Meta-Knightmare, Part Three

There was a fierce tremor that shook the entire building. Startled by the sudden shaking, Meta Knight reached out and steadied himself against the wall. "What in the great universe was that?" he asked. "I do not remember this area as being affected by earthquakes."

Lynette seemed even more impacted by the sudden blow. She froze, as if something about the tremor had shut down her mind. However, once the shaking had passed, she recovered and turned back to him. "I'm not sure," she responded, just as confused by the quake as he was. "It was odd, but it did not seem to cause any damage. I'm sure we should not worry about it."

The blue Puffal was not quite certain, but made up his mind to listen to his wife's judgement. "I suppose you are right, but I am still unnerved. I believe I will go to the village to make certain that everything is alright over there."

"That's a good idea," Lynette responded with a smile. "I'll come with you." She took his paw as they started waking, but then suddenly, she froze. "Oh, wait, I can't come." She turned apologetically to her husband. "I had totally forgotten, but there is some paperwork that I need to fill out in the office."

"Don't worry," he responded with a smile. "I'll be fine on my own." With that, he said goodbye to his wife and headed out.

He wandered out of the base. Once he was outside, he reduced his cape and attempted to stretch his wings out for flight. It took a minute for him to remember that, here, there was no Nightmare, and since the warlock did not exist, then he himself had never been given wings. Glad that no one had been around to see his little blunder, he moved his cape back and began walking the path through the woods to the village.

The peaceful atmosphere of the area soon caught up to him. There was hardly a sound to be heard in the whole area, other than the sound of the wind moving through the branches. He took a deep breath, thoroughly enjoying the peace and quiet of the woods.

"Good morning, Meta Knight. Enjoying your walk?"

The Puffal glanced up and saw that it was Coo who had addressed him. The owl had his GSA wing-band on, and had a bag of supplies clutched in one talon.

"Oh, yes, good morning," the warrior responded. "I am enjoying myself, though more than I suppose I should. I'm headed to the village to make certain that no one was effected by the earthquake."

"Earthquake?" Coo asked, a little confused. "I was just in the village myself, and I felt no earthquake. But, then again, I have been in the air for a while.

"Well, Sir Arthur requested that these supplies be brought to him right away, so I had best be off." Coo quickly waved before flying off. "Have a good day."

"You too," Meta Knight answered before turning back to his path. As he began walking again, he couldn't help but turn all the facts over in his mind. So, Coo hadn't felt the earthquake, like Meta Knight had? Well, maybe it was all in his head. Wait, no, it couldn't be. Lynette had felt it too, though it had not been quite as intense to her.

Still holding a deep feeling of disturbance within him, the warrior walked on. He just could not, for the life of him, figure out what was the matter. Nothing in this was right at all. His false memories he had chalked up to the dream he had after he had been injured, but earthquakes that some felt and others didn't couldn't.

As he was walking on, he felt it again. It was another tremor, this one harder than the last. Quickly, the warrior threw himself to the ground, desperate to cover himself from any debris. However, none fell, though that is not to say that the quake did not have an impact on the surrounding area.

Quite the opposite. The surrounding lands responded intensely. The sky, which had been previously a serene blue, turned black. It appeared that the trees began to melt, and when Meta Knight looked down at the ground he had fallen on, he found that it had turned to a thick black slime, which now coated his arms and gloves. He let out a loud cry, trying to tear himself from the disgusting substance.

As soon as it had started, this awful vision also stopped. The quaking passed after a moment, and all reset to as it had been. The warrior, who had been previously trying to escape the slime, was tossed backwards from the momentum of his own strength, and when he was able to steady himself again, he found there was no sign that the awful black substance had ever been there at all.

This sudden snap back gave no comfort, and in a rush, the warrior began to run towards the village as fast as his feet would take him. He had to figure out just what was going on.

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Kirby was now in a panic. "Medikni!" he called out desperately. "Medikni stop! Wanna he'p!" He rushed ahead, attempting to break through to his mentor, who he was certain had to be in there somewhere.

However, the monster was still very much in control. It lashed out at the youngster, and would have crushed him had Ribbon not seen the move first. She flew out as fast and possible, catching Kirby quickly by the paw and pulling him back.

Once the duo had gotten clear, Sword and Blade jumped back into the fray in an attempt to drive the monster back, and Tuff stood by in the sidelines, ready to throw his star if the need for it came.

She then turned and flew by Soleena, who was now recovering from the hit that she had taken. "What happened?" the little fairy asked, panic filling her voice. "Why didn't that work?"

The fairy queen rubbed her head, working to make sense of the odd situation herself. "This only thing that I can think of," she said, her tone grim, "is that the Dark Matter has too firm a grip on him. He's somehow gotten Meta Knight into a state where he wants to remain in the monster's sway, and unless we can snap him out of it, he's going to be trapped in there forever."

"That's terrible!" Ribbon responded. "Isn't there anything we can do to get him to wake up?"

The queen was about to shake her head sadly, when she noticed something flying over and landing next to them. "Maybe there is. Kirby, is that star yours?"

Kirby glanced over to the yellow star, which had landed next to him, and nodded. "Uh-huh. It Kaabii's Wa'p Stah."

"Warp Star, you say?" Hearing those words, Soleena's eyes brightened even more. "If that's the case, then we may be saved yet."

She thought to herself for a moment, glancing between Kirby and the large gold star, and Tuff and little orange one. "Yes, that could work," she mumbled when she had finished.

"Wha' coul' wo'k?" Kirby asked, curiosity welling inside him.

"The stars seems to have an effect on the creature," Soleena explained. "When one struck the monster, as part of the Dark Matter was forced back. You're friend over there was the one wielding it, and since you have a star as well, it might have a similar effect. I've got an idea, but its going to require both of you, and you too, Ribbon."

"Me?" the little fairy asked. "What can I do to help?"

"How developed has your telepathy become?" Soleena asked.

"I'm not really sure," Ribbon responded hesitantly. "I can get into people's heads well enough, but I have a hard time contoling what I see, and they always find out I'm there."

"That's quite alright," the queen responded quickly. "Go get your friend and come back here. Then I will explain everything to you."

Kirby did as he was told, rushing over to Tuff and quickly explaining that the fairy queen had need of them. The boy was a little confused, but nodded, pocketing his star quickly and rushing over to where the queen was recovering.

"Alright," Soleena explained when the children had gathered around her. "It seems that the Dark Matter has taken a strong enough hold that the Heart Rod cannot sever the connection on its own. However, it does appear that the stars have the ability to drive the monster away, at least temporarily. As such, I believe that, if both stars are used, your star first, Tuff, and then Kirby's, then Ribbon might be able to get through to Meta Knight. If he is woken up by this, then the Heart Rod will have a chance of working. Do you understand?"

"Got 't!" Kirby declared, throwing a quick salute.

"We're on it!" Ribbon decreed.

"Yeah!" Tuff shouted out. "You can count on us!"

"Then we must work fast," the fairy queen said. "Go! Move fast!"

The trio rushed to do as they were told. Tuff flung his star again. In its distracted state, the monster was unable to notice or dodge the incoming projectile. It slammed hard into it, opening up a small gap in the Dark Matter.

That was what Kirby needed. He flew in on the Warp Star, striking the gap as hard as he could, driving the gap even wider. "Hu'y, Wibbon!" he called out. "T'is tough!"

The fairy nodded and alighted on the widened area of blue. She focused hard, and began attempting to get through to the warrior. "Sir Meta Knight," she pleaded. "Please hear me!"

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Meta Knight had made his way closer to the village when another quake rocked the world. He attempted to keep moving, rather than being knocked down by the tremors. This was difficult, but not impossible to do.

However, this did not last long. As the gentler tremor began to fade, a larger one appeared, and once again, the territory melted away into the black goop once again. Everything melted into the slime, and the warrior became entrapped in it. He struggled against it, but this time, he fight was to no avail. No matter how much he fought against it, it still held him fast, refusing to release him.

"No!" he cried out in shock. "Let me go!"

Much to his surprise, a voice seemed to answer his. "Sir Meta Knight! Please hear me!"

"Where are you?" he cried out in response. "Please! Help me!"

"Sir Meta Knight!" the voice repeated, and this time it was a bit clearer. "Thank goodness, I've reached you! I'm right here!"

He strained his eyes in an attempt to see through the blinding goop, and, sure enough, there she was! Floating right in sight was Ribbon, who was reaching out to him.

"Ribbon?" he asked as he struggled to move towards the fairy. "How did you get in here?"

"'Here' isn't really a place," Ribbon explained. For some reason, she was not encumbered by the slime the way he was. "We're in your mind. It's like this because you are possessed by a creature named Dark Matter."

"Dark Matter!" The warrior scowled and shook his head. He should have known. "Then everything that I've seen in here?"

"It's all fake," the fairy explained. "The Dark Matter must have made an illusion to make you want to stay! But you can't stay! The creature is doing horrible things with your body, and you need to fight it! Otherwise, we won't be able to separate you from it!"

He was about to call out to her again, but she started to fade. "The creature is breaking my connection!" she called out in a panic. "Please! You have to help us. Kirby need to-" She was cut off as the Dark Matter succeeded in severing her connection.

Meta Knight looked back saw that the world had begun to solidify again. The perfect world, the one he had always wished for. On the other side of the slime, however, was reality. There were real people over there, and people who would suffer if he allowed himself to be taken.

He had two options, but he knew there was really only one choice.

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Kirby and Ribbon were both thrown violently back as the creature finally succeeded at shaking them off and severing the connection. Ribbon was able to catch herself midflight and the Warp Star compensated for Kirby, catching him quickly at the top of his arc. However, falling was currently the least of their worries.

"Fools!" the creature bellowed. "Did you really think you could reach it? It is mine now!"

It prepared to strike again, but this time, something stopped it. It began struggling hard, but with what it wasn't obvious. "What!? No! You can't come out!" it cried, for the first time really panicked.

Soon, it became clear to all what was going on. When Kirby and Ribbon had been flung backwards by the force of the Dark Matter regaining control, the black spot had begun to reclaim the purified area. However, it was halted for a moment, before the clear blue began to spread itself of its own accord. This culminated with Meta Knight's eyes, which had been sealed shut the entire time, finally coming open.

"No!" the warrior cried, his own voice finally free from the monster's grip. "I will not be your puppet!"

"You are mine!" the creature shrieked, trying to force the warrior back into submission. "You will do as I order!"

Despite these cries, it became blatantly clear that the warrior would not go back to being the subservient host to the monster. However, he was also not strong enough to force the monster out on his own.

"If you are going to attack, do it now!" the knight called out to those around him. "I can only hold it back for a short time! Attack now!"

Hearing his call and seizing her opportunity, Soleena snatched up the Heart Rod again, and Kirby clutched the Star Rod in anticipation. With a swift movement, the Fairy Queen swung the famed weapon hard, unleashing another bright bolt, which struck its target hard. There was another bright flash of light, and, once again, when sight returned, all turned to see what had happened.

To the onlooker's terror, it appeared that, once again, the attack had no effect. However, it was just a delayed reaction. For a moment, the creature stood, as if frozen. Then it fell to the ground and began shrinking. When it had returned to Meta Knight's proper size, there was a clear separation to be seen. On one side lay Meta Knight, exhausted but thoroughly himself again. One the other was a blob of dark material surrounding an eye. The Dark Matter.

Kirby prepared to swing the Star Rod to destroy the monster, but it seemed that would not be necessary. Once the creature had separated from Meta Knight, it melted away of its own accord, until there was nothing left of it but a dark spot.

Seeing their lord fall, Sword and Blade rushed ahead of the others. "Sir Meta Knight!" Sword called out. "Can you hear us?"

The warrior winced and attempted to force himself up, but was not strong enough. His attempt was cut off quickly, and he fell back down.

Acting swiftly, the two knaves caught their master and supported him. He turned, smiling weakly when he realized about their presence. "Well," he commented, and it was clear that he was short of breath. "It seems that I'm back, though I can't say I am feeling too well."

"You may be free of the Dark Matter's taint," Soleena said as she moved over to join them, "but its effects have already taken hold."

Seeing in the fairy queen approach, Meta Knight attempted to bow, though it was far from his typical graceful bow. "Your highness," he said, ever the gentleman, even in his weakness. "You have my immense thanks for your part in freeing me from the monster's grasp."

The fairy smiled in response. "You should thank young Kirby and his friends. It is because of their diligence and quick action that I was brought so quickly."

Meta Knight once again attempted to stand up on his own feet, but once again the weakness he suffered from forced him to slump back down.

Seeing this, Queen Soleena turned first to Kirby. "My I please have the Star Rod? It appears we will not need it right now."

When the youngster nodded and handed it over, she then called out to Sword and Blade. "Your master is weak from his trials," she said. "Bring him to the Fountain of Dreams. From there, we will go on to Ripple Star. There he will be tended to, and will recover in time."

The two knaves nodded and hurried to bring the knight to the fountain.

Before she turned to follow them, she turned to the children. Currently, Kirby was standing nearby with Ribbon, and Tiff and Tuff were close at hand, meeting up with Ado and Adeleine, who were now able to come out of hiding. "Children," she said in a calm, firm voice, "there is something that I would like you to do."

"Yes, ma'am?" Ribbon asked, answering for the rest of her friends.

"Your star, Kirby, has me intrigued, as does yours, Tuff. It would please me greatly if you went to talk to Kabu about them. Perhaps he has knowledge about where they came from and why they held some power over even the Dark Matter."

"Of course!" Tuff declared, snapping his fingers. "Why didn't we ever think of asking Kabu before? Of course he'll know something."

"We'll go right away, your highness," Ribbon said with a curtsy. Turning to fly in the direction of Kabu Canyon, she motioned to the others to follow. "C'mon! If we hurry, we can get there before dark!"

It was a little later when Dedede had come down from his palace. By the time he did, there was a small crowd gathered around the area, questioning just what had gone on.

"Alright, all of you!" he called out to the surrounding Cappies, "just what was going on around here?"

"It was Kirby and his friends!" Honey declared quickly. "There was this great big monster that ate Sir Meta Knight, and Kirby and Ribbon fought it and force it to spit him up!"

"No, that's not what happened," Hohhe reacted. "It was pretending to be Sir Meta Knight, and they proved it an impostor."

Iroo shook his head. "No, it was-"

"I don't care what exactly it was!" Dedede snapped, having no patience for the arguing. "I just want to know where it went."

"Oh, is that all?" Iroo shrugged. He pointed out the dark blob. "That's all that's left of it now."

Dedede bent down to examine goop. It wasn't reacting to anything, but the Pengu still didn't want to touch it. Pulling out a jar, he scooped up a sample that had dripped away from the rest. He then pocketed the jar, thinking he'd bring it to Escargoon and Magolor to examine later.

As the jar was in his pocket, he couldn't see it when the slime made a feeble attempt to climb up the glass.

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The sun was starting to go down when the children finally arrived at Kabu Canyon. Though the light was growing dim, they did not have much difficulty in moving through due to the torches always lined the area of the passage.

Kabu himself stood at the end of the passageway, and, quite as usually, it seemed that he had been expecting them. "It has been a good while since you have come here, children, is it not?"

Ribbon, once again selecting herself as speaker for the group, flew close. "We apologize for not coming sooner, but there have been many things occurring in Dreamland."

Though he never moved, there seemed to be a feeling as if the tiki had nodded in agreement. "Do not feel sorry. You have had many things to think of. Grave times are coming, but also times where the glories of ages past will return to power. You have come to discuss with me about such glories, have you not?"

"Well, I guess so, if you can call these glories," Tuff said as he and Kirby laid their stars on the ground.

It had been the first time that anyone in the group had seen these two objects lying side by side, and the similarities became very clear. The Warp Star, even though it had shrunk back to its smaller size, was still the larger of the two, and gave off a brilliant shine in the firelight. Tuff little orange star seemed like a trifle by comparison, though it too seemed to have a glow about it. It looked almost like a miniature of the Warp Star, except that it was a different color, and the arms of the star seemed to bend back a little.

When these had been laid out, Kabu seemed to grow very pleased. "Indeed, it is as I had thought," he said, and though his voice kept its usual tone, there was an excitement clear in it. "These are ancient treasures from the past. I did not believe I would ever see them again."

"Then you've seen them before?" Tiff asked hopefully.

"Indeed," was the response. "In fact, I was the one who delivered them to their original bearer, the Star Warriors Metian and Erran, along with their legendary weapons."

"You knew Metian and Erran?!" Adeleine exclaimed in excitement, hardly believing the tiki could have been that ancient.

"It was very long ago," Kabu responded. "They had only just started the group that would one day grow into the Star Warriors. There was a grave danger back then that they had to face, and though they were willing to face it, they hadn't the strength to handle it yet. Thus, to aid them on their quest, the Firelord Photron sent these, the Warp and Flight Stars, to assist them, along with the sword Galaxia and the Duciel Bow."

"Whoa!" Tuff exclaimed in excitement. "Then these really are ancient Star Warrior weapons!"

"There is something wrong, though." The ancient creature sounded worried.

The kids looked up, surprised that there was something that was troubling the tiki. "What is it?" Ado asked. "Is there something we can do?"

"For the time being, no," was the answer. "The problem is that the Flight Star is not whole."

Tuff looked over his little star back and front. "It looks pretty whole to me."

"That is because you have not seen it in any other state," Kabu replied. "However, that is only half of the Flight Star, the Star of Erran. Why it has been broken, I cannot say, but I fear the worst, considering their fall."

"Whose fall?" Tiff asked, her curiosity growing.

"Of your people, Tiffany Ebrum." The ancient tiki grew grave. "The Flight Star was the heirloom of your people, just as the Warp Star was the heirloom of Kirby's. It was greatly honored and treasured when your people ruled over Dreamland. Then one day, your kind disappeared. For many ages I thought the blood of Erran had wiped out, until yours and Humphry's parents arrived at the palace."

Tuff was about to speak up against his hated formal name being used, but Tiff spoke first. "Well, we obviously weren't wiped out, and there are others out there, though admittedly not a lot. What do you think could have happened to cause the star to be broken?"

"Some great tragedy, though what exactly, I cannot say." Kabu seemed to have closed his eyes, as if in deep thought. "Great was the House of Erran, when the House of Metian departed. Terrible work must have been done to tear that people down so far."

For the first time, Kirby stepped closer, and held up the little star. "If Wa'p Stah was Stah Wa'ee'yah weh-pin, t'en why Mama have 't?" he asked.

Kabu seemed to smile. "I never knew your mother, Kirby, so I cannot say for exact. If I was to wager a guess, though, it would be that she was of the blood of Sir Metian. It has been many years since he had walked on Pop Star. If that were the case, then perhaps she had inherited it, though she never knew quite what she had.

"Now," Kabu continued, "I can see you both have an idea about what these stars can do, though you do not know all of their powers, so know this. These stars will respond to one master and one master only. If one finds it, or it is passed from one to another, than it will respond to that person alone. They will come when you call, no matter where they are hidden, and will work hard to aid you in whatever need you have. I suspect that, due to it being broken in half, the Flight Star is now not as powerful as the Warp Star, though it could still be of great use. Heed my words, young ones. Guard those treasures well; they may very well mean life or death to countless worlds."

The children were about to continue questioning the tiki about what he knew when the sound of a great crash shook the landscape. "What was that!?" Ado cried out in shock.

Without responding, Ribbon flew up to look, and was horrified by what she saw. "The Dark Matter!" she cried aloud. "It's not dead, and it's attacking the Fountain!"

Immediately, Kirby leapt up on his Warp Star and took off flying as fast as he could to face the monster. The other children, who were not as fast, took off running to try to catch up, eager to try to stop the abomination before it could cause any more damage.

Kabu watched as they left, and his own thoughts drifted to the meaning of their visit. Yes, the time of the Glories of the Guardians was soon at hand.

To be continued…


	52. The Meta-Knightmare, Part Four

Meta Knight lay still in the hospital bed as he awaited to hear what his condition was. He was weak and sore all over and just wanted to lay back and sleep for a week, though he supposed that was out of the question.

As he was currently blind, since his mask was broken, he didn't bother turning when he heard the door open. "Well, we have some good news," the doctor, a shorter fairy with bright green hair, said as she flew in. "Your vitals have already stabilized. It looks like the damage done isn't permanent, though you will need to remain on bed rest for a time."

"Is there anyone out there who accompanied me?" he asked, still not turning as he spoke. He wished to discuss what he had seen while under the monster's thrall.

"Yes, your knights are waiting outside, but Queen Soleena has requested to speak with you first, when you were feeling fit to speak."

"I am feeling fit enough now," he responded calmly.

The doctor nodded before heading out. It was only a few minutes, and then the fairy queen entered the room. She looked rather worried, but gave a kind, calm smile as she seated herself by the Puffal's bed. "You look well," she said with a smile, "all things considered."

"I feel like I've taken a three week march in an hour," he replied dryly.

"I suppose you know what I am going to ask you about."

The Star Warrior nodded grimly. "Yes, and I will tell you, though the answer might surprise you." He closed his eyes for a moment. "When I was under the command of that…creature, I saw everything that I could have ever wanted. Everything that I wished could have been true was. My family was still together. There was never any war to speak of. My friends…" He trailed off for a moment before picking up again. "My friends were all alive. It was the world I had always wanted."

"How strange," Soleena murmured, adjusting her glasses in thought. "I had heard many stories of what people see when they go under the control of Dark Matter. Usually they tell of planes filled with dark slime, or of unending oblivion. I've never heard of worlds where your inner longings are fulfilled."

"I did also see the dark fields of slime," Meta Knight said, speaking with a little more strength in his voice. "But only rarely, and only when the creature was losing its grip on me. Perhaps that is what it truly looks like to be captive, and the pleasant dreams are the bait the creature gives in an attempt to keep you in its sway."

The fairy queen nodded. "This would seem to be the case. That might also explain why the Heart Rod didn't separate you from the monster at first. It had you tight in its grasp, and it wasn't until the youngsters used their stars to wake you up somewhat that the connection was weakened enough to be able to be severed."

Meta Knight pursed his lips as he thought. "There is something in this all that still does not make any sense to me. Didn't the legends tell that the Lady Stellara destroyed the Dark Matter when she defeated its master?"

"Indeed, they did." Soleena frowned, picking up on his meaning.

"Then why has it returned?" he asked. "It is not natural for things to come back from the grave, particularly graves that have been buried in millennia of time."

"And is it also," his companion added. "After all, the stories also said that the Dark Matter had no will apart from Zero, but there has been no sign of the Evil Eye. If he has returned as well," she said, a cloud of fear covering her features as she spoke, "then we are in for evil times indeed."

"[What can be done if such fates have been chosen]," he muttered darkly to himself. Turning back to Soleena, he said in the common tongue, "That would be bad news indeed. We are having enough trouble with dealing with Nightmare alone. We would be stretched entirely too thin if we had to deal with both horrors at once."

"And that is if they had not met," Soleena said in agreement. "If they have met, and joined together…"

"Then our fates would be sealed," the blue Puffal finished. He scowled. "Though hope would be lost, I would fight to the very end!"

"I have no doubt you would," the fairy queen replied, placing a hand on his paw. "However, you are weak now. Rest and regain your strength."

Before anything else could be said, there was a loud cry. Quickly, as small, wingless creature, somewhat like a fairy but a little bit bigger, came and saluted with his spear. "My queen," he said quickly, "there is trouble at the fountain!"

Soleena nodded. "I hear, and I will come."

"As will I," Meta Knight said, struggling to get up. However, he was pushed back down by Soleena.

"No," she said calmly. "You need to rest. Besides, you would be fighting blind, without your mask."

"That is something I am capable of doing. Give me Galaxia," he said confidently, but he was pushed back into the bed anyway.

"Galaxia will remain in its sheath," Soleena responded again. "You are still weak from your encounter with the creature. I insist that you rest. Others can handle what is coming."

Meta Knight was clearly unhappy with the order, but he slumped back into the bed. Now confident that the warrior would remain at rest, the queen turned back to her guard. "Show me what the problem is." The guard gave another salute, before heading out to show his queen the problem.

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"I will have it!"

As they rushed towards the area of the disturbance, the children could have had no idea what they were going to face, but as they drew closer, it because very clear. The Dark Matter had not been slain by the attack of the Heart Rod, but was still alive, and was working its way to the Fountain of Dreams.

As would be expected, Kirby made it to the courtyard first, flying in on his Warp Star. As such, he was the first one to see what had become of the Dark Matter.

No longer having a host, the creature had devolved into its true form: a large blob of disgusting black goo surrounding a single red and yellow eye. It was still too weak to fly, as its kind was accustomed to when not having a host, but it had begun crawling along the ground, making its way into the fountain.

It had made it almost there, and had dipped a long tendril into the pool, soiling the sparkling water as it did so. It began making its way to the Star Rod, which had been put back in its place to accommodate those who had made the journey to Ripple Star.

However, before it could actually make to the Rod, Kirby arrived. Using the Warp Star, he launched himself towards the monster, striking it hard in the eye. This move succeeded in knocking the creature back away from its goal.

The creature was not to be dismayed that easy. It began gibbering insanely and it turned to face the young Puffal. "It's mine!" the creature snarled in a shrill voice between bouts of. "It is my catch and you stole it!"

Kirby could only dodge out of the way as a long, black tendril shot out at him. He didn't know, but he was lucky. Under most circumstances, a bit of Dark Matter left without a host will begin seeking a new one immediately. However, there had been something about the seasoned warrior that the monster had not been expecting, and had gotten addicted to. It know thought of nothing except reclaiming the blue Puffal, and the thought of possessing another did not come to it.

This gave Kirby a slight advantage in that it meant that he could focus himself on facing the creature, without having to worry about the creature taking another poor soul as its victim. There was the difficulty, though, that the creature in its maddened state, was very erratic, and thus it was difficult to predict just what it was going to do.

He flew around the creature, seeking a weak point to strike, so as to knock the creature off his guard. As he examined the area, he saw a flash of gold, and suddenly, it hit him. Of course, the Star Rod! It was right there, and he could use it on the creature now, since it did not have the advantage of a living hostage. Quickly, he spun the Warp Star around and began flying towards the weapon.

Unfortunately for him, while his opponent was unpredictable, he himself was not. Seeing his movement, the creature responded in turn, lashing a long tendril of goo out and striking him with it. When the weapon made its blow, Kirby cried out, and ha began to fall, before crashing into the water of the fountain.

Seeing him fall, the creature let out what sounded like a gurgling laugh before continuing on its trek through the fountain. Kirby shot up in an attempt to catch the creature before it could move through, but he was too late. By the time he was back up and safely on his Warp Star, the monster had already opened the portal using the Star Rod and moved through.

Kirby was prepared to follow through when he heard the arrival of other people. "Hey, Kirby!" Ribbon called out as she flew to catch up to him. "Where did it go?"

"Gone!" the little Puffal responded, and he motioned with a paw to the Star Rod, which now seemed peaceful, despite what had just happened. "Kaabii gonna go an' fight!"

"Wait!" Tiff called out. "You'll need to get the Star Rod to face that creature, but, you'll also need some other way to power the fountain if you're going to go through that way. What are we going to do?"

Everyone froze as she brought up her point. No one had thought of that until that very moment. Of course they would need the Star Rod to be powering the Fountain of Dreams if they were going to use it as a portal to the fairy home world. At the same time, however, it would also be needed if there was to be any hope of defeating the creature once and for all. They could not take it and use it to power the fountain at the same time. What was to be done?

After a moment of thought, Tuff snapped his fingers. "I've got it!" he declared. Confident in his plan, he rushed ahead and began wading through the water.

"What are you doing?" Adeleine asked as they watched him, somewhat confused.

"It's simple," the Dreamlander boy responded as he took out the Star Rod and tossed it to Kirby. "Here, catch!"

"Go' 't!" Kirby shouted out as he caught it. "Wha' now?"

"This," Tuff responded, and he pulled out the piece of Flight Star and attached it to the Star Rod's fixture. Sure enough, once it had been done, the Fountain started up again, albeit not as strong as before.

"I remembered what Kabu said about the stars and how they both effected the Dark Matter," Tuff explained as he waded back. "It dawned on me, if they could both be used for that, then the star could power the fountain, too."

"That's brilliant!" Ribbon declared. She quickly grabbed Kirby. "Let's head out!" The others nodded, and one after another, they headed through the small portal, following close on the monster's trail.

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The Fountain of Dreams located on Ripple Star had begun to react to the arrival of the Dark Matter as soon as it began to move through the portal. It began to bubble and ripple, as if trying to dispel the disgusting thing from its waters.

When the guards had started to notice the phenomena, they surrounded the area, preparing the weapons to destroy the loathsome thing as soon as it came through. They were prepared for almost any creature that might come through. They were not, however, ready for what did.

"Where is it?" the Dark Matter blob bellowed as it pushed its way out of the fountain. "It is mine and I shall take it! Give it to me! Now!"

Several of the guards froze in fear when they saw the horrible thing, but a few of the braver ones swallowed their fear and pushed on against the foul beast. They charged forward, tossing spears and slicing with swords. Several who were lucky enough to have fire arms used those as well, but it was all for naught.

Had the Dark Matter been more in its right mind, it would have noticed the opportunity to take over many armed guards, and could have used them to wage a terrible war on their planet. However, it was more concerned with reclaiming its lost host, and thus merely knocked the guards aside as it moved inland.

"It is my property!" the creature roared again. "Give it to me or I will take it!"

"Foul beast," Soleena called out as she flew out to deal with the creature, "leave here now. This land has done you no wrong, nor has the innocent man you wish to harm. Be gone, or I will be forced to destroy you."

The Dark Matter turned its hideous eye on the fairy queen when it had heard her speak. "You!" it snarled. "You are the one who took it from me, and are hiding it somewhere in this filthy world. Where is it? Give it back to me! Give it back now!"

"I have warned you," the queen said darkly, "yet you choose to ignore. You leave me no choice." Wielding the Heart Rod in one hand, she swung hard, unleashing a hard blast against the creature.

The Dark Matter was prepared for it this time, though. It split itself in half, each part dodging to one side to avoid being hit by the blast. When it had reformed, it let out a cruel laugh. "That trick isn't going to work again," it taunted in a sing-song voice. "I'm cleverer now, and you'll need some new bite to go along with that bold bark!"

Soleena gritted her teeth, but wasn't about to back down now. Quickly, she threw herself into action. Still wielding the Heart Rod in one hand, she called a bright sword to herself and launched herself into battle against the creature. It, in response, flew hard at her, intent on destroying the queen of the hated fairy world.

As the two of them battled, there were several attempts by the guards to intervene and face the creature as well. These attacks often did help Soleena, though more often than not then ended with most of the guards scattered, too injured to do much to aid their queen.

For her own part, the fairy queen did a good job of keeping the monster back. True, the Heart Rod did not appear to have all too much of an effect now, but the monster had severely underestimated the queen's skill in battle. It was forced to fight harder than it expected, and there were a few moments where it believed that it just might be defeated.

However, for all her skill, Soleena was still mortal, and the battle was taking a lot out of her. As she fought, she grew tired, and it soon became clear to all that she was weakening. The Dark Matter realized this, and took its opportunity when it could.

The queen swung her blade one more time, but once again the Dark Matter was able to dodge out of the way. This led to the blade burring itself in the trunk of a tree, trapping it. While Soleena struggled with releasing her weapon, the Dark Matter took its chance, swinging a hard blow at her and knocking her unconscious. When it saw her fall, it let out a loud shriek of triumph.

It soon turned into a shriek of pain. During its battle with the fairy queen, the Dark Matter had completely neglected to keep any watch over the Fountain of Dreams, and thus did not notice when a new, albeit smaller portal opened up, allowing Kirby to emerge from it, followed closely by his friends.

When Kirby had seen the creature celebrating its victory, he had taken no time in his own attack. Without saying a word to anyone or anything, he swung the Star Rod hard, unleashing a bright star against the creature.

The creature staggered in pain when the blow it. It had inflicted a lot of damage, but the creature wasn't slain yet. "You!" it bellowed when it saw the little Puffal. "I defeated you!"

Kirby said nothing, only staring at his opponent with grim determination.

As this was going on, Ribbon rushed to the unconscious queen's side to see what she could do. When it became obvious that there wasn't anything to be done at the moment, she looked to all side to try to find anything that might be of help. That was when she spotted the discarded Heart Rod.

"No matter," the monster sneered. "I have stopped you once, and I will do it again. This time, though, it will be more permanent." With that, it threw itself against the young Puffal.

Once again, Kirby swung the Star Rod to defend himself. As he did so, Ribbon snatched up the Heart Rod and swung it as well. The two attacks, both aimed at the same target, met as they flew, and mingled. There was a bright flash when the two met, and when the two united attacks hit the attacking Dark Matter, there was a deafening boom.

Everyone held still afterwards, hardly daring to breath. When all cleared up, the story soon became very clear. The Dark Matter was nowhere to be seen.

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Within the Nightmare Empire, Zero's focus seemed to waver for a moment before he finally seemed to come out of the trance he had gone into the control the Dark Matter. "It's over," he said after a moment of thought. "They destroyed the Dark Matter I sent out."

"Some Distort," the Collector scoffed. She had heard what had gone on from the witches and had gone to observe what was happening. Frankly, she didn't hold much stock in that magic mumbo-jumbo, but it sure could be fun to watch it fail. "Can't even control a single warrior with his magic goo."

"Watch your tongue, wench," Zero sneered. "You do not know who you are talking to."

"She may have phrased her words disrespectfully," Nightmare said, a dark tone in the warlock's voice, "but her words do ring true. Why would you, who absorbed worlds into your sway, struggle to hold onto a single creature? That does not seem befitting to a creature who holds the power of the Ancients."

"There was something wrong with the victim," the eye responded. "You told me he was rather cold, lacking in most emotions. That wasn't the case. He held more emotions than most creatures that I have ever encountered, and the Dark Matter became intoxicated faster than ever before. I lost most control as soon as it took him over. It is no matter. I know now what we are dealing with and the next amount of Dark Matter will be more prepared."

"There won't be a next amount," Nightmare responded quickly. "At least, not right now. If we attacked again with that immediately, the foe would catch on and defeat us effortlessly. No. Right now, I have other plans."

He then turned to the Collector, who had been just about ready to walk out. "I'm glad you came," he said coolly. "As it is, the next idea I have involves something you gave to me, and I thought you might like to see how things are developing."

"I'll take a look," she responded with a shrug, "but I warn you, I don't impress easy."

"Oh, I think this will quite take your breath away," the dark creature responded, and he motioned to several monitors.

When the huntress looked up at what was appearing on the screens she grinned. "My, my," she responded with a cruel smirk. "You have been making good use of my gift."

As the duo was busy discussing the final details of the next attack, Zero tuned to his connection with the Dark Matter. There was one little detail he had not brought up to Nightmare. That imbecile of a Pengu had saved a bit of the Dark Matter while it was still alive, and had given it to two of his cronies. In particular, these cronies seemed to be unable to stand one another and bickered constantly, rarely agreeing on anything, unless it was their employer's idiocy. This would provide the Dark Matter bit with enough negative emotion to grow strong again.

Furthermore, one of them was a Halcandrian. Things couldn't have worked out more in Zero's favor. He'd just have to bide his time. Soon, his opportunity would come.

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"Medikni feelin' be'tah?" Kirby asked, leaning over onto his mentor's hospital bed. Once all the chaos of the battle with the Dark Matter had died down, the small group who were on Ripple Star, mostly the kids, though Sword and Blade were there as well, had dropped by the hospital to make sure that their friend was alright.

Meta Knight smiled, gently pushing the encroaching tot back a bit. "Yes, Kirby. I'm afraid I'm still rather weak, but I am feeling better than before."

"What happened to you in there?" Tuff asked. "It was way freaky, the way you just monstered up like that!"

The warrior shook his head. "I'm not quite sure. I saw images and scenarios, but their growing foggier as time goes on."

He was pretty much took a barrage of such questions for fifteen minute, before the doctor came in and began to shoo the visitors out. "C'mon," she said scolding. "Visiting hours are up, and Sir Meta Knight will need to rest, and you need to go home. C'mon now."

There was a loud sound of protest as the children were taken out. Sword and Blade assured him that the kids would be taken safely back to Dreamland, and that he could just rest for now.

The warrior leaned back in his pillows, enjoying the quiet but wishing that he could head back with them. It had been decided that he was not strong enough for travel, so until his strength was regained, he would be remaining at the hospital in Ripple Star. A part of his was hesitant, however. Pop Star was his responsibility, and he rather didn't like being away from it.

Orders were orders, though, and as a Star Warrior, he had learned to accept orders, even if he didn't particularly like them, as long as they were reasonable. As such, he resigned himself to his unexpected vacation, well aware that he would be able to travel back home as soon as he was fully well.

Still, there was something about this all that still made him anxious. From his studies of the ancient histories, Meta Knight knew that Dark Matter was not a free willing entity on its own. It had to be commanded and controlled by someone or something else. The last time it appeared, that someone had been the monstrous Zero. However, Zero had been dead for Millennia. Who could be controlling it this time? A dark voice in the Puffal mind said Nightmare, and while that possibility was certainly stronger than any other that he could think of, the idea still repulsed him.

Finally, he sighed. No matter which was this was twisted or turned, Dark Matter's arrival couldn't mean anything good. Whether it was Zero who was in control, or Nightmare, or some new villain, Meta Knight couldn't say. What he could say, however, was that it couldn't be anyone good.

Turning onto his side, the warrior closed his weary eyes, sinking into blissful sleep.

To be continued…


	53. Home is Where the Pack Is, Part One

It was a particularly pretty morning on Ripple Star. It had been about three weeks since the incident with the Dark Matter, and things had gone back to normal on the planet of the fairies. Well, almost normal.

"Toby! Gidget! No fair!" Tuff raced as hard as he could after the little yellow baby, who had zipped off on a small Wheelie pup. The Dreamlander boy was accompanied by the other older kids as well as the rest of the Puffalings, though all of them were struggling to catch up. "We don't have anything to ride on!"

Little Toby had recently befriended the little Wheelie puppy, now called Gidget, that the recently renamed Mrs. Mufflerkins had given birth too. The two of them had become thick as thieves, and they had recently discovered the natural Wheelie ability of carrying a rider when moving at top speeds. Already a speedster on his own two feet, the little Puffal delighted in this new play, and it was becoming very difficult to keep up with him.

He also had a habit of bringing his newfound pet into small games, including the chase game they were playing right now.

"Poyo p'ah poyo!" he laughed, clearing enjoying the boost. "P'yu, Gi'jeh!"

The little Wheelie revved happily in response and sped up a little bit more. Indeed, Toby was convinced that no one would be able to catch up to him. He grinned and looked over to one side, but was surprised to see someone had caught up to him.

Indeed, flying right next to him and keeping up quite easily, was Kirby, who had a ride of his own. The pink Puffal was seated on his Warp Star, which he had recently discovered had the ability to respond to his thoughts and fly him where he wanted to go. The little one grinned at his brother and waved. "Hiii, Toobii!" he called out.

Seeing that the chase wasn't as quite in his favor as he initially thought, Toby leaned down, urging Gidget to turn so as to move out of Kirby's reach. The Wheelie pup was fast, but in a race, the Warp Star could match adult race Wheelies. Toby's only hope was to maneuver out of Kirby's reach.

This, however, turned out to be a lost fight as well. As soon as the duo of Puffal and Wheelie zigged sharply to the right, Kirby followed suit by quickly changing his direction. However, instead of moving to the side to keep behind, he moved up, rising so that he was soon several feet above the ground.

As he moved forward as fast as Gidget would take him, Toby made certain to keep an eye around himself to make sure that he was not being sneaked up on by Kirby. When his surveillance found no sign of his elder brother, the yellow baby relaxed a bit more, slowing his steed down a little bit so as to catch a glimpse of those whose futile chase was bound to still be going on behind him. That was his mistake.

He had only waited for a few moments when he felt himself get lifted off of Gidget. Toby looked up to see what had happened and found to his frustration that Kirby had caught up.

The older Puffal smiled. "Ca'ht ya!" he chimed cheerfully as he slowed to a halt.

"Poyo Kaabii!" Toby cried in frustration as he struggled in his brother's hold. "Poyo p'yah poyo, p'ah poyo poyu poyo!"

"Poyo p'ah poyo," Kirsti scolded herself as she ran up. "P'yo poyo poy poyu p'yu! Kaabii poyo poyah poyo!" She waved her little paw on the last phrase to emphasize her frustration.

"Poyu poyo poy, Kaastii," Toby responded gruffly.

Then a bit of an argument broke out between the little ones as each caught up. Kirby did his best to mediate reason, but with a multitude of infants, everything soon devolved into loud instances of Poyo and its variants, with gestures to add emphasis. To one with whom the baby speech of Puffals is not totally familiar, it was a rather confusing spectacle.

"Do you think we'll ever understand what their saying?" Lololo asked Adeleine once the rest of the group had caught up.

"Only when they figure out the common tongue," the young artist responded as she briefly painted up a small rain stream cool off her feet in. "Until then, I question if even Kirby understands them all the time."

While this was going on, there was a small movement in the nearby bush. Andy, who had been standing nearest to it, was the only one who had even sensed the movement. He broke off quickly from the rest of the little Puffals to go investigate, not bothering to take his paw out of his mouth so as to alert the others as he did so.

He peered under the leaves and found a pair of light purple feet under them. Puffal feet. Supposing that Charlie had wandered off at some time, Andy thought about calling out to his brother to come out. Then another idea came to him. He crept up as quietly as he could and when he got close enough, sprang out and tackled the purple Puffal. "Poyu, Cha'lii!" he shouted as he sprang.

However, he found soon to his surprise, while this was a purple Puffal, it wasn't Charlie. It wasn't even a boy.

"Poyo!" the new Puffal squeaked in surprise as Andy tackled her. Spinning around when she realized what had happened, she scowled when she saw who her attacker was. "Poyo poyee p'yai!" she scolded in annoyance.

Andy was more taken aback by the stranger than anything else, and thus only could freeze while she yelled at him. He was more surprised at the fact that there was another Puffal here than that she was yelling at him.

As usually, ever silent but ever vigilant, it was Sammy who first noticed Andy's absence. Breaking away from the rest of the group, he went to look for his wayward brother, and was noticed himself by Ribbon, who followed close behind.

"Sammy, where are you off to?" the fairy asked as she caught up to the little brown baby. "You shouldn't go running off like that."

As Ribbon picked him up, Sammy began struggling hard, and though he remained silent, he gestured that she needed to go looking behind the bush.

"You think there is something back there?" the fairy asked incredulously. "I'll take a look, but I'm not so sure…" Her voice trailed off as she looked and realized that there was another Puffal standing there, one who she had never seen before.

It was a lilac colored baby, and judging by her purple cheek markings, a little girl at that. The little girl was currently scolding Andy in an unintelligible series of Poyo. For his part, the little red boy seemed to have frozen up, and could only look at the newcomer with a stunned look of amazement.

"Well, who is this?" Ribbon asked, flying down to the newcomer. Not quite certain what to do, the fairy decided to introduce herself. "Hi there. My name is Ribbon," she started as she set Sammy down, "and these are Andy and Sammy. What's your name?"

The lilac Puffal looked at her in surprise for a moment before brightening up. "Poyai poyo poyah poyee," she responded with a wave. "Poyan 'An'ah."

Before anyone else could say anything, there came a loud call in a thick accent. "Hannah! Hannah, where are you?"

Hearing the call, the little Puffal girl brightened up. "Mama!" she cried happily before darting off. Ribbon decided to follow.

Sammy took Andy's paw, thinking he was going to have to drag his brother after the fairy, considering his previous state of astonishment. However, that seemed to wake Andy up, and the larger Puffal snapped to awareness. "'An'ah?" he said for a moment, as if not comprehending. Then his expression changed and he took off running. "'An'ah, poyo!" he called out, pulling Sammy along behind him so fast that the smaller Puffal was pretty much pulled off the ground.

When they caught up, they saw Hannah hugging another Puffal, this time a green adult, though she also was a woman. "Hannah, now what have your father and I told you about running off like that," the Puffal woman, clearly Hannah's mother, scolded as she picked up her daughter.

"Poyo no," the little one responded in a quiet tone of voice.

"That's right," the woman continued, not having taken notice of the others. "We've just arrived on this planet, and I know you felt cramped on the ship, but things could be dangerous here. We haven't even met some of the locals yet."

"Uh, excuse me, ma'am," Ribbon said, trying to be as polite as possible.

Hearing this, the woman looked up quickly and realized that she was being spoken to. "Oh, hello," she said in a friendly tone of voice. "I'm sorry you heard that. Do you happen to live here?"

"Well, yes, Ripple Star is my home. My name is Ribbon, and I am the student of Queen Soleena of Ripple Star," the fairy responded. "May I ask who you are?"

The woman looked surprised for a moment before realization hit her. "Oh, yes, of course. Where are my manners?" She held out a paw to the fairy. "My name is Marianne, and this is my daughter, Hannah. We came here with our pack, the Rendellon Star-Jumper Pack. We were preparing to have an audience with your queen when I noticed that Hannah was missing." Marianne's eyes wandered over to Andy and Sammy, the former of whom seemed to be radiating an even brighter red and the latter desperately trying to escape his larger brother's grip. "It looks like we lost two of our boys, too."

"Oh, no, they came with me," Ribbon explained quickly. "This is Andy and Sammy, two of the wards of Sir Meta Knight."

"Wait, 'Sir' Meta Knight?" the green Puffal asked, curiosity coming into her face as she heard the name. "As in, a Star Warrior?"

Ribbon nodded. "Yes. Sir Meta Knight was one of the most skilled knights of the Star Warriors, and a member of the famed Four Forces."

"I've never heard of the Four Forces," Marianne replied, "but we've been searching for the Star Warriors ever since we received Sir Metian and Sir Erran's invitation." She brightened up drastically. "Can we go meet this Sir Meta Knight?"

Ribbon stood back a moment in shock. Sir Metian? Sir Erran? Didn't they live millions of years ago? She shook her head. It probably wasn't her place to mention anything to Marianne. At least, not yet.

"Yes, but he hasn't been well as of late," Ribbon finally said after several moments of just standing in shock. "He'll need to be prepared for this meeting first. You will probably see him when you speak to Queen Soleena, as he is currently her guest."

"Very well then," Marianne responded, happily picking Hannah up and placing her on her back. "I'll go tell the others, and we will try to get an audience as soon as possible." With that, both of the Star-Jumpers hurried off.

Ribbon also turned and hurried off in direction of the palace, both Andy and Sammy hurrying along behind her. As they passed their friends, Ribbon continued flying, pretty much ignoring the bombardment of questions. This was a strange occurrence, and one she could not pause for. Queen Soleena and Sir Meta Knight needed to know right away.

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For his part, Meta Knight had been enjoying what appeared to be a peaceful, uneventful morning. Enough time had now passed since the Dark Matter incident that he was now allowed to be out and about as he pleased, without being told to go lie down again. As usual, the children had traveled through the Fountain of Dreams to come visit him, and once they had, had gone out into one of the fields to play.

He had then gone to the library, as he preferred to spend a sunny morning like this relaxing against a tree with a good book. Since his mask had now been repaired, he could read at ease as much as he wanted, as long as he had the book, the sunshine, and some peace and quiet.

The last part was about to be taken away.

"Sir Meta Knight! Sir Meta Knight! There's something important I need to tell you!"

Hearing the cry, the Warrior looked up in surprise to see Ribbon racing towards him as fast as possible.

Not too unused to hurried cries interrupting his relaxation time, Meta Knight calmly closed the book and set it off to one side. "Hello, children. You say there is something you must tell me urgently?"

"Back there!" Ribbon panted pointing behind her. "More Puffals-space ship-Sir Metian-gonna come!"

The older warrior looked at her with confusion for a moment before turning to the other children. "Can any of you explain a little bit slower?"

"I wish we could," Tiff responded, leaning against a tree as she caught her breath, "but Ribbon wouldn't explain it to us. She only said that she needed to get here quickly."

It took Ribbon a few moments to calm herself down, after which she began her explanation again, this time a bit slower. "Back in the field, Sammy and Andy wandered off, so I followed them, and we discovered there are more Puffals here on Ripple Star!"

"More Puffals?" This confused the veteran. "Are you quite certain that's what they were?"

The fairy nodded quickly. "Uh-huh. They called themselves Star Jumpers, and said they were looking for the Star Warriors, and that they wished to speak with Queen Soleena."

Meta Knight turned aside for a moment and thought, his eyes flashing grass green as he did so. "How odd," he said aloud, though to himself rather than to the children. "I had been under the belief that all Star Jumpers were members of the Star Warriors."

"Uh, sir?" Lololo asked, a little bit confused. "What is a Star Jumper?"

"Huh? Oh, yes." He turned back to his companions. "There are two sub-species of Puffals; Star Jumpers and Inhalers. Inhalers are Puffals that are native to Popopo, and are characterized by the ability to copy and inhale, as well as the ability to float, and having tough, hoof-like feet. Kirby, the little ones, and I all fall into this category. Star Jumpers, on the other hand, are Puffals who lack the physical protection and abilities of Inhalers, but make up for it with an intense amount of technological development. Until today, I believed that the only group that actually had Star Jumper Puffals was the Star Warriors, though now I see that I was mistaken."

Having said this, he got up and turned. "If they are going to have an audience with her highness, I had best go alert her to what it going on."

He turned to leave, but before he could go, Ribbon remembered something. "Hey, wait, there's something else."

He turned back for a moment. "Yes?"

"They said that they were going to find the Star Warriors because of an invitation from Sir Metian and Sir Erran." She shrugged. "That seemed odd to me, but I didn't say anything about it yet."

"Metian and Erran?" the warrior asked, though less to the children, once more, and more to himself. "This is becoming curiouser and curiouser as the time goes on." With that, he turned and entered the palace to alert the Queen of the new development.

None of them noticed the pair of piercing eyes that watched them. Inwardly, the water laughed. They had no idea what was about to happen.

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When the meeting started, there was a mixed air of emotion among the group as it began. Both Soleena and Meta Knight sat in a rather uncomfortable silence. They were aware that the newcomers were missing out on some very important details, and that when the time came to explain them, it was going to be a bit of a shock.

When the Star Jumpers arrived, however, there was a rather celebratory air about them. As far as they knew, they had come a long way and finally completed their quest. They had made it and were finally going to join up with the Star Warriors.

There were about thirty five Puffals there in total. Men, women, and children all grouped together, murmuring in excitement. Furthermore, there were now a larger gathering of the natives of Ripple Star, who had come out to observe the odd congregation. Some of the bolder ones strode out and began speaking with the newcomers, who seemed glad to get some information of their new surroundings.

"Whoa," Lololo said as he and the other kids watched what was going on. "Look at all the Puffals! It's like a whole army of Kirbys has come out."

"You're telling me," Ado commented. Then she laughed. "Just imagine in King Dedede saw this. He'd blow a gasket and say that its some sort of invasion! That would be hilarious."

"What do you mean?" Lalala asked, a little bit confused by the Dreamlander boy's statement. "He's fine with Sir Meta Knight, and he's a Puffal."

"Sometimes I question if he knows that fact," Tiff said quickly.

"Yeah," Tuff laughed in agreement. "Knowing ol' Dedede, he probably assumes that Meta Knight's a Meta Knight!"

Meta Knight looked over and saw the cluster of children laughing at something that had been said. He felt in internal twinge of longing to return to a period of such innocence, but shook it off and turned back to the matter at hand.

As the rest of the Star Jumper Puffals stood back and talked among themselves and with the fairies, an older orange Puffal strode forwards to meet the knight and the queen. "I assumed that you are the head of this gathering, are you not?" Soleena asked, smiling gently.

"My name is Nicholas," he said, bowing before the two of them. "I am the leader of this expedition. And I thank you for the welcome you have given us."

Meta Knight bowed in return. "It is good that you have requested to speak with us," the Star Warrior said slowly. "We have received word on your arrival and intentions, and there is important news that we must share with you."

"First, however," Soleena added, "we would like to hear from you where you have come from and what you hope to do. Will you follow us to the library so that we may speak in private? No one will bother us while we are in there. In the meantime, the rest of your people are free to make themselves comfortable."

Nicholas nodded. "Yes. I just wish to bring my son and his wife. They are my successors, and I wish for them to know what is about to happen as well."

"That is a good decision," Meta Knight responded. "I am afraid that there are some very important matters that you are currently unaware of. There is no need for all to be revealed at once and in front of everyone, but it would be better if there were several of you to hear what we have to tell you."

"Isaac, Anastasia, we must go in." Two Puffals, one a mustard yellow male and one a sliver colored female, responded quickly. They wordlessly fell in line behind the orange chieftain and followed as Soleena led them into the library.

When they were alone, Soleena motioned for her guests to sit before speaking again. "Now," she said calmly, "as I said earlier, we have an idea of what has happened to you, yet we do not have a clear picture. Why are you looking for the Star Warriors?"

Isaac answered before his father could speak. "We wish to join up with them in their fight!" he said boldly. "It was through the actions of the Star Warriors that our race was freed from slavery. We wish to go and join them!"

"Isaac, please calm yourself," Nicholas scolded sharply. He then turned back to his hosts. "While my son was hasty in his response, he is correct. For many ages, our people were slaves to a group known as the Bukiset. In particular, out tribe belonged to a fringe group in the outer reaches of the galaxy. As a result, we were not aware of what was happening during the time of Metian and Erran's rebellion."

"News travels fast, though, even in a galaxy like this," Anastasia added when her father in law had finished. "I was just a little girl when he first heard news that the slaves in the main sector of the Bukiset Empire had escaped and formed to join an alliance against out former masters, called the Star Warriors. Of course, our masters didn't want to believe it and did whatever they did to try to cover up what had happened."

"It didn't work, of course," Isaac laughed. "After all, when supplies ceased to come from the main section of the empire, you can't pretend nothing has happened. Then more news came out. The Star Warriors had already become a strong force by then, and word of their adventures spread far and wide. Even the new language they developed spread, which had enough in common with Ponyan that we could begin to learn it. After a while, even in those distant reaches, we knew about the Star Warriors, and received their invitation to join at the Fortress Stormholt."

"That is why we have traveled so far," Nicholas finished. He turned once again to Meta Knight and grinned brightly. "We were beginning to worry that we were never going to find the whereabouts of the Star Warriors. No matter where we went, no one seemed to have any idea where they were, or what they were doing. Indeed, most seemed not even to know who Metian and Erran are. But now that we've found you, we know that we have made it, and out journeys are over."

Meta Knight sighed, realizing the time has come to break the news. "I am sorry to say, but this is not totally the case."

Nicholas looked in confusion at the veteran. "What do you mean? Aren't you a Star Warrior? Do you not know Metian and Erran?"

"Well, yes to the first, no to the second." The warrior closed his eyes. "You see, I am a Star Warrior, but I served under Sir Arthur, not Sir Metian, whose name and sword I bear. Sir Metian and Sir Erran died nearly seven million years ago, and much of their great legacy, including the Fortress Stormholt, has been lost for ages."

Nicholas seemed to be dumbstruck by what this news would entail.

"What?!" Isaac cried in surprise.

"Seven million years?" Anastasia asked. "How could this be?"

"He speaks the truth," Soleena said quietly. She motioned to a series of paintings around the library. "For many eons did my people and the Star Warriors have and alliance, which has been well documented."

The warrior shook his head before he spoke again. "I'm afraid I cannot answer those questions, but there is more."

The look of surprise had worn off for Nicholas, who turned with steely resolve. "Well, go on. Whatever it could be cannot be as startling as what has already been revealed."

"Very well." The warrior sat up straight and spoke clearly. "Over the years, the Star Warriors gained in strength, as you have heard. However, all of that has changed, because of a monster known as Nightmare. Of all the Star Warriors, now only three of us, along with our students, remain."

The silence was so thick you could have cut it with a knife.

To be continued…


	54. Home is Where the Pack Is, Part Two

Andy peered out from behind a palace supporting column, nervously staring out at the image in front of him, not quite certain how to proceed. There, standing in the courtyard of the palace, was a small collection of little Puffal girls, Kirsti and Hannah included.

It was Hannah in particular that Andy was watching. There was just something about her that he liked, though for the life of him the little red Puffal couldn't figure out what it was. Sure, he had known girls before, but they were either not Puffals, or they were his sister. There was something in Hannah that he liked, something that made him want to impress her.

He sucked hard on his paw, trying desperately to think of what to do. He was thinking so hard that he didn't notice when someone else came up behind him.

"Hii, Aandii!" Mikey just about shouted as he came up behind his brother. "Poyo p'yo poyah poy?"

"Poyo!" Andy cried out in surprise when he heard the greeting. Once he had settled himself back down, he spun around angrily on his brother. "Miikii! Poyo poyo poy p'yah poyo poy p'yu!"

"Poyy," Mikey responded with a shrug. He then leaned out to see what his brother had been looking at. "P'yo poyo poy poyo Kaastii?" he asked, motioning with his paws as if to suggest pranking the girls.

The idea of any prank effecting Hannah and him being tied to it came to Andy's mind, and he blushed deeply and shook his head. "Poyo, noo!" he cried out in shock. He already knew that the lilac girl did not appreciate pranks. "Poyo poy poy ba'!"

"Poyo?" the little white Puffal asked in confusion. For the life of him he had no idea why anyone would want to watch a group of girls if one was not planning some sort of prank. "Poyo poy poyah Kaastii."

"Poyu poy Kaastii," Andy responded, glancing over his shoulder at the group. "Poyu poy 'An'ah. Poyo 'hiii'."

Mikey looked confused. So Andy just wanted to say 'hi' to Hannah? Well, he couldn't see what was holding him back. Saying 'hi' was easy. "Poyo poy poyah 'hiii' poyo." The white Puffal grinned broadly. "Poyo poy." With that, he took his brother's paw and pulled him out of his hiding place. "'An'ah!"

"Poy, Miikii! No!" Andy cried in dismay, but it was too late. The girls had already heard.

"Poyo, hii!" Kirsti called out happily when she saw her brothers. She turned to introduce her new friends. "Miikii, Aandii, hii! Poyo Sa'a, an' Emwii, an' Bewwa, an' 'An'ah."

"Poyee," one of them, a little yellow girl who had been introduced as Emily said as she waved.

Andy looked up shyly, well aware that Hannah was looking at him.

The young girl was looking curiously at him. Quite frankly, she had absolutely no idea what he was going to do, considering the last time they met, he had knocked her over, then stared at her silently, and then just ran away, without a word of apology. Hannah had no desire to be knocked over again, but Andy's behavior had been so odd to her that she had no idea how to predict what he was going to do.

Mikey, however, was growing frustrated. He had brought Andy out here so he could say hi to Hannah and then they could move on to their own games. Try to move things on, he gave his red brother a push. "P'yo Aandii," he introduced. "Poyo p'ya poyo poy poy."

"Miikii," Andy whispered in frustration. He turned back, realizing all eyes were on him. "Uh, poyo hiii," he said quietly.

Frustrated with his quiet response, Mikey prepared to nudge him again. This time, however, Kirsti saw what was about to happen and intervened, pulling, Mikey aside. When they were alone, she turned to him. "Poyo poy, Miikii!" she exclaimed in frustration. "Poyo poy p'yu poyo!"

"Poyo poy Aandii," Mikey exclaimed. "Poyo poy 'An'ah 'hii.'"

Hearing this, Kirsti leaned out and glanced at Andy, who was still standing awkwardly with the girls. Suddenly realization that had completely missed Mikey hit the blue girl hard. "Poy! Aandii wike 'An'ah!"

"Poyu?" Mikey asked, completely lost in what his sister was saying.

By now, however, Kirsti was paying no attention to him. She eagerly rushed out. "Poyo poy poyu poy swimmin'," she said quick, pantomiming swimming. "Poyo poy?"

The other girls exclaimed happily, agreeing that it sounded like a fun idea. They all agreed that it was a good idea.

Andy prepared to move off, feeling that he had been forgotten and had better go, but Kirsti caught a hold of him. "Poyo poy poy boys come too," she added.

Bella, a little aqua colored Puffal nodded. "Poyai poy poyo brudders an' sistahs," she added, before turning off to go invite some more.

Kirsti grinned brightly. She would of course invite her other brothers to come as well, but this was all part of her plan. She'd just need to give Hannah and Andy plenty of opportunities.

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"Three of you," Anastasia repeated slowly once she was able to find her words. "What do you mean, there are only three of you left?"

"It is a rather long story, I am afraid," Meta Knight answered, his eyes turning between green and white-flecked blue as he examined many sad memories. "We had been at war for nearly as long as I have been alive. It started when several planets under our protection fell to the reign of the monster, and he refused to be reasoned with. It was long and hard, and had many casualties on both sides, until one fateful day. We succeeded in imprisoning Nightmare, but at the cost of the lives of most of the Star Warriors. For a long time, I had believed myself to be the only survivor."

"Things have gotten better, then?" Nicholas asked, a weak but existent hope appearing in the orange Puffal's voice. "The monster is defeated."

"Not quite, I'm afraid." The knight closed his eyes. "Though I succeeded in imprisoning Nightmare, there was an accident, and due to poor communication skills, he escaped. Had it not been for the timely arrival of my squire and apprentice, Kirby, all would have been lost. Nightmare is now weakened, but his power is growing."

"Furthermore," Soleena added, "there was a recent return of an old enemy of Ripple Star. Just a few weeks ago, we had an incident with the monster known as Dark Matter. It is unknown whether or not the creature is serving Zero again, or if it has some new master, but either way, we still must be prepared for whatever is to come of this news."

"It seems we have come just when we are needed," Isaac declared with some enthusiasm. "You said there are only three Star Warriors left, yet all these foes, both new and ancient, are arising. You need aid now more than ever. We can provide it. Just train us to be able to help you."

"Now, Isaac, please settle down," Nicholas said, raising a paw towards his son. He then turned to Meta Knight. "I agree with my son in that I wish to help in some way, but our people have very little experience in fighting. There are a good handful who could learn, but most of us are elderly or children, and even those who are still young and vital are more experienced with farm work than with fighting, and have families of their own. You would see why I would hesitate to immediately join the battle."

Meta Knight nodded. "I know very well. If one is not trained to be able to defend ones self, then rushing into battle would be unwise. Furthermore, those who are of fighting age could not become Star Warriors."

"What do you mean?!" Isaac responded, somewhat offended. "Are you saying that we are not good enough to join the fight?"

"It is not that at all," the blue warrior responded. "Being a Star Warrior is not just fighting. It is a lifestyle, and one that you must be trained in since childhood. Those who wish to aid the order, but are too old to join directly, join a faction called the Galaxy Star Army. There are few members of the GSA still alive, just as there are few Star Warriors. Still, you would need to be trained by a Star Warrior for the reformation of that faction, and I am afraid that the enemy knows too much about my whereabouts for it to be safe for me to train you."

"You said there were two other Star Warriors still alive," Anastasia put in. "Who are they, and would they oppose to being of service."

Meta Knight closed his eyes. "The other remaining Star Warriors are my sister, Lady Aliveavaitger, a lady of the Boxin people, and Sir Daroach the mouse, who is also the leader of his own group, called the Squeaks. Sir Daroach had left a while back on a private mission of his own, and I have not heard from him since he left. Lady Alivea, however, is on an island on Pop Star called Ice Cream Island. To the best of my knowledge, the enemy has no idea about their existence, and the island does appear to be a safe place for the moment."

"That does not answer our question," Isaac put in again. "Will she be willing to train us to aid in the fight?"

"I believe she will," the blue inhaler answered. "As of now, she has already started training several of the Boxin people in a makeshift startup of the GSA. If you inform her that I have sent you to her, I doubt she would send you away."

Before Isaac could put his word in again, Nicholas spoke up. "I thank you for your assistance." He then turned to his son and daughter in law. "Isaac, Anastasia, please see to gathering everyone together so that we may begin our trip to Pop Star."

Once the two younger Puffals left, he then turned back to Meta Knight and Soleena. "I still have many questions, though. You say it has been seven million years since the deaths of Metian and Erran? How could that be? It had only been twenty since their rise the last time I remembered."

Soleena turned to one of her bookshelves and began examining it. "You may have hit a time anomaly. These are rare but existent areas where whatever is pulled into them is put into a state of time dilation. No one really knows how they form, but there are some who have somewhat figured out how they work. Ah, here it is!"

She then pulled a large volume off of one of the shelves. " _Astronomy and Space Travel Anomalies_ ," she read off of the cover. "This should help us to figure out what happened."

As Soleena and Nicholas turned to the heavy volume, Meta Knight turned to leave. He was not needed there any longer, and what Nicholas had said had planted a seed of doubt in his mind. As the warrior turned to walk through the hallways by himself, the thought struck him.

Was he too dangerous to be around? Should he send the children away? Should he send Kirby away? He didn't like the thought of either of those options, but he realized it was something that he would have to consider.

His eyes flashed many colors as he thought, barely watching his surroundings at all as he walked.

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Having now gathered at a small pool that was near the palace, a collection of little Puffals now eagerly frolicked in the water. At first, it had only been the little Inhalers who had eagerly jumped in, with the exception of Toby, who stayed more on the shore with Gidget since it had been discovered that water and Wheelies tend not to mix. It seemed that Star Jumpers had more of a caution when it came to water. However, after seeing their new friends enjoying themselves, the young Star Jumpers eagerly followed suit, enjoying the feeling of the cool water on the hot day.

The older children from Pop Star were there as well, along with the older age group of Star Jumpers. Technically, they were watching the younger children, though for the most part that fell to Tiff, Adeleine, Ribbon, and two of the more responsible Star Jumpers, since the rest were too busy swamping Tuff and Kirby with questions about how they had gotten the Warp and Flight Stars of Metian and Erran.

"Did it really belong to them?" a light green girl about Tuff's age asked.

"It sure did!" Tuff responded. "Our friend Kabu explained everything. He even knew them!"

"Of course he knew them," an off-white boy responded. "You had to know them, too. Didn't they give it to you?"

As the questions flew free and were answered to the best of their abilities, a small collection of the younger children, who were completely uninterested in what their elders were doing, had wandered a little to a far side of the pool.

Kirsti noted to her frustration that Andy seemed to be getting nowhere with Hannah. Indeed, he still seemed rather shy about speaking up to her, and she was cautious about what he was going to do. It seemed that the little blue girl was going to have to intervene directly if anything was going to happen at all!

Selecting a water flower from a nearby lily pad, she handed it to Andy, who had at the moment chosen to stand somewhat back from the group. "Poyo poy poyah," she said, smiling brightly.

Andy looked down at the flower in confusion. "Poyo?"

"'Ah'na, poy!" Kirsti exclaimed, pointing over to where Hannah was wading in the pool. "Poyo poy poyo f'wow'ah, poyo poy poyu p'yah poyo poy p'yu!"

"Poy f'wow'ah?" The little red boy looked down a bit, not exactly understanding what he was being told but trusting his sister's advice. "Poyokey."

Feeling nervous, he took a deep breath and wandered over to where Hannah was standing. Building up the courage to speak, he reach out and tapped her shoulder. "P'yo, 'An'ah?"

Hannah paused for a moment, spinning around in surprise. "P'yo?" Seeing who it was, she braced herself, waiting for him to tackle her again.

Once he had the opportunity, Andy quickly held out the flower. "P'yo, hiii," he said in a quiet voice.

"P'yai, f'wow'ah?" She looked down in surprise at the water lily before taking it. "T-t'ank yew, poyai."

Kirsti grinned brightly to herself. It was working! Now that a peace offering/apology had been given, the barriers of communication had somewhat been knocked down. Now, all that needed to happen was for them to talk on their own for a little while.

Unfortunately, that opportunity was not easily gained. "Poyo! Poyo, wook, poyo!" It was Toby, who was standing with Gidget by a dirt patch somewhat away from the water.

Those who heard them, those being all his siblings and three of the Star Jumpers, raced over to see what he was pointing out. Kirsti went last, frustrated that her plan had been interrupted, at least for the moment.

Toby was dancing excitedly over what he found. "Poyo, wook, wook!"

As they gathered around, it became somewhat clear what it was. It was a large paw print, the likes of which none of them had ever seen before.

"Poyo?" Marty asked questioningly as he circled the print.

"Poyo poyah poyo!" Toby responded excited. He pointed over to where Kirby and the other older children were sitting. "Poyo poyah p'yo poyu monsah!" he declared. "Poyo Kaabii poyo poy p'yah poyah poyo poy. Poyo poyo Medikni poyah p'yu p'yo. Poyah poyo poyo poy!"

The others quickly realized that Toby was suggesting that they find the monster themselves! After all, Kirby and his friends faced such creatures all the time, and it was pretty much Meta Knight's job to fight them. If they were able to track down and defeat a monster themselves, then they too could prove themselves to be Star Warriors.

There was a variety of reactions among the group. Mikey was eagerly in agreement with his yellow brother, but it seemed that the others were rather nervous about it. "Poyo p'yu poy?" Charlie asked with some hesitation.

"Poyo poyo poy!" Toby declared. "Poyo no' 'fwaid!" With that, he raced off to find the creature that had made the paw print.

Mikey and one of the Star Jumpers, a little black boy, hurried off after him immediately. Andy followed, too, eager to prove his bravery, especially in front of Hannah. Marty and the other Star Jumper boy followed after, more concerned with staying with their brothers than anything else. Finally, the remaining youngsters followed, not exactly excited to go, but not wanting to be left behind either.

It was just a few minutes after this that Kirby was able to break free from the crowd and notice something. He turned to Ribbon. "Wibbon, wook," he said, pointing out the area where the little ones used to be.

"Huh, Kirby, what is it?" the fairy asked as she looked up. Noticing what he was pointing out, she nodded. "Thank you for pointing that out," she said, before nudging Adeleine. "I think we're missing some."

The artist looked up and agreed. "Yeah. Looks like several must have wandered off. We'd better go find them." Thus, the three went looking, finding the trail pretty quickly. None of them had any idea what they were walking right into.

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Now content that he was by himself, Meta Knight allowed the various thoughts to pass through his mind. Was he endangering Kirby and the littler Puffals by acting as their guardian? After all, all of them had dangers in their lives before he had arrived. Kirby was his clone, made by Nightmare himself out of Meta Knight's genetics. He had no idea what the warlock wanted with such a clone, but there was no doubt that Nightmare would target him whether or not he was Meta Knight's pupil.

At the same time, the babies had not exactly been born in ideal circumstances either. They had been stolen from their nest before they had even hatched, and the mad woman who had kidnapped them intended to keep them in a zoo setting, and she was still out there. Furthermore, they had imprinted on him, so it would be cruel to send them away right now, wouldn't it?

Though, it was likely now that the imprinting had worn off. After all, it had been quite a while since their initial kidnapping, and they had grown and developed a lot since their arrival in Dreamland. Maybe it was time that he send them away, at the least for their own safety, whether or not he liked it.

But they were already known to the enemy. There was no way that they would not be known to him, not after they had been tied to this for so long. If Nightmare knew about them, then there would be no doubt that he would hunt them and try to kill them, for no other reason than their connection to him and to Kirby.

Then there was Kirby himself as well. Yes, Nightmare was searching for him, but that may be the very reason that he needed to be sent away. After all, the warlock knew where Meta Knight was, and if the older Puffal insisted on being the one to train him, then Nightmare would have no problem in locating the youngster; he'd done it time and time again. Perhaps Kirby would be safer if he was sent into hiding away from his teacher.

These thoughts and many more rolled around in Meta Knight's head. However, the true reason for this struggle did not arise. In fact, the warrior resisted it, trying not to acknowledge its presence.

However, it was present, whether he acknowledged it or not. Inside, he struggled with the fact that sending the younger Puffals away would mean losing a large part of what semblance of a family he had left. Lynette was dead. His parents were dead. Three of his sisters were dead. Jecra and Garlude were dead. The amount of death and separation the blue Puffal had since the days of his youth were pressing hard on him and he had no desire to lose anything more.

Perhaps, though, that is exactly why he needed to send them away. The thought had come to him, as it had often come to him before, that he was jinxed. Somehow, for some reason, every time he grew close to another person, they were taken away. By some miracle, both Alivea and Daroach as survived the horrors that had been previously assumed to have ended their live, but they now had other responsibilities. Maybe it was time to send the little ones away before they too came to meet the end that seemed to claim those the warrior cared about.

It would hurt. He denied fatherhood for the little ones when the question arose, but that was due to a lack of connection through biology. Even Kirby, with whom he did share DNA, was closer to a brother in the biological sense. However, despite these denials, he had come to view the little ones as his sons and daughter. Separating from them would be opening afresh wounds that had long been closed.

But did he have a choice?

His thoughts were interrupted by the loud sound of blasting, followed by screams of panic. Without a moment's hesitation, Meta Knight withdrew his wings and took to the air, quick to try to figure out what the cause for all the panic was. He flew up about as high as one of the highest towers of the palace, where he quickly perched and tried to get an idea of what the turmoil was all about.

Fire. He saw fire and smoke about a certain section of the village. Fairies, little folk, and Puffals all were attempting to flee from something, though what that something was, he couldn't exactly tell. He struggled to see through all the smoke and obscuring flame, but at first he couldn't tell what had caused all the problems.

Then he saw it, and his blood ran cold in his veins. "No."

He took to the air again, desperately hoping that he could make it in time to face off the horrors that now were attacking the village.

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Nearly as soon as the little ones had gone wandering off in search of the mysterious creature who left the paw print, they became rather lost. This became especially obvious when Toby, who had been leading the way, stopped and looked around in confusion.

Noting her brother's pause, Kirsti went over and nudged the yellow baby. "Poyo, Toobii 'kay?" she asked, concern in her voice.

Toby waved her off. He didn't want to look like he was in any trouble. "Poyo poy poyo poyu p'yu," he responded quickly. He looked a little but longer before choosing a pathway that seemed likely to him. "Poyo!' he declared happily before urging Gidget on.

The others struggled to keep up with the duo. In particular, Hannah, who was none too fond of going through deep foliage was fighting to keep ahead. Unfortunately, nature seemed to be against her, and she tripped up on an exposed root.

Noticing her trouble, Andy went back and offered a paw of assistance. "Poyu?" he asked as he held his paw out.

"Poyai, t'anks," Hannah replied, accepting the assistance. Soon, she was back on her feet and the two of them hurried to catch up to the others.

However, they had fallen back a little way so that it was difficult for them to find where the others had went. After some time of pushing through row after row of sticks, leaves, and branches, they finally found where the others were standing.

Eagerly they rushed up, prepared to call out their companions that they had caught up, but then they saw something that caused them to freeze. The others had frozen as well, and even Gidget, who was even more energetic than Toby at time, held utterly still. The fact was they had found the creature they were looking for.

It stood in front of them, towering over them like nothing they had ever seen before. A huge, canid-like shape with dark red fur, standing on its hind paws. It had its claw opened and displayed, ready to strike at a moment's notice, and its yellow eyes were fixed hungrily on the babies.

What's more, it wasn't alone. Many more of these creatures stood around, eyeing the group menacingly. It was clear that the little ones were not going to be able to get out of this situation easily.

They had stumbled, completely by accident, on a pack of Wolfwrath.

To be continued…


	55. Home is Where the Pack Is, Part Three

Chaos reigned in the small village that stood around the palace. While no one had yet been harmed by the invaders, people hurried in a panic from one area to the next, doing their best to defend their families and what few possessions they could carry from the engulfing flames.

For the part of the invaders, however, this was perfect. Wolfwrath hunted by setting the surrounding area on fire and then picking off the panicking inhabitants while they struggled to make it away from the fire in one piece, as well as absorbing the energy from the fire itself. This whole area was practically one big buffet for them. All they had to do was make sure that the fires stayed lit.

There was some resistance to the creatures, but for the most part it was rather futile. While groups of servants worked hard to try to put the flames out, guards, mostly formed of fairies and little men, attempted to attack the Wolfwrath directly, using arrows and tossed spears when possible, and getting to close combat only when necessary.

This was of little use, however. The creatures themselves seemed to burn with an intense heat, and the metal heads of the spears melted, while the stone arrow heads shattered from the intensity. The wooden shafts of both near immediately ignited and were quickly consumed by the creatures as more energy.

Since such tactics proved not only futile, but harmful, they were quickly abandoned in favor of laser weaponry. Unfortunately, these did not prove any more helpful, though they were slightly less harmful. The creatures could not absorb the lasers themselves for fuel, but since the beams depended on heat itself to be effective, they did not have an effect on the creatures.

It also soon became clear of another problems: these monsters were organized. Currently, there were about fifteen of the creatures swarming their area. They were led by a hulking brute of a Wolfwrath that had black fur instead of the typical red, and for some reason, he seemed intent on attacking the Puffals in particular. Not that he or any of the other Wolfwrath were against attacking fairies and Little men, but for some reason, the Puffals in particular caught their attention, and they would go on the warpath in an attempt to take them out.

The Star Jumpers did attempt to fight back as well, but as was pointed out, they were not warriors. Since the majority were either children or the elderly, there didn't appear to be much that most were able to do. Even those who were able and willing to take weapons that the guards had dropped, there wasn't much more that they could do. As such, most had to resort to attempting to hide.

Indeed, it was not ten minutes into the struggled that things started to seem hopeless. There didn't look like their any weapon that was going to be effective against these monsters, and there was no hope that the creatures could be convinced to leave. The only options appeared to be just to fight until exhaustion, which would end in death.

This seemed like it would be Isaac who would be the first to succumb to this dreadful fate. The yellow Puffal had started attempting to organize the Star Jumpers as soon as the attack had begun, and at first opportunity had snatched up one of the fallen laser guns. Quickly calling out to get the children and the elderly to cover, he charged one of the monsters, who had been targeting a fairy who had taken two little fairies and three Puffal pups under her charge.

The attack did it purpose, for the main part. It did distract the creature away from its target, allowing her to fly off with the little ones in tow. However, the creature then turned its attention to Isaac, who stood boldly against the creature.

It let out a cry, more like a cat's yowl than a dog's growl, and charged at him with death on itself mind. The young Star Jumper felt an almost instinctual fear as he saw the Wolfwrath run at him, and he felt the urge to run. However, he didn't dare to. If he tried to run, then some innocent would couldn't fight might be targeted, and then what? No. He had to face this creature himself.

And face it he did. Indeed, he fought harder than the Wolfwrath could have expected. Isaac charged at the monster, aiming at its hind paws to try to trip it up. If he could ruin its footing, than maybe he might have a better chance of making out of this alive.

He was unable to succeed in knocking the beast over, but the strategy was so unexpected that he did succeed at making it close to the creature's unprotected belly without risking its teeth and claws. Realizing his opportunity, the yellow Star Jumper took advantage of it, lashing out with the gun itself into the monster's gut.

This succeeded in dealing a blow to the Wolfwrath that did cause some damage, but it also had an unexpected side effect. Wolfwrath were said to have been born in the very pit of Hell, and by their body temperature, it truly felt like it. Nearly as soon as the gun and the Star Jumper's paw made contact, the gun melted. Isaac was forced to withdraw his paw and cry out in pain as both the molten metal and the insanely hot creature burned the appendage.

This gave the Wolfwrath just the opportunity it needed. Seeing him slump back in pain, it let out a loud screech and charged at him, claws outstretched and teeth bared to kill the Puffal. Seeing this, Isaac closed his eyes, waiting for the Kirby of legend to come to take him to the Land of Unending Sunlight.

However, he was not to die that day. Before the creature could strike him, Meta Knight arrived on the scene. Seeing that the yellow Puffal was in the most immediate danger at the moment, he flew in, landing a hard blow to the Wolfwrath's head as he did so. It did not kill the beast, but it was a hard enough blow to crack the jewel on the beast's head.

This succeeded in knocking the creature back. Taking advantage of the moment, he turned to Isaac. "Hurry, get to cover!" he called back. "I will deal with the creature!"

Isaac nodded quickly, hurrying off.

Once he was certain that the Puffal had made it to safety, Meta Knight turned back. There were fifteen of the monsters and only one of him. He was going to have to move fast.

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"Guys! C'mon! Where are you?"

"Mikey? Marty? Toby! We need you to answer!"

"Cha'lii? Kaastii? Aandii? Saami? Whe'e ya go?"

It had been about five minutes that the trio of older children had gone searching for the missing little ones. Up until that moment, the trail that the younger Puffals had left had been pretty clear, allowing Kirby, Ribbon, and Adeleine to follow. However, the tracks had suddenly stopped, making any more searching incredibly difficult.

However, their luck soon changed. As they went down a path, Kirby soon spotted a flash of some bright colors from behind some dense plant growth. Eagerly, the young Puffal pushed through them. Sure enough, he found his wayward siblings there, along with the young Star Jumpers that had wandered off with them. They stood facing away from the older children, transfixed by whatever they were looking at. Kirby was prepared to begin scolding, but he too then saw what was facing them.

The Wolfwrath turned to the newcomers, teeth bared and yellow eyes blazing. It was clear that this creature meant to kill, and that nothing was going to stop it from making its kill. Its pack-mates watched from close at hand, prepared to leap in and help with the massacre when the time was ripe.

Realizing the danger but not knowing what to expect, Adeleine made the first move. Withdrawing her paintbrush and painted up a bright field of electricity. "Run!" she called out, and to give example, scooped up the nearest four babies. Ribbon followed suit, snatching up three of the little ones, and Kirby did so as well. Thus, the group moved as fast as they could, doing their best to keep ahead of the ferocious monsters.

Adeleine's electrical barrier did its job pretty well. By the time it reached the Wolfwrath, it had become real enough to give them an intense charge, keeping them from taking up the chase at first. However, it could not last forever, and as soon as the electricity had worn off, the creatures were quick to shake it off and take up after their prey.

"What are these things?!" Adeleine cried out as they tried to keep ahead.

"I think their called 'Wolfwrath," Ribbon responded, trying to sound as calm as possible while flying for her life. "They're monsters from the planet Popopo, and are known for their persistent and almost unshakable hunting styles! I learned about them in a foreign fauna class!"

"Popopo?" Kirby asked, a bit confused.

"Yeah," Adeleine agreed. "How could they be here now? It thought the Collector destroyed Popopo!"

"I did too," Ribbon called in agreement. "Maybe she save a couple." They ran on a little bit farther. Suddenly, a horrible thought hit the fairy and she had to call out again. "There are two more things I just remembered about Wolfwrath. Most importantly, they are ferocious Puffal hunters! They'll go after Puffals no matter what!"

"Poyo!" came the distressed squeak from every Puffal present.

"Don't worry," Adeleine called out, trying to be as comforting as she could, considering the circumstances. "We won't let them get you guys. What was the other thing?"

"Well, they also are-" Before she could finish her sentence, she was cut off by a fireball zipping past them. It missed the children, but it was close enough that everyone with hair had it singed a bit. The landing of the projectile also set up a wall of fire, blocking the youngsters from any attempt to flee away from the pursuing monsters.

They were forced to stop, and turned to see that the Wolfwrath had just about caught up to them. Seeing no other option, Adeleine wielded her paintbrush high and prepared to paint up something that might protect them from the super persistent predators.

Ribbon, on the other hand, took a look about the fire wall. "It think I can fly above this!" she called out. "I can take a few with me, but I can't carry everyone!"

"Take the Star Jumpers!" Adeleine responded. "They have the least chance of making it in a fight! We'll catch up to you when we can!"

Hearing this, the two Star Jumper boys let out a loud protest, insisting they could fight, too, but this went ignored. Hannah glanced nervously at Andy. "Poyo?"

Truthfully, Andy was horribly afraid, but he didn't want Hannah to think of him like that, so he gave a broad grin. "P'yo poyo poyah," he said confidently as she was picked up.

As Ribbon and the Star Jumpers went over the fire wall, Andy noticed it intently for the first time and got an idea. Quickly, he inhaled some of the flames and copied it. There was a bright flash, and a golden circlet with a green stone and a wreath of fire appeared on his head. He became Fire Andy!

Seeing his brother take the change, Mikey decided to copy, too, grabbing up several leaves and becoming Leaf Mikey once again. Now that both brothers had a copy ability, they prepared the charge once more, ready to take on the monsters.

Adeleine and Kirby had to that point been the only ones dealing with the monsters. Adeleine sent as many projectiles at their pursuers as possible while the little Star Warrior inhaled the flames to keep them down, though he did not copy them. This succeeded in keeping them back somewhat, but even these attempts were not easy to keep up, and two of the Wolfwrath had already slipped by to keep the chase after Ribbon. Even now, their defenses were wearing thin.

Seeing Andy and Mikey spring forwards with their own abilities was nearly a relief, until they saw what abilities they were using. "No, Mikey! Andy! Come back!" the artist called in dismay.

Her words, however, went unheeded, and the duo sprang to fight anyway, unleashing a stream of fire and a barrage of leaves.

The flaw in their plan soon became very apparent. Taking the opportunity, two of the Wolfwrath sprang ahead and began _eating_ the fire Andy was unleashing. Likewise, the leaves that Mikey sent out were quickly burnt up, and that fire was also consumed.

It was only Kirby's quick thinking that kept his brothers from suffering a similar fate. Seeing no opportunity to fight, and having had the time to let the former fire wall die down, the kids took to running once more.

They had hoped to make it back to the village, where they had no doubt that Ribbon and the little Star Jumpers would be waiting for them. They caught up to the fairy and her wards, sure enough, but they found to their dismay that she had been cornered by the two who had slipped by. The four that were pursuing them had also maneuvered things so that they were no corned by a steep cliff wall as well. Indeed, it seemed like it was over for them.

Then there was a long, drawn out screech-like howl. The Wolfwrath looked up for a moment, and quickly let out their own cries in response before abandoning their own prey to answer.

"What was that?" Adeleine asked, looking on in confusion. "I mean, it's good for us, but what just happened?"

"Actually, I don't think that was good," Ribbon responded darkly. "As I was saying before, Wolfwrath are also never seen in packs smaller than eighteen to twenty. We were facing only a portion of the pack, and I'd bet my wings that whatever let out that call was the Alpha Wolfwrath."

"A'pha?" Kirby asked.

"That means the leader," The fairy explained. "Only the call of the Alpha Wolfwrath can call its pack off of prey, and it will only give the call when it has a specific target of its own in mind. That was a call to battle."

"To battle?" Adeleine asked, growing as nervous as her friend. "Well, I hope that whoever is the target can handle it."

"There's only one thing we can do now," Ribbon said, motioning for the other to follow. "That's get back to the village. If those beasts have made it there, then they'll need all the help that they can get." The others nodded, and once again the trio of older kids picked up a portion of the younger and quickly took off in the direction of the village. They could only hope that help did not arrive too late.

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Meta Knight quickly turned his attention to the Wolfwrath directly in front of him. Not a moment too soon, either, as the creature, now fully recovered from the surprise attack from earlier, was now ready for the attack. It sprang up at him, yellow eyes flashing.

The warrior was only able to escape with his skin because of his wings. He flapped up quickly, trying to build momentum, before he turned and swooped down on his opponent, striking out with Galaxia as he did. The blow was miss aimed, and did not unleash the killing blow that he intended, but the tip of the sword did make contact with the back of the creature's neck.

Had this been any other sword, this contact would have melted the blade and left the monster unscathed. However, that was not just any sword; it was the famed sword of Metian, forged by the very king of the fire people himself. It would be horribly unfit for such a sword to be harmed by heat or flame.

As such, when the blade made contact, it succeeded in dealing a long cut to the creature. The beast gave a howl of pain. Meta Knight himself sprang back, avoiding the beast to the best of his abilities. His blade might be able to withstand the heat, but he himself had no such tolerance.

The cut had not been deep, and as such it was not enough to keep the foe from attacking again. The Wolfwrath was young and strong, and thus its response to the wound was to give a shriek of anger and pain before charging once again at the Puffal.

Thankfully, the Star Warrior was ready for the attack. It lunged at him with teeth and claws, attempting to rip him into pieces. However, Meta Knight was just too fast for it. No matter which way it turned to reach for him, he was able to evade both fang and claw.

On the other hand, it was rather difficult for him to make another wound, as well. Usually in a fight Meta Knight would have the advantage of a Sword Beam, which was often enough to deal his foe a crippling blow without forcing the knight to come too much within reach of his opponent. Much to his dismay, this did not seem to be the case with the Wolfwrath. They shrugged off the Sword Beams easily, and it seemed that only the direct touch of the blade, forged of Keinomine, Efferomite, and Shyron metals, that could actually deal some damage. As such, the veteran was going to have to find some way of making a close hit without harming himself in the heat.

He soon got his chance. Enraged by pain and bloodlust, the beast became almost maddened with the desire just to kill. It no longer appeared to have any tactic that included self-preservation. Instead, it focused on the destruction of everything in its path, and it attacked wildly and blindly in and attempt to achieve that goal. It was this attempt that ultimately led the monster to its end.

It was on one of these blind, maddened charges, lunging towards Meta Knight without watching. He was able to dodge out of the way quickly, and the beast embedded its fangs in a tree that the warrior had been standing in front of. The intense strength of the monster became its downfall, as the embedding had gone so deep that it could not free itself with ease, and it ended up struggling hard against its self-inflicted prison.

This was just the opening that Meta Knight needed. With his enemy imprisoned, the warrior moved quickly and struck again at the beast's neck. This time the blow struck home right as it was able to free itself. With a single strike, he beheaded the Wolfwrath.

One foe was slain, but the Warrior knew that his battle was far from over. He glanced around the village and found that his fight had not gone unnoticed. The remainders of the Wolfwrath had noticed that a formidable opponent had shown up, and had watched to see if their pack mate would have been able to kill him by itself. When that hope had proven in vain, they had abandoned their own previous hunts and conglomerated to surround him. He was now standing in a circle of hostile eyes and flashing teeth.

The big black brute from before, who was obviously the leader of the pack, moved forwards first. It glowered at him, challenging him with its eyes. It was searching the warrior for any hesitation, which would be interpreted as weakness.

Meta Knight had none. He returned the beast's glare head on, his own eyes turning red in the heat of the battle. There was no way that he could back down to this beast. If his backed down or fell, then many innocents would die. There was no option. He could not fall.

The beast stared at him, attempting to make him flinch or back down. When the warrior refused to show any amount of submission, it lifted its head and let out a loud cry. Once the cry had been let out, the other Wolfwrath responded with cries of their own, and the warrior realized what the call had been.

It had been a call to arms. These were not the only Wolfwrath in the area, and the alpha had given the call for the rest to come to face him. His stomach churned at the thought of what those creatures had been doing, and wondering just how many more reinforcements these beasts might have. Slaying one had been difficult enough, and there were already fourteen others. If there were too many more, the difficultly might be too much.

He braced himself. Well, if he was bound to fall, he'd make certain that he took as many of the monsters with him as he could. That was when he saw the six that had come to join the rest of the pack.

Well, this was going to be fun.

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The kids raced ahead, desperate to figure out just what had called their pursuers away. They soon saw clearly that it was a large pack of Wolfwrath; about twenty one of them. A big black one, who was clearly the Alpha, was moving along at the sides, urging his pack on to attack something.

After a moment of focusing, it soon became painfully clear what that something was. It was Meta Knight! The warrior was fighting the creatures with all his strength, and for the most part, it appeared that he wasn't doing too badly. Of the twenty one, about seven of them were already lying dead. However, the knight was himself not unscathed. Claw marks showed red on blue skin, and while they were un-torn and unbroken, his wings were clearly burned and tender. Furthermore, his mask had been sliced right off, which meant that he was not only facing these creatures alone and injured, but blind as well. If he did not receive any help soon, this may very well be his last fight.

Kirby looked around in a panic, desperate to find something that he and his friends might do to help. The other children had also tried to help, but much to their dismay, found that there was not much to be done. Ado and later Adeleine had attempted to help with their paintbrushes, but much to their dismay, found that the paint they used was flammable, and even when they tried to paint water, it caught on fire. The others didn't have much more of an option, and had been reduced to huddling behind some rubble, defending the little ones that they still had with them. It looked like Kirby might be on his own.

Okay, he could work with that. First things first, though. If he was going to have any chance to be able to get in and help Meta Knight, then he was going to need his Warp Star. He had left it back in his little house in Dreamland, but he seemed to have a connection to it, and it to the Star Rod, so hopefully he could call it through the portal and get its help from there.

Once he was fairly confident that the Warp Star would be coming to his aid, he now had to think of something he could do that would actually be of use to his mentor. Glancing around, he spotted his younger siblings, who had stayed with him instead of running for cover with the others. Kirby could see that Andy and Mikey still had the fire and leaf abilities on them, even though they had not helped all too much. Remembering what had happened discouraged the youngster. So leaves and fire wouldn't work against the fiery creatures, but there had to be something that would work against them. Did there?

The idea hit him about the same time that his Warp Star did. He had almost not noticed when the little golden star had zipped up, and had just about been struck in the back by it. However, he was too pleased with himself about what he had just thought of that he had to go out immediately.

Spotting her brother preparing to leave, Kirsti called out to him. "Kaabii!" she shouted in dismay. "Kaabii poyo poyah p'yo?!"

"Kaabii gonna ge' wa-wa!" he called back. "Wanna he'p? Fin' wa-wa or ice!"

The recognition hit the young ones immediately. Of course! They were facing creatures of fire! Obviously fighting fire with fire never worked, despite whatever phrases were out there, but fighting fire with water or ice? They just might have a chance. Eagerly, they rushed off in search of water or ice.

Kirby knew where he could find water, and hurried over as fast as he could. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have inhaled water from the Fountain of Dreams. It just wouldn't have been right. However, considering that if he did not, there was a good chance that hundreds would die and the fountain itself would be obliterated, he supposed that, just this once, he could make an exception.

Quickly inhaling as little water as needed, he copied it quickly, and soon received the familiar golden crown topped with a wave. Now that he was Water Kirby, he hoped that he might have a chance against those mean ol' Wolfwrath.

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Meta Knight was not doing well. He had fought hard against the beasts, and many had fallen to his sword, but the Puffal was still just a mortal. He could feel his strength diminishing, and searing pain in his arms, legs, sides, and wings distracted him from the task at hand. He tried hard to force himself to focus on the battle, but the pain and fatigue was catching up to him. If nothing happened to turn the tide, then there was little chance that he was going to make it out of this alive.

He thrust forwards with his sword. Though he could not see his target, is experience with fighting blind told him where and how his opponent would attempt to strike him getting him closer and closer to victory, though the jaws of defeat still held very close. The pained yowl of a Wolfwrath told him that he had struck true and that another of his foes had fallen.

What his now strained senses could not tell him, however, was that of the remaining five Wolfwrath, one of them had crept up on him. Catching the blind knight unaware, the monster prepared to strike down on him with teeth and claws and end his life right there and then. He would have died in a moment, and everything would have been lost.

However, something else intervened before the older warrior could be slain. A long stream of water came out of nowhere, striking the monster hard in the side and head. The creature, as a being of heat and fire, hated the water, especially the cool, pure water that it was now bathed in. It let out an ear rending screech of agony before dropping back, forgetting its attempt to kill the Star Warrior in favor of attempting to rid itself of the hated liquid.

Hearing the screech, Meta Knight spun around and struck out at it. In its weakened state, the blow killed the beast without any struggle. He put the beast out of its misery before moving quickly to face the next foe.

Watching from above on his Warp Star, Kirby let out a cheer. His plan had been right! The Wolfwrath, as fire-based monsters, couldn't handle water. As a result, they were severely weakened when wet, making them easier to fight.

Adding on to his delight was the fact that he saw his siblings coming to join him, their search having clearly also been successful. Mikey, Toby, and Charlie had found water, like Kirby had, and were now sporting similar water crowns to his. Sammy, Andy, Marty, and Kirsti, on the other hand, had found ice, and the three boys had huge ice-formed crowns. Kirsti instead had a small ice-tiara, with a lace like frost veil coming out from behind it. Kirby briefly wondered why his sister's copy hat was different; he'd have to look into that later.

For now, they had other business to attend to. Meta Knight was still fighting strong, and with the help of his children, the tide of the battle began to turn. Though he could not see them and no call had been let out, the warrior suspected that the little ones were coming through to help him. The fight was no longer as hard as it had been, as every time the monsters were hit by a barrage of water or ice, they fell in a squealing mess, significantly weakened by the attack. This opened them up for a strike from Galaxia, which quickly ended the monster's life. Indeed, all seemed to be going well.

That is, until it finally came to the Alpha. During the fight, it had been putting up a hard battle for the Puffals, but as the tide began to turn in favor of the little warriors, it began to realize the desperation of its situation. It slunk of to a bit of a distance, hoping that its pack mates would be able to keep the fighting Puffals distracted for a bit while it prepared its attack.

It succeeded, but at the cost of the pack. The opening to attack the blue Puffal came, but only after the twentieth Wolfwrath was slain. As the Alpha realized what had happened, and intense hatred for the blue warrior filled it. At that moment, it didn't care whether it was slain or not; all that mattered was that it spilled the winged Puffal's blood.

The attack had happened in a second. It launched itself out of the shadows, sinking its fangs into Meta Knight's side. The Star Warrior let out a cry of pain and shock, stumbling back once the blow had been struck.

Too late did Kirby and the other little ones see what was happening, but once they did, they sprang into action. Unleashing all they had, they peppered the Wolfwrath with a barrage of slush-like water. As much as the brute wanted to stay and finish Meta Knight off, it was forced to retreat. Thus, in the face of the attack, it turned and ran.

Several of the little ones chased after the Wolfwrath, but after a while, they lost track of it. This confused them, as it would seem nearly impossible to lose a behemoth like that, but sure enough, for the moment, it was gone. They then turned and hurried back, desperate to find out the state of their mentor.

When they arrived back, they found to their relief that several medics were already attending to the blue Puffal's wounds. There were a lot of them, with the bite left by the Alpha being the worst, but as long as he received treatment for them, and immediately, he'd be find. He was quickly scooped up ad brought for medical treatment while other rescue forces went in to clean up the damage left by the attack.

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Within NME, the Collector was supervising the lower level monsters that were attempting to hold the raging Alpha Wolfwrath down. "Don't get too close to those teeth," she warned. "He's tasted blood and will kill given the opportunity. If he gets his teeth in you, you aren't getting out."

"Well, well, well," a mocking voice said from behind. "Looks like your little survival of the fittest attack didn't work, now did it?"

"No more than your attacks did, Drawci," the huntress shot back to the witch. "At least with my attempt, the creampuff's blood was spilt. What did you do, get control of a few country bumpkins for a while, before all your little constructs exploded from not being able to handle a toddler's singing?"

Drawcia ruffled, first from the hated nickname and then from the reminder of the failure of the Walkies. "I'll have you know," the witch began, "that the only reason that the Walky project failed was because we did not expect the toddler to have such a strong attack quite yet."

"So you didn't prepare for a Guardian to attack like a Guardian."

"He might be a Guardian, but he hasn't awoken his powers yet! Until then, he's a strong but ordinary creature. Something your, oh how did you put it? Oh yeah. 'Hyper competent Puffal hunters' couldn't do." She smirked again. "If this is your great plan, what makes you think anything you did will be able to stop him in the future?"

The Collector was about to shoot off another response when both huntress and witch were cut off. "Silence, both of you," Nightmare snarled. "We don't have time to waste on your petty squabbles. Now," he said, motioning towards the bound Wolfwrath, "how did the experiment go?"

"Very well, despite what it might look like," the white haired poacher responded. "Just as predicted, the Wolfwrath did not succeed in destroying the creampuffs, but they did do a lot of damage. Of course, regular Wolfwrath will not be able to kill Star Warriors, but even so, they are formidable foes, and if they were enhanced would provide much more of a challenge."

"And this one?"

"Perfect test subject. It's been crazed by the slaying of its pack. Furthermore, it's tasted the Star Warrior's blood. A Wolfwrath never forgets the taste of blood, and will never give up the hunt for prey that has eluded it. This one won't rest until Meta Knight is dead."

"Perfect," Nightmare responded with a cruel grin. "Make certain to hold it in the containment units. This will make for a very useful weapon against the Guardian and his allies."

"Yes, my lord," the huntress responded before turning to direct the monsters. However, before she had left, the warlock called her back once more.

"Before you go, Miz Rinn," he said calmly, "I have a series of targets for you to find, personally."

"Targets?" she asked.

He nodded. "Oh, you'll know most of them. It's just that I have two loose ends that I want to deal with, and if they are to be brought in, the proper bait is going to need to be collected. It will take some time to get them all, but I'm quite convinced you can catch them alive."

She shrugged. "Give me the names and I'll get them. How important is the 'alive' part, though?"

"Quite," Nightmare replied, "but don't worry. They only need to be alive long enough to be bait. Once that job has been done, you can have all the fun you want with them."

Hearing this, the Collector smirked. "Once I've got this brute tied up, I'll head out."

Nightmare smiled as he thought to himself. He had successfully killed two of them, but the other two had slipped through his fingers. That embarrassment would not stand. Soon, the reckoning would be called.

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"We thank you very much for everything you have done for us," Nicholas said as he shook Soleena's hand. "My people and I owe you a deep debt of gratitude, especially to Sir Meta Knight. It's a shame he could not be here to say goodbye."

The fairy queen nodded. "Indeed. He sends his regrets for not being able to see you off, but the injuries endured will not allow him to leave his bed for a few days, at the very least. He sends his regards, though, and instructs you to use his name when you arrive at Ice Cream Island."

The goodbyes had been going on for a short time, and very soon, the Star Jumpers would be leaving Ripple Star for Pop Star. By now, most of the Puffals had loaded back on to their ship and they would go to meet up with the Boxin tribe on Ice Cream Island. All were pleased with how things had gone.

Well, all but one.

Andy looked around timidly as the Star Jumpers loaded back up onto the ship. He had not seen Hannah since the fight with the Wolfwrath, and he had at least been hoping to say goodbye. Much to his dismay, however, he couldn't find the little purple Star Jumper anywhere.

Thus, he turned back to leave, disappointed that he wouldn't get to say goodbye. That was when he was tackled from behind by a light purple blur.

"Poyai, Aandii," Hannah squealed as she hugged him.

Turning in shock, the little red Puffal's face turned about two shades redder. "An'ah?" he asked, happy but surprised.

Hannah nodded happily as she released him. "P'yo poyo poy poyee. Poyo poy poyai bye." She waved her hand as she explained.

A little disappointed that she had only come to say goodbye, but happy she had done so, he waved himself. "P'yo poyah bye."

She then turned to head back to the ship with the other Star Jumpers, but paused for a moment before she left. Looking back at him, she quickly turned around, kissed him on the cheek, and then rushed off.

Andy stood for a moment, shocked. He had absolutely no idea what to think of that, and could only watch as the young Star Jumper girl raced back to the ship. Once she had reached the door, though, she turned around and waved again.

This time, he waved back to her, hard and energetically. He knew he would see Hannah again; after all, she was just going to be trained by his Aunt Alivea. He would look intensely forward to that day.

From the side, Kirsti watched as he brother said goodbye to his crush and smiled. Sure, things hadn't gone exactly to plan, but everything had worked out for the better. All they could hope was that their fortunes were changing for the better from here.

To be continued…


	56. Donec Tenebras Perit, Part One

The tangled foliage of Jam Jungle wasn't exactly the sort of place that one might imagine going to on any sort of trip. It was a thick and somewhat inhospitable area, full of biting pests and ferocious predators, and things weren't helped by the fact that it seemed to be monsoon season nearly all year round. However, this is exactly where the clues to an ancient treasure had brought Sir Daroach.

Rumors had trickled in from all over that there was a mysterious plant that was to be found in that jungle. The Miracle Fruit. Legend spoke of the fruit of the guardians, rumored to give whomever ate it an intense burst of power.

Of course, Daroach had no intent of eating it himself, considering the stories also said that anyone who was not meant to eat it would come to regret such a consumption. While the mouse was by no means superstitious or prone to believing everything that he heard, he also knew that there was usually some amount of truth to old wives tales, and he'd rather not risk any danger that could be avoided.

However, collecting the fruit itself did not have any warnings attached, so as soon as he got some clues that the flower of the fruit had come into bloom, he went off on the search for it.

That was where he had been preparing to leave to when he had received his second visit from Meta Knight. He had been rather anxious to get on the move back then, lest he miss the opportunity, but he always had time to help a fellow Star Warrior. He had also learned of Kirby's status as a clone during that time. He hoped the youngster wouldn't be hurt too much by that status. He was a good child.

Of course, the Squeaks had also come along on this treasure hunting voyage, as they always did, but at the moment, the position of the vine made it rather difficult for a large collection of people to go searching. As such, only Daroach was moving through the thick jungle undergrowth, followed closely by three Squeakers, who would be his only assistance at the moment. Spinni, Storo, and Doc, along with the rest of their Squeakers, had remained back with the _Zephyr_.

That did not keep them from keeping in contact, though.

"So, you almost found the magical fruit, boss?" Storo asked over the intercom.

"It is Miracle Fruit, not magical fruit," Daroach corrected, "and, no, not quite yet. The vine, wherever it is, seems to be fairly well hidden. It will take me a little while to find it, but don't worry. It's around here somewhere."

"What exactly do you plan on doing with it once you have it?" Spinni asked. It was clear she had been going over the legends that surrounded the elusive fruit. "It says here that it's only supposed to be eaten by a guardian, whatever that is, and anyone else who tries to will be afflicted with a curse."

"I don't know about guardians or curses," Daroach responded calmly, "but I don't intend to eat it. These warnings probably have root in some other explanation, such as it being poisonous if not eaten correctly. Still, it's rarer than any diamond, and bringing it in to the collection won't hurt anything. In fact-" He was about to go on, but there was a bright flash. "Well, hello. What is this?"

He followed the flash of light, and found that it was exactly what he was looking for. A small vine which had been attached to an overhead cliff had begun to move, elongating itself. Once it had reached the proper length, the tip opened up, revealing the fruit. The fruit had a thin, pale blue skin surrounded by a gold peel. The blue skin was translucent, and a large, bright red pip could be seen in the center of it. There was no question over what was seen.

When he saw his target, Daroach grinned broadly. "So there you are," he said quietly. He then turned quickly to the Squeakers. "All right then, lads, it's up to you from here. You know what to do."

The small mouse like creatures gave small noised of assent before moving out. They scurried up the cliff side and, upon reaching the vine, began nibbling on it at the top of the fruit. This did the trick, and the Miracle Fruit fell right into Daroach's awaiting paw. "Got it," the mouse warrior said, pleased with the familiar feeling of a treasure found. He then moved his paw to the communicator. "Alright, I've got it. I'll be on my way back in a moment."

Spinni's voice came loud and clear through the speaker. "Got it! We'll be seeing you soon." Daroach prepared to shut off his communicator, but then Spinni spoke up again. "Wait, who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Spinni, what's happening?" Daroach asked quickly, unnerved by the tone of fear in his second's voice.

He waited for her to respond, but no response came. Instead, there was the sound of an intense struggle. The Squeaks shouted out, and it was clear that things were going badly. Then there was nothing. Just static.

In a panic, Daroach thrust the Miracle fruit in a bag he had at his side and took off, desperate to make it back. He had no idea what was happening, but whatever it was, it clearly wasn't good.

When he made it back to the _Zephyr,_ signs were not looking up. All the lights had gone out around the zeppelin, and there was a look as if it had been abandoned.

As he got closer, things were worse. There were clear signs of a forced entry around the door, and battle scars showed brightly on the metal. Furthermore, there were only a few Squeakers present, and these were clearly in a state of panic. A few, however, were perfectly still, and some of the living, including the three who had gone with Daroach, began nuzzling at them in an attempt to make them move. It was like the little creatures could not comprehend that their companions were dead.

Despite the bodies of the dead Squeakers being still present, there was no sign of the Squeaks themselves. It was as if no one had ever been there.

Almost. As the mouse warrior moved to the control panel, he saw that there was a piece of paper stuck to it with a long knife. It had a message written on it in a neat hand, along with the symbol of the person who wrote it.

 _Your crew is still alive. If you ever want to see them again, bring this to the Warrior of the Wind._ Beneath this mess was a large, ornate C, with a spear running through it and crossed at the top with a gun.

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The bright, cheerful sunlight of summer morning was too inviting to resist. At least, it was for Kirby. It seemed to the long Puffal that nothing could keep him in doors on such a day as this, not even a grand feast.

Okay, maybe a grand feast. But there would need to be tomatoes, watermelon, and strawberry shortcake.

Thankfully for him, this was not a time when he was required to. It was about a week and a half after Meta Knight had been deemed well enough to return to Dreamland. Frankly, this was something the older warrior had been looking forward to. He had been away too long, thanks to the attack by Dark Matter and a Wolfwrath pack. Furthermore, now that he had healed enough to become active again, he was determined to turn his attention back to Kirby's training.

Thus, that bright morning found the young one eagerly engaged in his swordplay techniques. Things were running along smoothly, and it looked like they were going to be able to have a peaceful training session without any incident when a shadow was cast over the area.

Meta Knight looked up with concern, but grew relieved when he saw just what was causing the shadow. "Kirby," he called out to the youngster, who was busily engaged in practicing his jab on a dummy, "I think we can pause for the moment. It looks like we have a visitor."

Kirby looked up to where his master was motioning and grew excited himself. "Sah D'woach!" he cried out excitedly. He had not seen the mouse warrior since the incident when they had met, so he was eager to say hi again. He rushed off to where the _Zephyr_ was landing, not even bothering to discard the Sword ability as he did so.

The older Star Warrior followed at a slower pace, silently chuckling to himself about his student's enthusiasm. He could remember a time when he had that excitement for life, and it was his deepest hope that nothing would ever happen to rob Kirby of that joy.

It didn't take to long to reach the landing sight, as it was just outside of Whispy Woods. Kirby had reached there first and was eagerly awaiting the door to open. Meta Knight had caught up by the time it did, and he could clearly see his old friend coming out.

That was when Meta Knight sensed that something was wrong. Daroach was like a brother to him; they had known each other since childhood and they could tell when the other was not quite himself. It was the case now.

Daroach had his characteristic smile, but there was something not quite right in it, like he was trying to hide some severe trouble behind it. Something was certainly amiss.

Kirby, however, missed out on this sense of wrongness completely. He eagerly rushed over to Daroach, never calming done for moment. "Hi, D'woach! Hi!" he practically chirped. "I's pwacticing wi' my swowd; an' we gonna have pic-a-nic waitah, an-"

Realizing that there was not likely going to be a pause in his student's excited declaration of everything happening in Dreamland any time soon, Meta Knight cut him off. "Kirby, I'm sure Sir Daroach has had a very long trip. Why don't you go see if you can find any refreshments?"

At the mention of food, Kirby's face brightened. "Kaabii go get snack!" he exclaimed excitedly before hurrying off.

As they watched the youngster run off, Daroach laughed. "Energetic little fellow, isn't he? It must take a lot to get him to focus on his lessons."

"Like someone else I once knew," Meta Knight responded. "How often did Sir Galahad have to take you off of sugar for a while just to get you to focus?"

"Nearly three months before he figured out it wasn't working," the mouse responded, thinking back fondly of his own mentor.

"Speaking of students," the blue Puffal put in, peering into the clearly empty space inside the _Zephyr_ , "where is your team? Last time we spoke, you were all headed off on a journey."

"Actually, that was what I wanted to speak to you about." This time, the smile completely vanished from the mouse's face. "They're in trouble, and I'm afraid it might involve an acquaintance of yours."

He explained what had happened during the trip and handed the threatening note over to the Puffal, who examined it, his eyes turning red as he did so. "From the looks of things," Daroach commented as he observed, "you have some idea of who is behind this."

"Her name is the Collector," Meta Knight answered quietly as he looked over the note. "She has been a thorn in my side for quite a while now." He quickly explained all that had happened with the villain, from the destruction of Popopo, to the kidnapping of himself and the younger Puffals, to the drugging of him and Kirby that nearly cost them their lives.

"Both times we wouldn't have made it out alive if it hadn't been for my older students." He closed his eyes for a moment. "It might be in our favor to see if we cannot contact them once again. If she has taken your team, as it certainly appears so, we will need all the help we can get."

He prepared to remove a communicator from the storage space in his cape when another shadow was cast. This time, the warriors could see that it was the _Rising Arrow_ itself, already coming in for a landing.

"How odd," Meta Knight murmured as he looked on. "I have received no message of their coming. This does not bode well."

Understanding how this very well might not be a good omen, they rushed over to the landing sight, inwardly preparing for whatever they might see there.  
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"Cha-co'wate poyo! Cha-co'wate-to poyo!" Kirby sang out as he traveled back to the meeting place. It had taken him a few moments to select what he was certain would be the best sorts of foods to bring. Such a decision was not one that you could expect Kirby to make in an instant. After looking long and hard in the palace kitchens, he had finally settled on a plate of brownies he had found (a favorite of Meta Knight's), a few good-sized apples, and, of course, four or five large watermelons.

He know had the basket of foods strapped to his back as he moved to where he was sure the two adults would be waiting. However, when he arrived outside the _Zephyr_ , he found to his dismay, that neither Meta Knight nor Daroach was anywhere to be seen.

Nervously, he began running around, looking to see where the two elder Star Warriors had gotten off to. "He'wo!" he called out, hoping that he would be heard. "Kaabii come back! Go' snack!" His calls had no effect, and when he received no answer, the little Puffal became more worried and frightened.

That was when he spotted something bright red poking over the trees in the distance. It then hit the pink Puffal hard. Why, that was the _Rising Arrow_! Meta Knight's other students had returned for a visit. Why, that was just good timing, what with Sir Daroach being there as well.

Kirby firmly decided that he had better head over to the ship immediately so as to greet his elder classmates. He was now very glad he had chosen to bring a large amount of snacks. Sure, it meant less food for him, but he was fine with that if it meant that he'd get to spend a lot of time with friends who weren't there all that often.

It took a little bit of a trek to get from the _Zephyr_ to the _Arrow_ , but he was able to make it there in pretty good time. However, once he reached the place, he found more surprises, and they were not a pleasant as he'd thought they'd be.

Meta Knight and Daroach were standing inside the _Arrow_ with Javilin and Trident, who were both offline and in the repair stations. There wasn't any sign of Joe, Silica, Ax, or Mace. Indeed, it looked as if the ship had pretty much been ripped up and abandoned.

"She has struck again," Meta Knight said to Daroach in a low voice. "I don't know how she has found out about you, but she is clearly targeting Star Warriors. There is some news that I must tell you, and it may play a role in where she is to strike next."

"Poyo, hiii!" Kirby called, trying to get the adult's attention. "Kaabii bring t'e snacks."

Shaken out of what they had been discussing, the two adults turned quickly to Kirby. They initially looked worried and afraid, but those expressions faded fast when they realized who they were speaking to.

"Oh, yes, of course," he said quickly, smiling at his young student. He had a paper in his hand that he had quickly crumpled when he heard the child come in. He had also closed his eyes quickly, but not quickly enough, and Kirby could see that they had been red with slight cracks of pink in them. Whatever was on that paper had both angered and frightened the warrior.

He didn't let it show in his demeanor, though. Coming over to Kirby, he took one of the brownies from the child's basket and gave him an affectionate pat on the head. "You did very well, Kirby, but I'm afraid that something has come up. Daroach and I have a very important matter to deal with at the moment, and we will have to end our training session early. Why don't you go find some of your friends?"

Kirby looked around, still incredibly nervous because of the atmosphere of the ship. "Whe'e ot'ers?" he asked, worry showing clear in the bright blue eyes.

Meta Knight sighed. He would not lie to the child. It was unfit for a Star Warrior to lie. However, he could not tell little Kirby just what was going on. There was no need for him to be drawn into this.

Finally, he settled on an answer. "I'm afraid I don't know," the warrior answered after a moment's thoughts. "But we will find them, you don't need to worry about that. Now, why don't you run along? I'm sure some of your friends would appreciate the snacks you've gathered." With that, he turned to go.

Daroach also smiled apologetically. "Quite sorry that the visit needed to be cut short," he said before he turned to go. "I'm sure we can catch up a bit once the business your teacher and I have is cleared up." When he had said that, he also turned and followed the blue Puffal out.

Kirby watched as they left, still very suspicious and uncertain what to think. It was very clear that they both were hiding something from him. The pink Puffal might have been young, but he was quite sharp for his age. Something was off, and he wanted to find out what it was.

Asa he headed out of the _Arrow_ , Kirby's foot brushed against something that had been dropped by the adults as they had left. He quickly realized that it was the paper that Meta Knight had been quick to crumple up when he realized the squire was there.

Knowing this was his chance to figure out what was going on, the little one snatched it up and smoothed it out to figure out what was on it. He did not expect what he saw.

 _I've got one more move to be played. Then it's your go._ This was followed by the symbol of the Collector.

Kirby couldn't really read, but he knew the symbol. He turned pale when he saw this and he hurried off to find his friends. If the Collector had come back for a third time, they would need to be prepared.

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The two Star Warriors rushed as fast as they could to the palace. "I'm not entirely certain," the Puffal said as they ran, "but I have an idea of where she plans to strike next. A while after you left, I discovered that there is another one of us alive."

"Another one?" Daroach asked. "Someone else was lost here with amnesia?"

"Not with amnesia," Meta Knight answered, "but here all the same. It was Alivea. Somehow, she survived the attack that wiped most of us out, and she had come with a group of Boxins to Ice Cream Island.

"Now, the only real clue we have to what the Collector is doing is that she is targeting those who are close to Star Warriors. Alivea has friends and family among the Boxin Tribe she lives with, so they may very well be in grave danger. Our only hope is that we can contact them before the foe strikes."

"Right," the mouse responded, nodding in agreement. "We contact them before the villain can strike, and hopefully we'll be able to stop her vile attacks before they even happen."

"Exactly." The Puffal turned to the palace, somewhat wishing he could spread his wings, but realizing that he'd leave the mouse in the dust if he did so. "Sword and Blade have been setting up video communication with Ice Cream Island, just as we had with the _Rising Arrow_. Hopefully it will be set up enough for us to use it to contact Alivea."

When they reached the palace, they rushed in as fast as possible, not bothering to respond to the few Cappies who called out greetings or the Waddle Dees that gave questioning glances. They had an important to mission to get to, and no delay could keep them from fulfilling it.

They soon reached the wing that held the knights' apartments. The door to Sword and Blade's room was closed, so Meta Knight quickly began knocking hard at it. "Sword! Blade!" he shouted sharply. "Open up immediately! It is of the greatest emergency!"

They waited for a response, but time wore on and there was none. Over time, Meta Knight even found himself wishing for some sort of indolent response or question, as it would have at least assured him that everything was right there. However, this dark silence was much less comforting.

The tried at the door, but found that it had been bolted. This was even more disconcerting, and the knight decided that the pressure of the situation called for a bit of impropriety at the time. Quickly, he withdrew Galaxia and cut the door down.

Now allowed access to the dorm, the two hurried in as quickly as they could. They were not quite sure what to expect; Meta Knight was especially worried, as it was not like his knaves to not heed his call. Once they came to the main part of the room, however, all became clear.

Like both the _Zephyr_ and the _Rising Arrow_ , the room was in shambles. There was signs of a fight everywhere. Carpet and curtains were torn to shreds and windows were broken. Indeed, the only thing that seemed to be completely unaffected by the carnage was a note, pined to the windowsill with a stiletto knife.

_Thought I was going after that sister of yours, huh, creampuff? Don't worry, I'll get to her soon enough. Right now, though, my fight is with you and the rat. All of your students are alive at the moment, as are the rat's crew. I can't say they're all too well though. If you want to make sure they keep breathing for the time being, you will go to the coordinates on the following page. Make sure it's only you two. Any more, and one of those teens or the old guy might not come out of this in one piece._

Once again, beneath the threatening message was the clear emblem of the Collector.

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It had been a more quiet morning for most of the kids that day. They were taking advantage of the peace of the crisp morning to do a little more experimenting with the Flight Star. Just about everyone was gathered to watch the tests, and there was a near complete silence as they watched closely to see what the star could do.

That quiet was broken as soon as Kirby arrived. "He'p! He'p!" he shouted out in a panic, waving a piece of paper in his hand. "She back! Gon'na hu't t'em! Gon'na hu't Medikni an' D'woach! Gon'na be bad! Bad, bad, bad! He'p!"

Ribbon sprang up first in an attempt to calm the pink Puffal down. "Kirby! Kirby, please settle down. We can't understand what you're saying when you're shouting like this. You need to calm down a bit."

When that didn't seem to work, she decided to try another tactic. Seeing the food basket still strapped to the tot's back, she plucked an apple from it. "Here," she said, handing the fruit to the little one. "Why don't you eat this and then take a breath. After that, you can try to tell us what you are saying again."

Kirby nodded, seeing sense in the directions. He took the apple and quickly swallowed it whole. He then took some deep breaths and attempted to speak again. "She back!" he declared in dismay. Though he had calmed down somewhat, there were tears in his eyes, and he could hardly speak for the crying. "T'e Col'ec'tah back!"

There was a cry of dismay that came from the Puffalings, who had also gathered in the group that day. They more than anyone else, knew that her arrival was bad news.

"What, the Collector's back?" Tiff asked. "How did you find out, Kirby?"

Once again, the little one was in such distress that he couldn't find the proper words. Instead, he handed the slip of paper over and began digging in the snack basket, trying to calm himself down. He was eagerly joined by his little siblings, who were equally worried and hungry.

Tiff took the paper and read it out loud to the others. "This is her, alright," the blonde girl said finally when she had finished. "It's got her mark and everything."

"That can't be good," Adeleine said in a quiet voice. "If she's come back, then she's bound to go after Kirby and Sir Meta Knight again."

"A'weady come," Kirby piped up when he turned from the now empty basket.

"Oh, no!" Lalala declared. "We have to do something!"

"And we will," Tiff replied. She stood up straight as she spoke. "We'll have to figure out what is going on and try to stop her before she can hurt anyone."

"Alright!" Tuff declared happily. "We'll go out to stop the bad guys!"

With that, most of the kids got up to head out to the field where the ships were still waiting. Tiff, however, broke off from the rest of the group and headed back to the castle.

Tuff, noticing his sister's deviant path, called out to her. "Hey, where are you off to?"

"I've been working on a project for a while that might help," she called back. "You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up!"

With that, the youngsters made a decision that, though they didn't know it at the time, would play a major role in shaping the future.

To be continued…


	57. Donec Tenebras Perit, Part Two

Though they had hurried in an attempt to catch up with the two Star Warriors before they had left, the kids were disappointed to find that their hurry had been in vain. By the time they had reached the Landing Field, the _Zephyr_ was gone, apparently taking away the hoped for chance that they had been looking for.

"Aw, c'mon!" Tuff declared in frustration. "How can they be gone already?"

"They were probably in a hurry," Ado said. She held her paintbrush nervously, as if she almost expected enemies to spring out of nowhere. "That isn't good news for us."

"That's right," her sister said in agreement. "If whatever is happening was enough to scare them into acting immediately, then the Collector's probably already done something terrible."

"Hey, there you guys are!" The other children turned to see Tiff running up to them, something clutched tightly in one hand. "Why are you guys standing around out here?"

"Can't you tell?" her brother asked in frustration, motioning to where the dirigible had once been. "They left without us? Besides, what was so important that you had to go run off and get it?"

Coolly ignoring the frustration in Tuff's voice, she held up clearly the objects she had gotten. "These." They were a pair of bright gold gauntlets, each with three openings in the knuckles. She slipped them on, and then balled up her right hand into a fist. When she did so, three claw like knives slipped out.

Seeing the surprise in her companions' faces, the Dreamlander girl grinned brightly. "I've been working on these ever since that weird monster thing attacked Cappy Town. I had been hoping to test these out of a while, but it was only recently that they've actually been ready."

"How the heck did you keep hiding those things?" Tuff asked in shock.

Retracting the knives, she smiled. "Simple. I just didn't talk about them."

She turned back to the field, looking at the depression the ship had left. "So they already headed out, huh? We'll that does put us back."

"Maybe it doesn't," Ribbon commented after a moment of thought.

Hearing this, all of them turned to the fairy in confusion. "What do you mean?" Lololo asked. "We don't have a ship of our own, and without one, we can't find them, none the less follow them."

"Or do we?" Ribbon responded with a smile. "You forgot about the _Rising Arrow_! If Sir Meta Knight and Sir Daroach took the _Zephyr_ to go deal with the Collector, then they would have had to have left the _Arrow_ behind. We can use that to find our way to wherever they are going."

There was a moment of silence. None of them had ever flown a ship like the _Arrow_ before, and there was a bit of nervousness over whether or not that they could perform such a feat. On the other hand, this might be their only way of catching up and providing backup against a crafty enemy.

Finally, it was Kirby who broke the silence. "Kaabii goin'," he said firmly, heading out to where he knew the ship was waiting.

Seeing his resolve, Lololo spoke next. "If Kirby's in, then I'm in, too."

"Me too!" Lalala piped up.

There was a loud chorus of poyos from the Puffalings, who made it clear they were not going to be forgotten.

"Well, it looks like everything's decided. Shall we be off?"

There was a loud cry of agreement, and the gathered children headed out to the Star Warrior ship.

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Meta Knight stood silently staring at the navigational instruments of the _Zephyr_ as they sailed to their destination. He was still surprised that a dirigible had the ability to handle interstellar travel, but he had to admit, if anyone was going to find a way to make it work, it was Daroach.

The mouse himself was standing at the controls of the ship. He was very proud of the vehicle and how he handled it, and thus, only he and his Squeaks ever really drove it. On a better day, he might have joked over to the Puffal how he'd been able to keep a hot air balloon in one piece when star ships have the reputation of being blown sky high.

However, today wasn't a better day. As such, both passengers were deadly silent, too concerned about their missing teammates to have any lighthearted joking, or even conversation. Both remained quiet, trying to think of what they were going to have to do to make sure that their friends came out of this situation alive.

It took a good amount of time for them to reach the location specified by their enemy. There were not quite sure what to expect: a jungle? Forest? Desert? What sort of territory would the huntress have lured them to with the intent to trap them?

There was no doubt that this would be a trap. The Collector worked on a principle of hunting, and engaging in fair one-on-one combat was not her style. She'd attempt to trap them in some way. The only question was, how?

When they arrived at their destination, they were surprised to find that it was pretty much just a barren asteroid. There didn't appear to be any flora or fauna anywhere, just empty stretches of rock. Toward the center there was a somewhat suspicious shimmer, though what exactly that was could not come to mind.

"Are you quite certain this is the place we were directed to go to?" Daroach asked once they had landed. "It doesn't seem like quite the place to engage in a hunt."

"Oh, I assure you," a cool voice responded, "this is the place. I know it doesn't look like all too much, but it serves my purposes quite well."

The Star Warriors spun around quickly, withdrawing their weapons as they did so. Sure enough, standing to one side was the Collector, smirking at them.

Meta Knight was not in the mood to trade banter. "Where have you taken our teams?"

"Oh, them, that's right," she said casually, as if her captives had completely slipped her mind. "They're safe now, for the time being. However, its you two I have an interest in."

"You quarrel is with me," the Puffal responded darkly. "Let my team, as well as Daroach's, go, and you and I will finish our dealings."

She gave a shrug at that. "Well, I can't agree with that totally. Sure, I really don't have much of a gripe with mousey here, but as it is, I didn't engage this mission as my own plan. You see, I've gained a few allies myself; you really can't complain. It's just that my employer insisted that I bring the both of you to him, and he wouldn't settle for just one."

Daroach, who had not had all too many dealing with NME since he had regained his memory, was confused by this statement, but Meta Knight got an idea of what was going on immediately. "Quick!" the Puffal shouted out to his friend. "We are too exposed here! We need to-"

Before he could finish what he was saying, hordes of monsters sprang out, catching the duo off guard and pinning them down. They battled hard against the ambush, but ultimately it was too much, and they were forced to drop their weapons. Soon, the two of them were taken captive.

"You have allied yourself with Nightmare!" Meta Knight declared in anger. "How foolish can you be? His deal always come with strings!"

The Collector shrugged. "Oh, I always knew that. The question is, is the reward worth those strings?" She got down and smirked in his face. "For me, it turned out, the answer was yes." She straightened herself and turned to the monsters that held the Star Warriors prisoner. "Take them to Lord Nightmare. He has special treatment planned for the two who slipped through his fingers."

There was a loud sound of laughing and jeering as the beasts dragged their prisoners towards the center of the asteroid. It soon became clear just what that shimmer had been. It was a cloak set up to keep something from prying eyes. In this case, that turned out to be the central palace of NME.

They had walked into the center of enemy territory, and had fallen right into Nightmare's clutches.

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Inside the _Arrow_ , the kids clung for dear life as they hurtled through space.

Getting to the ship itself had been easy enough. It had been left unlocked, and both of the robots were still pretty much out of commission and had been transferred to the palace. Similarly, the kids had enough computer skills between them to figure out how to find and track the _Zephyr_ and get the _Arrow_ started. Driving the ship, however, had been another story entirely.

Through sheer determination and heavy dose of luck, they were able to steer the semi out of control ship to the same asteroid that Meta Knight and Daroach had been lured to. They also succeeded in plowing the ship into the surface of the asteroid, digging out a deep ditch in the process.

By some miracle, no one had been hurt. The same could not be said for the _Rising Arrow._

"Well," Ado murmured once everyone had made it off of the ruins of the ship. "I guess we're not going back home the same way we came."

Dismayed by the crash but relieved that they had arrived at their destination, Kirby began searching around the area. It was pretty barren, so it would not be difficult to find anything that was not dirt or rock. Sure enough, after about a minute of searching, he found what he was looking for.

"Wook!" he shouted out in excitement. "It t'ere! It t'ere!" With that, he took off, racing to where the _Zephyr_ stood, completely isolated in the empty plane.

Since he had started moving first, Kirby reached the ship first. He entered the ship and began searching for any sign of Meta Knight and Daroach.

However, there wasn't anything to be seen that suggested that the Puffal or mouse had ever been there. Indeed, in the dark, Kirby could barely see the floor in front of him. As this was the case, it didn't take too long for his feet to get tangled in something. He then fell over with a startled "Poyo!"

When he succeeded in untangling himself from whatever it was, he could see that it was the strap of a brown bag that had be cast aside. Curiosity fill the little one, and he opened the sack and found the most beautiful piece of fruit he had ever seen.

It had a golden rind wrapped around a thin, translucent blue skin, which itself covered a bright red pip. Kirby had never seen a fruit like this before. He had to taste it. Quickly, he popped it in his mouth.

Much to his delight, it tasted just as good as it looked. It was like tomatoes, and strawberry shortcake, and Pep Berries, and watermelon, all rolled into one. He would have like to eat a dozen more of them. Much to his disappointment, however, there was none in the bag. That had been the only one.

He was shaken out of his disappointment when he heard voices coming up to the ship.

"Kirby! Kirby, are you in here?" It was Ribbon who had called out.

Forgetting his disappointment the lack of more fruit, Kirby ran out. "Kaabii hewe!" he responded.

By then, the rest of the children had gathered in the ship and were exploring what was left. Unlike the other times before, there was no sign of any struggle. Everything was just sitting as if it had been left there intentionally with the intent of returning to retrieve it. Still, there was a dark sense in the atmosphere.

"This just doesn't make sense," Tiff murmured as she examined the contents of the ship. "The collector goes out of her way to lure Sir Meta Knight and Sir Daroach out here, but this place doesn't match her past hunting grounds. You'd think an area like this would be the last place she'd want to hunt."

"Maybe's she trying for a sense of difference," Adeliene commented, trying to be helpful. "After all, you can hunt in the desert, too, can't you."

"Yeah, but even a desert's not gonna be this empty," Tuff responded. "It don't think there's anything out here for miles, living or not."

Suddenly, there was a loud commotion coming from outside the ship. Several of the Puffalings had opted not to go into the darkened cockpit and had been instead exploring the area outside of it. Apparently, their search had not been in vain.

When the older children rushed outside to see what was going on, they saw that the babies had gathered around each other. Sammy was clutching something red that was bigger than he was. Seeing that they were heard, he then ran up to Kirby and handed him what he had found.

"Poyo, t'at D'woach's hat!" Kirby cried in alarm. "Saami, whe'e d'ya fin' t'is?"

As usual, Sammy didn't respond with words, but instead pointed off in another direction before running that way, followed closely by the other Puffalings. Seeing his response, the rest of the rescue party took off after them, eager to see what had been discovered.

The babies ran a distance off before they came to an area near the shimmer before they paused and began jumping up and down, motioning that this was the place where the hat had been discovered. They eagerly began dancing around the spot, calling out loudly to be heard.

"This is the place?" Ado asked as the group came together over the spot. "But there's nothing here."

Sure enough, it appeared that she was right. This area was just as barren as the others, without any oddity that might suggest that there was anything to look for.

In frustration, Toby began to shout. "Poyo poyu p'poyo!" he called out. "Poyah p'yu!" With one last exclamation of frustration he stamped several paces back. And completely vanished.

The others responded with shock and horror. The little yellow baby had completely vanished, without any sign of him remaining. In a burst of protective big brotherhood, Kirby raced forwards, lunging to where his little brother disappeared in an attempt to rescue him.

However, as soon as he had passed the same invisible barrier that his brother had, he could see there was no need. Toby was standing there, completely unharmed and staring up in shock at something.

Kirby opened his mouth to scold the yellow baby for frightening them like that, but as soon as he saw what his brother was looking at, he too could only stare in surprise.

"Kirby, what's going on?" Lalala asked as the others passed over the invisible threshold. However, unlike the others, she wasn't quite so speechless. "What the heck is that?!" she asked in alarm.

As soon as they had passed the strange shimmer, the realized that they had stepped past some sort of cloaking system. It had been set up to keep prying eyes away, so that those who were near wouldn't see the huge, terrible castle that dominated the landscape.

"I-is that what I think it is?" Adeleine asked nervously as she saw the terrible castle.

"I think so," Tuff said. He was nervous, too, but less so. It was clear what they were going to have to do. "If we're going to get them out, we're gonna be heading right into the Nightmare Empire."

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Getting in turned out to be easier than they had supposed it was going to be. The entrances of the dark palace was less guarded than they had supposed it was going to be. Only a few monsters were stationed around as guards, and those who were seemed to be upset that they had been left out of something. That didn't seem to bode well.

At the very least, though, the children were able to move through the hall undisturbed. Well, uninterrupted, that is. The castle of Nightmare himself can only be described as disturbing.

Swallowing her nervousness, Tiff leaned around the corner of a hallway and examined the area. "They've got to be around here somewhere," she muttered quietly. She tried not to look or sound frightened, but she had the metal claws of her gauntlets fully exposed and ready. "There's nowhere else for them to be taken."

As they moved down in single file, Charlie noticed something off about one of the doors in the hallway. It was ajar, and a weird light streaming out of it. The thought that he should tell the others hadn't come in to the little one's head yet. Instead, he chose to run off on his own to the strange door and pushed it open. When he saw what was contained within, however, the idea of calling out finally came to him, and he rushed to tell the others.

"Poyo poy!" he called out as loudly as he dared. "Poyo poy poyah poy poyu!"

Ribbon, who had been bring up the rear, was the first to hear his call. "Hey," she called out to the other children. "Charlie found an unlocked room, and it looks like he's found something."

"Poyu!" the purple baby called out in delight, pleased that he had been understood.

As quickly as they could, the children rushed out to see what the little one had discovered. They soon found that what was hidden in the room was both the Squeaks and all of Meta Knight's students!

"It's them!" Tuff called out as he rushed into the room. "Hey! Sword, Blade! C'mon guys, we gotta get out of here!" Despite his attempts at trying to get them to respond, the prisoners simply remained where they were, still as statues.

"Wait a minute," Ribbon said as she flew over the room to get a better view. "I don't think they can hear us. They're definitely alive, but it's like they've been paralyzed by something."

"Pawa-poyo?" Kirby asked, a little confused by the word.

"Paralyzed means that something has happened to them that makes it so that they can't move, and maybe even see or hear us," Lalala explained. "It would make sense that the Collector would use something to keep them like this."

"Like living trophies," her brother added with a shudder. "It's kinda creepy."

After searching for a minute, Ado called out. "I think I found it," the artist informed the others. "It's kind of a transmitter thingy. Here, I'll see if I can't turn it off." She reached out and pulled a long lever at the top of the transmitter.

That seemed to do the trick. As soon as she had pulled the lever, the prisoners dropped from the positions they had been unnaturally kept in since their imprisonment.

"Oh, my achin' head," Spinni groaned. "Anyone get the license of the ship that hit us?"

"Must've been one big ship," Mace commented, giving a weak chuckled. "It hit us, too."

"Are you guys okay?" Tiff asked, stepping up to help the former prisoners to their feet.

"Been better," Joe responded, placing a hand against his head. "Nothing we can't recover from, though."

"Uh, guys?" Sailor Dee asked in a quiet tone of voice. "Does anyone have any idea where we are, or how we got here?"

"All I know is that some weird hunter woman got on-board the _Zephyr_ and ambushed us," Doc answered. "We didn't even have the chance to really figure out what was going on, and then we were just here."

"Same with us," Sword added, "though at least we had met the Collector before. She caught us completely off guard."

"Well, I'm afraid we have bad news," Adeleine said once everyone had gathered. "We're not completely certain, but we think we're in the heart of NME."

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Ax spoke up. "NME? If we're there, then why are we still alive? I would have thought that Nightmare would have offed us first chance he got."

"We could have though that too," Tuff responded, "except that the Collector, and probably Nightmare by connection, used you guys as bait to catch Sir Meta Knight and Sir Daroach."

"What!" The cry had come from Silica, but the atmosphere made it clear that the attitude was shared with the rest of the ex-captives. "Sir Meta Knight and Sir Daroach are here? Where are they?"

"I'm afraid that's what we don't know," Tiff responded. "They came here using the _Zephyr_ , and we followed behind in the _Arrow_. By the time we caught up, though, the attack had already gone down. We don't know where they are or what has happened to them."

"Well, we don't have long to wait, then, do we?" Storo asked. "We have to figure out where this Nightmare jerk's got the boss and Sir Meta Knight, and get 'em back!"

"Couldn't agree more myself," Sword agreed, drawing his Zweihander as he spoke. "Here, we'll help you Puffals find abilities to use, and then we charge out. One thing's for certain: whatever else happens today, Nightmare will learn you can't mess with Star Warriors and not expect a fight."

The others let out a cheer of approval, and without another word, the group raced out, eager to save their friends and leaders from what was most definitely going to be a terrible fate.

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Things were indeed looking incredibly bleak for the two Star Warriors. Nearly as soon as they had been taken captive, they had been brought right to Nightmare himself. It had looked as if their lives were going to end then and there, and had Nightmare merely seen them as enemy soldiers, they would have.

At this time, however, it was clear that Nightmare was feeling rather theatrical. The two were now bound back to back and where hanging over what appeared to be a cauldron of boiling metal. It was clear that Nightmare wanted to enjoy their deaths, and was drawing things out as long as he could.

Furthermore, what they saw only assured Meta Knight that every dread he had before was true. Among the assembled monsters and creatures was not only the Collector, who they had already had assurance was now working for Nightmare, but also Drawcia, Paintra, and Zero, with his Dark Matter in tow. Nightmare wasn't only focused on petty squabbles right now. He was building an army, and the knight wasn't sure it was an army they were ready to face yet.

"What you see here," Nightmare called out to the hordes now assembled, "is the two pathetic creatures who dared to brag that they had escaped the wrath of Nightmare!"

There was a loud call of jeers and boos. It was very clear whose side the crowd was on.

"Even as their fellows died from the extinguishing, these two fled like the cowards they were, escaping with their lives, to the mockery of my great power!"

Another round of booing and hissing came from the assembled creatures, along with several names that are not fit to be printed here.

Nightmare held up his hands to call for silence. "Their flight, however, could not last! Now, as you see, they have been captured!" Cheering erupted. This time, Nightmare didn't bother quieting the horde before going on. "They now will join their fellows in arms in the embrace of death! The sounds of their death cries will ring through the air, announcing that the time of the Nightmare Empire is at hand!"

"If he plans to kill us," Daroach muttered under his breath, "I wish he would just get on and kill us. I don't know how much more of this monologing I can take."

Despite the severity of their situation, Meta Knight couldn't help but chuckle a little at the comment. Leave it to Daroach to find humor even in a death trap.

"Now, their time is finally at an end!" the warlock continued. "With the deaths of these two, the hated Forces will finally be wiped out, and the Guardian will be left without his protector! We shall be victorious!"

There was a loud call of cheering. As they now looked death in the face, Daroach leaned back as far as the chains would allow. "Well, it looks like our curtain call has come. I just have to say, its been an honor serving with you."

"As it has for me." The Puffal closed his eyes and prepared for death. All he could think of now was how he was going to die without fulfilling his mission. He only prayed that someone would carry on his work with Kirby, and that the little one would be ready for his battle when it came to it.

A hush fell over the crowd as the chain was released and the two warriors were left to fall to their deaths. All waited for the final moment to come when they would land and the duo would be burnt to death.

That time never came. At the last minute, two sets of grapplers shot from out of nowhere, grasping hard at the chains that bound the duo together. Once the grapplers had made contact, there was a sharp upward tug, and the duo was pulled up to a ledge on the other side of the room.

Standing there was the gathered group of the Star Warriors' allies. "Didn't think we'd let you two go that easily, did ya?" Spinni asked as she and Silica reeled in the grappling lines they had shot out.

"You did marvelously," Daroach congratulated as Laser Mikey cut him and Meta Knight loose. "Though you were cutting it a bit fine. A few moments earlier couldn't have hurt."

Any further speech was cut short as Nightmare recovered from the shock of the unexpected rescue. "There are intruders!" he shouted to the surrounding hordes. "Get them now! Kill them! Kill them all!"

"I would say that's our cue to be getting out of here," Joe commented.

"Don't need to tell us that twice," Sword responded.

As fast as they could, the group raced as fast as they could out of the terrible place. Despite the best attempts of the warriors to shield the younger members from the brunt of the fighting, everyone needed to fight for their lives as the worked their way out of the evil stronghold. Even as all knocked their opponents down, more sprang up, and the fighting began to feel futile.

"How many of these guys are there?" Tuff called out as he reached out to catch the Flight Star.

"No one really knows," Blade responded. "It always seems that they can crawl out of any crack in the ground. We won't be able to defeat them all here. The best we can hope for is to make it to the ships, and then regroup back in Dreamland!"

The fight was hot and seemed to take a long time, but despite the intensity, they were able to make it out together. As they raced out of the castle, they were pursued by wave after wave of monsters.

"There! The _Zephyr_ is over there!" Meta Knight called out. This pause almost cost him, since it gave a particularly swift monster an opening. However, Sword Kirby quickly cut it down before helping his teacher make it to the zeppelin.

Once on board, they all worked quickly to pull up and lock the doors. "Alright, everyone, work quickly!" Daroach shouted out, taking up the role as captain. "We need to get this ship airborne as quickly as possible."

Everyone moved as fast as they could, doing their best to keep themselves out of the hands of their enemies. They were working well, moving quickly to raise the ship. However, they soon found that the foe had one more plan of attack.

As they moved to steer the ship away from the awful meteor, they saw a huge, shadowy ball arising from the castle. It rose up from the castle at first, before taking off in the direction of the _Zephyr_.

"Eww, what is that thing?" Ribbon asked as she watched from the window.

Hearing her question, Meta Knight went over to the window to see what was happening. When he saw it, however, he jumped back in shock and horror. "Hurry!" he called out to those piloting the zeppelin. "We must leave here, now!"

"What's wrong?" Daroach asked. However, when he, too, saw the ball, the blood drained from his face. "No."

"We are being pursued by Nightmare himself," Meta Knight responded, giving answer to the question.

To be continued…


	58. Donec Tenebras Perit, Part Three

The sudden revelation of the identity of the ball struck everyone present. Without any word of argument, those who knew how to fly a ship began working feverishly to get moving and get ahead. Those who could not help in the area of flying gathered together, with the older ones doing the best they could to keep the littler children calm and quiet.

This was not an easy feat. They were being pursued by the very terror who had been the cause of all the recent misery. Kirby alone of the young Puffals sat calmly by the window.

As he stared out, a firmness of mind came to him. He had met Nightmare before. Many times in his infancy had the little pink Puffal come face to face with the warlock, and each time he had a distinct terror. This time it wasn't there.

This was not to say that he wasn't afraid. That would just be stupidity, not courage. No, he was afraid, but he was also determined. He would face Nightmare today, and one of them would rise. He was certain of this.

His calm, however, was not shared by the other occupants of the ship.

"It's gaining on us!" Sailor Dee called out, his voice high with panic. "We gotta get this thing moving faster!"

"I'm giving it all it's got!" Spinni called back. "This ship wasn't made for high-speed chases!"

"Doc!" Daroach shouted from the wheel. "You and Storo man the weapons. See if you can't buy us a bit of time."

"Yes, sir!" the elderly mouse called back as he and the huge teen took to the weapons systems.

"Silica, you join them!" Meta Knight shouted. "We won't be able to shoot him down, but perhaps some fire power might slow him down enough to allow us to get ahead!"

"On it!" she called back. She was also joined by Bomb Charlie, Laser Mikey, and Arrow Sammy.

They put up a valiant resistance, but ultimately it just wasn't enough. Nightmare was enraged by this escape, even more that he usually was, and was determined to destroy the occupants of the zeppelin. The laser fire and projectiles launched out at the warlock did cause somewhat of a stumbling block, but it didn't do enough to actually do anything to stop him for any substantial amount of time.

Despite the troubles, however, they were able to keep up long enough to make it back to Pop Star. The yellow star-shaped planet was looming close at hand, giving hope to the occupants that their flight had not been in vain. Of course, they would not attempt to land until they were successful in shaking Nightmare, but once that was done, they'd be home-free.

Or, at least they would have been, if Nightmare did not succeed in landing a hit of his own that practically ripped the balloon in two.

"We've been hit!" Ax called out from he had been manning some of the controls. "We're heading towards the planet, and there's nothing we can do to stop it!"

"Brace yourselves!" Meta Knight called out. "We're going to crash!"

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In Cappy Town, things had been comparatively peaceful for the evening. The Cappies and Waddle Dees merely went about their business, completely oblivious to the danger that some of their neighbors were currently in.

Indeed, the only people who seemed to have any amount of excitement that evening was the Ebrum parents, who were trying to figure out where their children had gotten off to. "I do say," Sir Ebrum murmured as he and his wife came in from asking around the village, "this really is a difficult turn of events. Tiff and Tuff have gone off often enough, but they've never been gone this long."

"Perhaps they are with Sir Meta Knight," Lady Like ventured. "He always seems to know what is going on when no one else does."

"I suppose you're right," her husband responded, touching a hand to his chin, "but now that you mention it, I don't believe I've seen him or Kirby around here today either."

At that moment, Dedede, who had been fully enjoying a Kirby free evening, came strutting into the main lobby of the palace. See him, Sir Ebrum waved over to him. "Sire," the Dreamlander man called out, "you haven't seen where Tiff or Tuff have gotten off to? Or perhaps Sir Meta Knight or Kirby?"

"Nope, I haven't seen any of those troublemakers all day!" The Pengu smiled broadly to himself. "Nope, nobody to say 'Don't do that, sire, you'll break something,' or 'Please stop eating like that; it's revolting,' or 'Poyo, poyo, look at me! I'm a stupid ol' Kirby, but everyone loves me for some mysterious reason, poyo.' Nope, no sign of those stupid fluff-balls anywhere."

"Now that you mention it," Bandana Dee said as he trailed behind Dedede, "I haven't seen them anywhere either. You don't think they're hurt, do you?"

Before anyone could answer, there was a loud crack, almost like thunder. Everyone, not only in the palace, but in the entire village, rushed to go see what could have made such a tremendous sound. When they looked out, they could see something moving fast and glowing bright, like it was on fire. However, it didn't look like a shooting star. It looked just like a ship.

Just about everyone in the town saw the flaming shape fall, and this was enough to get the usually rather oblivious Cappies to rush out of their homes to go see what was going on. Running, they reached the area of the field where the shape had landed, and found the ruins of what had been the _Zephyr_ lying in the middle of the field.

By some miracle, all who had been within were still alive. However, they were only just able to make it out of the crash alive. Only Meta Knight and Kirby were both awake and in the state to fight.

This proved to be bad news, since they were not the only ones to crash down near the village. The flaming zeppelin had been more easily noticed, since the bright glow had announced their arrival in no uncertain terms. The huge black ball that was pursuing them, however, crashed down near invisibly.

Once it had hit, however, things became very noticeable. Now on the surface of Pop Star, the black orb uncoiled itself to reveal Nightmare. The warlock gave a cry of rage as he unveiled himself, growing to the largest size possible. As the inhabitants of Cappy Town watched in horror, he lunged out and snatched up the two inhaler Puffals in each hand.

"You have been thorns in my side for far too long!" he bellowed angrily as he grabbed the two. "Ever since I first revealed myself, you and your family have been constantly frustrating me, no matter which way I turn! You are the reasons I was imprisoned for so long! You are the reasons that my empire does not extend over the whole universe! I have you now, and I will finally be rid of your meddling for good!" He prepared to tighten his grip in an attempt to kill the two Puffals. "Tonight, you pests will **die**!"

Before he could cast the finishing blows, however, something happened that surprised him. It surprised him enough that he briefly dropped his prey. He was hit by a rock.

"Hey, you!" a voice called out, and everyone turned to see, to their surprise, that of all people to have spoken, it was Dedede who piped up. Ignoring the looks of shock and confusion, the Pengu went on. "Yeah, you! Who do you think you are? Only _I'm_ allowed ta clobbah that there Kirby!"

Nightmare turned on his newfound opponent with a snarl. "Insignificant mortal! You dare to challenge an Ancient! Do you not know who I am!?"

"Apparently you don't know who I am," Dedede snapped back. "I'm King Dedede, the ruler of Dreamland, and while we're here, what I say goes. Bandana Dee, give the signal."

Bandana, who had been standing next to Dedede, looked up as boldly as he could. He was scared to death, but he had to do something. "Spear Dees," he called out to the spear wielding Waddle Dees, "attack!"

The Waddle Dees let out a barrage of spears and the occasional arrow on Nightmare. This attack did not do much, but it did embolden the defenders. Seeing the Waddle Dees leading the attack, the Cappy villages took heart as well and began attacking the warlock with stones, tools, books, or whatever else they had on hand.

"Go away you nasty thing!"

"Yeah, this is our village!"

"We won't just sit and let you kill those Puffals!"

This attack was so bold and so futile that initially, Nightmare had no idea how to respond. He got over it ,though, and tossing the Puffals aside, he turned to the new attackers.

 **"** **You pathetic creatures dare to defy me!"** he bellowed out in rage. **"You dare to side with these wretched pests and attempt to fight me! Me, who had immense powers before your pitiful race even was! I will destroy this whole planet that dares to shelter my enemies, starting with this inconsequential village!"**

The warlock then raised his hands, and with a swift moment every building in Cappy Town, the palace included, was lifted off of their foundations and crumbled into rubble. He then tossed the refuse everywhere. The would-be defenders were forced to dash for cover as bits and pieces of their homes and businesses were showered everywhere. By some miracle, no one was killed, but several were severely injured.

 **"** **Now you all die!"** With these words, Nightmare caused a huge black sword to appear out of nowhere and raising it above his head, he stuck out, intending to use the ensuing blast to wipe all life out from the little town.

The blow never landed. For some reason, when the blade had nearly struck the ground, something had stepped in the way and stopped it. All strained to look forwards and see what it was that had saved their lives.

It was Kirby. The tot was standing at his full eight inches, holding up a single paw to block the path of the killing blow. Furthermore, there wasn't a mark on the little one.

 **"** **No!"** he bellowed as loudly as he could. **"T'is Kaabii's home! Nightmewe not 'lowed ta hu't Kaabii's fwiends. Kaabii stop yew now!"**

As he spoke, those nearest to him could see a change come over him. In his blue eyes, a little star appeared in each. These stars, though they started off a shade of blue only a little darker that his natural blue, soon began to flash in different colors. Yellow, pink, blue, and purple all flashed quickly, and the colors spread. Before their very eyes, Kirby's whole body began flashing.

In an instant, the Warp Star flew out of nowhere, scooping the young Puffal up and carrying him around the huge figure of Nightmare. The warlock, just as confused by the sudden change, snapped out of his shock for a moment in an attempt to figure out a way to fight against the young Puffal. However, little Kirby had become too powerful now. No matter where or how Nightmare attempted to fight against the young Puffal, Kirby was no longer there. He had moved quickly over to another section and launched a barrage of unusually powerful kicks and punches.

By now, most of those who had been in the crash were awake, though they were in no shape to help. "What's going on?" Tiff asked in confusion. "I've never seen Kirby this powerful before!"

There was no answer at first, as they could only watch the fight of the behemoths going on in front of them, but eventually Daroach spoke up. "When you came to find us," he asked, "did Kirby eat anything from the ship?"

"I don't know?" Ribbon responded. "He might have! He got there before us! Why?"

"I had a Miracle Fruit on board my ship at the time." the mouse explained.

"A miracle what?" Tuff asked.

"A Miracle Fruit!" the mouse shouted in answer. "It is a fruit of legends that is said to give he who eats it an intense increase in his power. In all the chaos of the Collector, I had completely forgotten that I had it. If young Kirby had eaten it, then it might explain his current power levels!"

As they had been speaking, the fight had been raging on, growing ever fierce and hot. Until that moment, Kirby had been restraining his fighting to kicks and punches. He now decided that it was time to unleash his most intense attack.

He stood completely still for a moment, before opening up his mouth and beginning an inhale. What an inhale it was. With the most powerful burst possible, Kirby began inhaling everything around him. Rubble, small and medium trees, and even some turf was ripped up and swallowed. Those living things about him had to grip onto larger trees to keep from getting pulled in, and even Nightmare found himself pulled towards the youngster's mouth.

"Hold tight!" Meta Knight called out and he held several of the baby Puffals close. "He's going hypernova!"

Unlike any time before, Kirby did not become tired after a few moments of inhaling. Instead, he went on for what seemed like an eternity, drawing in large amounts of air and debris, as if he had become some sort of vortex, indiscriminately drawing everything in.

That was not the case, however. Kirby knew exactly what he was doing. He was looking for something.

He soon found it. Though everyone around had found a place of shelter to keep from getting pulled in, this was not the case for everything. During the vortex, Blade's large Broadsword was pulled loose from its scabbard and was drawn right into Kirby's mouth. Once it was in, Kirby stopped inhaling and copied.

Now that the vortex had stopped, everyone looked up to see what was going on. They did not expect what they saw.

Kirby was standing there, and at first it looked like he had only received his normal sword ability. His ordinary green hat with yellow lining was on his head, and there was a little short sword in one paw.

Then things started to change. First, the little yellow pom-pom on the end changed into a bright golden star, and a star appeared in the front to match. The hat then lengthened out until it was about twice as long as it had been. While it was growing, two swirled crystals appeared on either side of his head, and out of these grew three bright crystals each.

Along with the changes on his hat, his sword changed, too. It grew, becoming broader and longer, and a bright Star Warrior emblem appeared on the hilt. It continued growing out, as well, until it became incredibly clear this was a weapon that was now more than a match for Nightmare's own sword; an Ultra Sword.

When the changes were complete, Kirby turned to his opponent, a frown of determination clear on his face. "Nightmewe!" the child hero called out. "Kaabii stop yew now!"

The warlock scowled when he heard this, finally able to pull himself out of his surprise. "So it is to be a duel? You have learned well from your master." Nightmare quickly picked up his own foul blade and pointed it at Kirby. "Shame it will save neither you nor him"

With that, bright blade struck dark in a major clash. Despite the size differences between the opponents, this was clearly a clash of the titans. For a good while, there didn't appear to be anyone who had the distinct advantage. What Nightmare had in his own wicked magic, Kirby more than matched in raw, sheer power. Before long, the fight took to the skies, with the menace flying up into the clouds, followed closely by the hero on his Warp Star.

From there, no one could see the ensuing battle. The only signs of it was the bright flashes and the sounds of clashing, like thunder and lightning that came from the clouds. Despite the lack if visuals, everyone stood where they were and watched, breathe caught in their throats as the fight went on. It was all they could do.

Then it became clear that the battle was drawing to a close. There was a tremendous crash that came from the cloud formations, accompanied by the brightest light yet, and soon the area was rained down on by dark shards that evaporated before they hit the ground. This was followed by the huge shape of Nightmare as he plummeted to the surface. There was huge slash running down his side, and a dark substance was coming from the cut like blood.

Kirby followed closely, still firmly standing on his Warp Star. He held his great blade easily in one paw, which he directed at Nightmare as he came. "Sw'endah!" he called out to his enemy. "T'is is ovah! Yew stop now!"

Nightmare scowled, but it was clear now that he could not face the little Puffal, especially with the wound that he had received during the fight. The villain now had only two options: stay, fight, and be assured that everything would end now and he'd return to the Tartarus Dimension, or flee and face the Guardian on another day.

He chose the latter.

"You're right for now, Guardian," he sneered. "It is over, for now. But I'll be back. You can't defend them forever." With that, he disappeared into thin air and was gone.

The battle now won, Kirby hovered closely to the ground and stepped off of his Warp Star. He looked around to make certain that this wasn't some sort of trick and that Nightmare wasn't just going to reappear elsewhere. When it became clear that, yes, his enemy was gone, the little one relaxed.

It was now that the full force of what he had just done hit him. He wasn't too badly hurt, just a little bruised and scratched. However, he was tired. That had taken a lot of energy, and more than the little one was used to exerting. Thus, now freed from the need to defend those around him, he lost consciousness and drifted off into a peaceful sleep right then and there.

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This sleep was not like any other sleep he had before. Once he had drifted off, he found himself standing in some sort of empty space, floating out all on his own. He looked around, but there was no one else around. Not a first, at least.

As he continued to look, he soon heard a voice calling out to him. "Guardian Kirby! Arise and take on your mantle!"

Hearing the voice, Kirby spun around, looking for who had addressed him. "Who t'ewe?" he asked, though his answer came as soon as he asked it.

Standing before him was a multitude of creatures, all bright and shining like nothing Kirby had ever seen before. People of all shapes and sizes were there, and they were all focused on the little one. Indeed, he might have felt intimidated by their very presence, if it hadn't been for the strong sense of kinship he felt for them.

As he looked out into the crowd, he realized there was one figure he did recognized. "Hey!" he called out in delight when he spied her. "Yew Qwee' Stewawa!"

The feathered fairy lady laughed. "Indeed I am, Sir Kirby," Stellara said, speaking up since it was clear that she was the one who the little Puffal was most comfortable talking to. "As you have been told, you and I hold a kinship, as do all the people in this room. We all hold the connection of the title of Guardian."

"G'adi'an?" Kirby repeated, slightly confused about the title. He had heard it before, mostly from Nightmare, but he had never understood it.

"Indeed, young one," a huge, fiery individual said, and Kirby realized that this was the person who had originally called out to him. "The title of Guardian is an old and glorious one, but it is not an easy one to bear. My name is Photron, of the Fire People. You already know Stellara of the Fairies. We both belong to the order of the Guardians, just as you do."

Kirby looked up at the huge individuals talking to him and rubbed his head. "Wha' a g'adi'an?" he asked.

"The full story is long and cannot be explained here, though it will be explained to you," Stellara answered. "For now, what you can know is that your role is vital to the protection of the universe."

"All t'e yoo-ni-vas?" the little one said with an amount of amazement.

Photron nodded. "Indeed. There are powerful evils in this world, child, and they wish to subdue and destroy all around them. When one of these powers arises, they come and put in danger all around them, starting wars and turning neighbors against each other."

As he heard the explanation, Kirby's face turned dark. "Nightmewe," he said in a low voice.

"Exactly," Stellara responded. "Nightmare is the great evil of your time, just as Zero was the great evil of mine. However, once they begin to cause problems, there starts a chain of events to bring us to stop them. You have recently seen your own birth, have you not?"

Kirby looked up, surprised by the lady's knowledge of his history. He nodded quickly in response, and the fairy queen went on.

"Did you wonder why he began panicking a few moments after you hatched? It was because you were not born looking the way you are."

"Wha' yew mean?" the little one asked, looking down at himself. "Kaabii a'ways a Puffa'."

"Yes, young one," Photron put in, "but haven't you ever wondered why you have never seen, or even heard of, another pink Puffal?"

Kirby thought for a moment. He had never thought about it before, but both in his brief time with the Star Warriors and when the Star Jumpers had come to Ripple Star, there hadn't been any pink Puffals among them, though there were lots of multiples of other colors. Indeed, he was only pink Puffal around anywhere.

"This is what marks you as set aside," Stellara explained. "Just as my wings set me aside from other fairies, and the sheer amount of his flame sets Photron aside from other Fire People. We are marked as the ones to protect the universe from these great evils."

"Now, this is not a role you are forced to undertake," the fire king added. "No heroic act can be forced. When the time comes for one to discover their nature as a Guardian, they have the choice to accept their role or deny it. Now, Kirby of the Puffals, what do you chose?"

Kirby looked up at the multitude of people surrounding it, and there was a conflict of feeling inside him. He wasn't sure how he felt, finding out that he had been born to be a protector of the universe. Such pressure was great, and it seemed to the little one to be too easy to turn away from that responsibility, to leave the defeat of Nightmare to another.

Then he remembered what Nightmare had intended to do to Cappy Town. He realized that if he refused this mission, then his home, and millions of places like that, would have to suffer under Nightmare until another hero arose. Such suffering and pain could not be allowed to occur.

He looked up at Photron and Stellara and spoke in a clear voice. "Kaabii cho' ta be G'adi'an." When he said this, his own body began to give off the intense glow that the others already had.

The two smiled at his response. "Do not be afraid, Kirby of the Star Warriors," Stellara said in a clear voice. "Though the road ahead is long, and the burden is yours to bear, you will not bear it alone. Know your friends and keep them close. They will be the key to your strength."

"When you awaken," Photron said as he straightened up, "speak with Kabu. He is one sent to aid the Guardian, and he will explain what is happening in further depth to you and your allies."

Once this was said, all the Guardians reach out towards their newest member and spoke in unison. "Arise, Kirby of the Stars!"

To be continued…


	59. Et ad Lumen, Nunquam Evanesce

With the battle between Kirby and Nightmare now finished, the people who had been observing the battle streamed out of their hiding places in droves. There was a general consensus of panic and confusion, and the people had absolutely no idea what to do. It seemed as if there was nothing to do.

Meta Knight had an idea, though. Once the dust had settled, he hurried over to Kirby's side to make sure the child was alright. Much to his relief, he found that Kirby was not badly hurt, and had only endured a few scratches and bruises. He was, however, in a deep sleep, and the warrior doubted he would be able wake him.

As he was tending to the child, the Ebrum parents came up to him. "Is there anything we can do?" Sir Ebrum asked, speaking in a tone of seriousness that would have surprised most people.

Not Meta Knight, though. "Tend to the people of Cappy Town," the Star Warrior replied calmly. "If possible, see if you can get word out to your people about what has happened. This event will cause attention, and we must keep the location safe at all costs." The two Dreamlanders nodded before heading off.

As he had been speaking to them, Daroach, leaning heavily on his cane, limped over to the Puffal. "Well, that was some sort of adventure. I know you told me this boy was special, but I had no idea this is what you meant."

"Neither did I," the knight replied calmly as he wrapped Kirby in his cape and picked him up. "I have never sensed this sort of power in him before, and I'm not quite sure what is going on. I do, however, think I know who does understand all this?"

"Really?" the mouse asked in genuine curiosity. "And who would this be?"

Meta Knight's response was prompt. "Kabu. I have always sensed he knew more about young Kirby than he was letting on. I intend to question him more about the recent occurrences."

The duo headed out with the unconscious child, intending to slip off without anyone following them, but this turned out to be unsuccessful. As they moved closer to the canyon, it became clearer and clearer that someone was following them.

Quickly, Meta Knight spun around, withdrawing Galaxia as he did so. "Who is there? Show yourselves."

The followers, realizing they had been discovered, chose to hide themselves no longer. "Hey, you didn't think you'd be able to leave without us?" Tuff asked, tossing the Flight Star in one hand as he, the rest of the kids, and each of the Star Warriors' followers revealed themselves.

"Yeah!" Ribbon added. "Kirby's our friend, too, and we want to figure out how we can help him."

"What happened was not something you just accept and walk away from," Joe commented. "We're figuring out what's going on, one way or another."

There was a chorus of Poyos as the Puffalings called out in agreement.

The youngsters waited to see what would happened. Meta Knight sighed and slipped Galaxia back in its sheath. "I should have suspected. It seems there's no keeping you out of any area of this mystery, is there. Well, if you are going to come, then come, but understand what we will find out may very well play a role in Kirby's safety. Be prepared that what you will hear will not be shared with anyone."

The people around all agreed. Now that everyone was on the same page, they headed into Kabu's Canyon, eager to receive answers.

When they reached the main area of the Canyon, it was clear that they were expected. "Welcome, allies of the Guardian," Kabu thundered out. "Why have you come to consult me?"

Meta Knight stepped forward, laying the still sleeping Kirby nearby. "We come bearing news," the warrior spoke up. "Just recently we were attacked-"

"I know all about this," Kabu said, cutting him off. "The Distort Nightmare chose to make his first move against us, and in doing so, signed his own fate."

All stood in confusion. Kabu was using a lot of terms that they could not understand. Guardian? Distort? What were those? How did he know what was going on?

Once again, Meta Knight stepped up to ask what they were all thinking. "I'm afraid we do not understand what you mean," the Puffal called out. "How can you know what has happened, and how are the fates of Kirby and Nightmare connected?"

"It is a long and ancient tale," was the answer, "but it is one that I will tell you, as soon as he who it most involves wakes up. This appears to be now."

Sure enough, once he had spoken, Kirby began to stir. The little one reached up and rubbed his eyes, which upon looking closer, still had the little stars in them, though now they were blue. "Whe'e Kaabii?" he asked in a dozy voice.

Then he looked up and realized that he was in Kabu's presence. Remembering the words of the Guardians of old, Kirby stood up excitedly. "Kabu!" he shouted out. "Kaabii go'ta talk ta ya! Stewawa an' Photwon say ta talk ta ya!"

"Yes, young Guardian," Kabu said calmly. "Now that you have accepted the burden given to you, I shall assist you in any way you require."

"Hold on," Meta Knight called out, stepping next to the toddler. "Accept his burden? What are you talking about?"

"That is the ancient tale that I was talking about," Kabu said calmly. "This story is older than you or I, or most anyone that is alive today, and little Kirby's fate in intricately tied into it. To know what is going on, you will need to know where it all began."

As he spoke, the environment changed so that everyone around could see what was being described. "When the universe was first created, the firstborns of the sapient people were those known as the Ancients. Beings of great power, these immortals were born without a world, because they were to protect and defend all worlds. They were charged to handle a specific problem that the worlds of weaker creatures would face, and help these worlds flourish.

"Many of these creatures were content with the jobs that had been assigned to them. They went about their lives, assisting the worlds in their growth and development, helping their people learn how to care for themselves and others, and protecting them from outside dangers that they could not handle."

Here, Kirby interrupted, watching the images in fascination as he spoke. "Kabu an an-cent?" he asked curiously.

"No," Kabu laughed as he answered. "I am not an Ancient. I am old, but I am not from the birth of the universe. You will hear my role later.

"Not everyone was content with the role assigned to them," he continued, turning back to the story. "Many of these creatures resented their jobs as protectors and teachers. They thought they would be suited much more to be rulers, and sought to control the creatures that were weaker than themselves. The places they attempted to conquer became places of terror and, soon, of death.

"It wasn't long before those Ancients who had stayed faithful to their mission realized that they had to do something about those who had turned to domination, and a great war was fought. This war went on for eons, but eventually, the faithful Ancients were able to banish the treacherous ones, who were now known as Distorts, for they had distorted and misused their power. The place of their banishment was called the Tartarus Dimension.

"This Dimension was an effective prison, but it did have one defect. Every couple of lifetimes, a Distort would be able to escape at full power. This first happened after the time of the Ancients, when they had retired to a new home for their work was finished. Every time a Distort escapes, they are able to throw the areas they take over into panic and chaos, and it will seem that there is nothing to be done against them."

"That would be Nightmare, I presume," Meta Knight put in.

"Indeed," Kabu answered. "His escape from the Tartarus Dimension coincided not long before the laying of your egg, young warrior. As you can see, he has succeeded in his mission of disturbance, even enslaving another Distort to his plans, and it was only because of the struggle of the Star Warriors that he was held back this long. Even this struggle, however, would have been futile, if it weren't for the Guardians."

"I have heard that word repeated, and I have yet heard any answer as to what that is," the blue Puffal said. "What is a Guardian, and why is there such an importance to them?"

Once again, Kabu laughed at the question. "Ah, has it been so long that even the Star Warriors have forgotten what the Guardians are? Very well. I shall tell you of the beings whose weapons you are still wielding today, including that sword of yours, young Meta."

"Whenever a Distort successfully escapes from imprisonment in the Tartarus Dimension, a chain of events starts that will result in the birth of the Guardian. These creatures, one per race, is set aside by some distinctive trait from their birth as the creature to defend the universe from the terror unleashed by the Distort. These beings are born to be the Distort's end, and when they are born, the monster becomes aware that their days have been numbered.

"This does not mean that they give up. Quite the contrary, when a Distort knows that their time is at an end, they redouble their effort in an attempt to destroy the one destined to defeat them. Indeed, this is what happened at the time of Kirby's birth."

As Kabu spoke, the world around them shifted again, growing darker and dirtier. It was soon clear that they were now seeing what the heart of the Nightmare Empire was once.

Things soon became clearer, and they saw Nightmare standing in front of a large crowd. On a table before him lay a little egg, which was a rich royal blue in color. For a moment, the egg began to move and there was a cracking noise. The cracking grew louder, and when it was finished, a little blue baby lay on the table. He looked just like a little copy of Meta Knight.

Nearly as soon as the little Puffal had hatched, he was snatched up by Nightmare who held him aloft for the monsters to see. "My minions!" the warlock called out. "Our victory is at hand! The Night-Terror has been born, and through his actions, the pitiful Star Warriors will fall! The universe will belong to me!"

The monsters let out shouts of approval, which drowned out the infant's cries of terror and distress. Their victory did not last for very long though.

As the little one continued to struggle and cry out, a change began to take place. It started at the top of his head, where he changed from blue to purple. The purple traveled down his body, and soon continued to lighten, until it had become a pink color. Likewise, the little one's feet, which had been brown, also lightened until they were a rosy red color. It was soon clear that the infant was, indeed, the one who would become Kirby.

This change did not go unnoticed by Nightmare. For a moment, the Distort's look of victory faded, and he felt an emotion he had not felt since he had escaped the Tartarus Dimension. Terror.

Terror, however, soon gave way to rage. He dropped the little pink baby. There was a moment of silence as the newborn Kirby lay, confused as to what was going on. This moment didn't last long.

"Kill it!" Nightmare shouted in a shrill, piercing voice. "Destroy it now! Do not allow it to escape!"

Hearing the call for his death, Kirby sprang to his feet and fled. It was here that the images faded away and everything became clearly of the present again. "No more needs to be shown of that time," Kabu said as the images faded away. "Those of you who needed to understand more already do. Those who do not should keep their peace and know that it is not their place."

"Hey, Kabu," Tiff called out after there was a brief pause, "you said you'd tell us what your role in this whole thing was. You appear to know a lot about Kirby. How is it that you know all this?"

"I did, didn't I?" There was a deep rumbling as Kabu laughed at the blunt statement. "Well, I can tell you, my role is not as important as it might seem. I am not an Ancient, but when the Ancients left this universe, they were aware that the Guardians who would come to deal with the Distorts would need guidance and assistance in their endeavors. Thus, we Servants of the Guardians were sent to provide whatever help we can provide."

"Servants of the Guardians?" Spinni asked. "Does that mean there's more of you guys?"

"Here on Pop Star, no," came the answer. "I was left here ages ago by the last Guardian, who had been allowed to know that this would be where his successor would come to be. However, there are other servant's elsewhere. We were all intended for different purposes. I was meant to inform and educate, which is why I am allowed to know of many things that I would not have been able to experience. Others are meant to transport or protect. Where they are now, I do not know. If they are meant to assist Kirby in his battle, though, they will come."

This said, Kabu then turned to Meta Knight. "Now, Star Warrior," he said in a stern voice. "There is one message that I must send to you."

The knight nodded. "I am listening."

"I know that this will be hard for you. Your students are like your children. This is a mentality that is deeply ingrained into the mindset of a Star Warrior. However, you must not let this get in the way of Kirby's mission."

"What do you mean?" Meta Knight's eyes flashed green with questioning.

"I mean do not attempt to stifle his abilities. This does not mean to send him into battle as a child; that is not what is intended at all. But do not allow your fondness for him to cause you to limit him. Teach him discipline and obedience, but also allow his power as a Guardian to grow. You will not be able to defend him forever, and he must be able to protect himself and others."

The warrior nodded. He inwardly knew this would be somewhat difficult, but he'd have to do his best. "I will try to do as you say."

It seemed for a moment that Kabu nodded in approval, though that very well could have been the flickering torch light that illuminated the area. "Very good. I shall warn you, little Kirby, the times ahead will not be easy. What happened here will only attract attention, bad as well as good. However, you have your allies with you, and more will be made over time. Do not lose heart."

Kirby grinned brightly, adjusting his sword hat, which had by now shrunk down to its usual form. "Kaabii no' sca'ed," he said firmly. "I's G'adi'an now. Kaabii fight ha'd ta stop Nightmewe!"

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The dark halls of NME were now vacant. The moment that Nightmare had torn out of the palace, there ran a general consensus among his more intelligent minions: they were on their own now.

The one lone officer who remained was Honest John. Thus, he alone was witness to the return of the warlock.

"Lord Nightmare!" He threw a quick salute when Nightmare appeared. "You have returned, and you are wounded!"

"Indeed, but it is of no matter." The Distort began tending to himself, not wanting to shown any amount of weakness by needing help. "How many of my puppets have abandoned me, now that the Guardian has accepted his role?"

"All of them, I'm afraid." The middleman adjusted his thick sunglasses as he spoke. "There seemed to be an unspoken agreement that you weren't coming back, so most of them chose to leave to tend to their own businesses. Even Marx left the message that he would no longer respond to any calls from here. I alone have remained in your service."

"And you alone will escape the punishment of faithless slaves, though I know you only stayed for your own benefit." Nightmare's voice was calm, but there was a tone of sharpness in his voice.

"To true, your majesty. You could always see right through me." Honest John gave a deep bow as he spoke. "Now, would you like me to send out monsters to go reclaim those faithless slaves."

"Not right now," came the Distort's response. "I have all my puppets on strings. Let them wander around and attempt to succeed in their own petty goals. When I have need of them once more, I can tug on those strings to bring them back. There is no need to concern ourselves about them now.

"There is something I do need you to tell me, though." Now finished with tending his wound, Nightmare looked directly at Honest John. "How much of the Dark Matter were you able to siphon off?"

"A good amount, my lord," the lackey responded. "The creature was constantly generating and dripping of the stuff. It was easy enough to get a large amount without being noticed."

"Good, good." Nightmare turned in thought. "Now we just need a test subject. Preferably one who would be willing to test the substance, regardless of the side effects."

Here, Honest John gave a sly smirk. "I think I know just the guy," he said aloud. "He's powerful, too, but ever since a specific incidence, he's become rather…obsessed with being the most powerful ever. I doubt he'd have any problem with risky treatments."

The Distort laughed. "Good, recruit him immediately, and see to it that the monster army is filled up again. We won't have need of them for a while, but time is not a resource to be wasted."

"Of course, your majesty." Honest John bowed again before turning to go. Before he could leave, however, a question came into his head. "And shall you do, my lord?"

A large crystal ball appeared, summoned by Nightmare. "I shall wait and watch." The warlock began staring hard into the ball. "The Guardian is powerful, but he is young yet. If I wait and watch long enough, he will come to reveal his weakness. Patience is the key." His stare became firm as the image of the pink Puffal came clearly into view on the crystal. "I will become the first to destroy their Guardian."

To be continued…


	60. Paparazzi, Part One

"Alright, everyone!" Chief Bookem called out. "We've got a big cleanup project to do if we're going to get Cappy Town back on its feet, and we're not going to get anywhere by slacking off! C'mon! We've got a village to rebuild!"

It was then the morning after the attack of Nightmare on Cappy Town, and everyone within had gathered up in what used to be the village square. Because of the attack, every building around had been demolished and smashed to rubble, with it being a miracle that no life had been lost. Now, they were looking at the fact that the destruction left them without homes and businesses, and at first, there was a bit of confusion.

Despite this, they were able to get things underway, once everyone calmed down. "Now, please listen up!" Mayor Len called out once the chief had gotten the villagers' attention. "We all know what we're doing, right? Mr. Pitch?"

"Coo and I will fly over to Onion Garden Village to place the order for the building supplies," the little bird called out in response.

"Alright, good." The mayor turned back to his list. "Gus?"

"I'll drive on over to pick the stuff up once it's ready," the mechanic answered.

Len nodded. "Very good. Kawasaki?"

"Nago and I will make sure that there's plenty of supplies to go around." The cook gave a grin. "Mrs. Shiro said she'd help with the cooking, too."

"We are all looking forward to that." The Cappy mayor went on like this for a while, before finally coming down to a name. "Uh, yes. Dedede?"

"Hrumph." The Pengu gave no other response, only making a face that clearly stated he was not pleased with being told what to do.

Instead, Bandanna Dee answered for him. "The king will make sure that all the rubble from the palace and several of the surrounding buildings is cleared away. I myself will make certain that every Waddle Dee is available to help in any way, shape, or form."

"Yes, thank you, Bandanna." With that, Mayor Len rolled up his list. "Alright, you all know what your duties are. Let's get to work and we'll have our home rebuilt in no time!"

With that, everyone (except Dedede) set cheerfully off to work.

Even the Star Warriors, who had a rather shocking, though informative, night previously, were helping with the cleaning efforts. At the moment, Kirby himself was struggling to carry off a bit of broken log nearly as big as he was. As could be imagined, this didn't quite have the effect he intended.

As he stumbled back, he was steadied by Meta Knight, who took the chunk of debris from him. "This seems a little bit big for you to carry," the warrior said, a light laugh in his voice. "Why don't you leave the larger bits to someone else and take care of some of the smaller rubble?"

"Kaabii cawwy big stuff!" the toddler responded. "Kaabii new swowd huge! Big as a hows!" He stretched out his arms as he said this to indicate the size of the sword in question.

"Yes, but you were working on the power of the Miracle Fruit then," the knight pointed out. "Right now, you're at your ordinary strength level. I wouldn't try to exercise too much power at once. It can only call up trouble. Alright?"

Kirby looked a little disappointed by the correction, but nodded. "Awight. Kaabii not twy ta take too much."

"Good." Meta Knight's eyes turned a faint blue as he spoke to his student. "Now, if I'm not mistaken, it looks like Marty and Mikey could use a bit of help over there in stacking those bricks."

This did the trick. Now that there was a place where the young Guardian could help in a way that would not tax his abilities, the child rushed off.

"So, he seems to have adapted to the news rather well." Meta Knight spun around in surprise when he heard someone speak to him, though the surprise wore off when he saw who it was.

"Ah, Daroach," he said with a laugh. "You should not sneak up on me like that."

"You're one to speak," the mouse responded. "I wonder if there's anyone here you have not sneaked up on."

"True." The warrior turned his glance back to Kirby. "As to your comment from before, yes, he has adapted quite comfortably in his role as the Guardian. More comfortably than I have, I'm afraid."

"Something about this is making you nervous, isn't it?" his companion asked.

Meta Knight nodded. "It's not so much Kirby, or even Nightmare, that has me anxious. What happened last night was far too monumental to go unnoticed by the outside world. Things have been quiet so far, but I cannot shake this feeling that, soon, this is all going to be bigger than Cappy Town, or even perhaps bigger than all of Dreamland."

"You have always worried about nothing, my friend," Daroach laughed. "I remember that time that you were certain that Lady Defina was going to fail you in the archery challenge, and then it turned out that you not only passed, but had the highest score in the class. I'm sure this all unfounded worry."

Right as he finished talking, a van that they had not noticed before drove into view. It was white and had a huge blue fourteen painted on the side. The mouse's expression changed when he saw it. "Or it's a prophetic premonition."

"What is it?" the blue Puffal asked. "Do you know these people?"

"Lydia Ogden, from Channel Fourteen news in Tiramisu City," Daroach responded promptly. "She's an incredibly nosy reporter who refuses to take any sort of hint that she should not be poking around in certain areas to get the scoop. In the past, she's had a particular interest in the Red Thief Lord, and I've had to spin circles to keep her from discovering the Squeaks. If she's here to find out what happened last night, then I pity you, my friend." With that, he hurried off, not eager to be seen.

Just about as soon as Daroach was out of sight, the van stopped and someone stepped out. It was a woman who appeared to be of the same race as Kawasaki, except that she had long, rather greenish hair. She had a microphone in one hand, and as soon as she spotted Meta Knight she dashed over to where he was.

"Alright, here's one of the locals," she said, turning to one of the others who had come out of the van. "Is the camera ready, Benny?"

"We're ready when you are, Miss Ogden," a Waddle Doo who was carrying a camera said.

The woman nodded. "Alright." She turned quickly to the warrior. "Now, what's your name?"

"Um, Meta Knight," he answered, somewhat thrown off by her speed.

"Okay, good, Metal Knight. Here we go." She raised the microphone and began talking. "This is Lydia Ogden for Channel Fourteen News. I'm here in a little suburb called Cappy Town, where big things took place just last night. There was some sort of chaos that resulted in the tremendous light show we saw last night, and apparently left the entire place in ruins. I'm speaking now with one of the locals, Metal Knight, who's going to explain everything that went on." When she had said her piece, she shoved her microphone into his face.

For once, the warrior was quite unsure of what to say, though he composed himself as best he could. "First of all, it's Meta, not metal, there's no L. Secondly we just had a personal incident here. It's nothing to-"

"Hii! I's Kaabii!'

Meta Knight was completely cut off by the toddler running up and shoving his face into the camera. Kirby had been working in the background with several of his siblings when he had seen the van coming up. He had decided to introduce himself when he spotted the camera, and couldn't resist running up."

"Hey, kid, get out of the shot," the Waddle Doo said with a good amount of annoyance. "We're trying to do a live interview."

"Ohhh," Kirby said, nodding as if he understood what was being said. Then he turned and looked directly in the camera again. "Wha' an intwa-voo?"

"It means we're trying to talk to him," a Cappy helper, who had been holding up a boom mike said, motioning towards Meta Knight. "Get out of the shot."

Still not quite understanding what he was being told, the toddler smiled and turned back to the camera. "Ohh, yew ta'kin' ta Medikni? Kaabii know Medikni! Medikni teac' Kaabii wots and wots." Like before, he stretched out his paws to indicate how much he was taught.

"Yes, that's nice," Ogden said in annoyance as she attempted to shoo the enthusiastic camera hog away. "Now, if we can only get on with the interview…"

In the extra time Kirby had unintentionally bought him, Meta Knight had sufficiently recovered from the shock put on by the pushy reporter. "As I said, what happened here was a personal incident." His eyes flashed slightly red in annoyance. "This will not be discussed on public television, as it does not, as of this moment, concern the public sphere. Come, Kirby. There are others who need our help." With that, he turned away and went off.

Seeing his mentor go, Kirby hurried to follow. Before he had gone far, however, he turned back quickly to the camera, waving both paws in an animated manner. "Byyee!" he chirped out.

Left now without an interview and somewhat stunned by the energetic baby, Ogden could only frown. "Well, how rude," she huffed, choosing to completely overlook the fact that she was the one who had been pushing the warrior. "Hopefully someone will actually give some information."

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In an area close to what had been the palace courtyard, a collection of the older children were resting near the Fountain of Dreams. Despite the sheer amount of destruction around it, the fountain had somehow escaped being destroyed as well, and even though it had needed to be cleared of shattered stone and glass, it flowed peacefully on.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting night," Adeleine said as she leaned back against a particularly large bit of rubble. "Nightmare attacked us personally for the first time. It's a miracle we all survived."

"Yeah, because Kirby kicked his sorry butt," Tuff said, grinning broadly. "You'd think he'd know better than to attack when there's a Guardian present."

"Sometimes ego gets in the way of intelligence," Ribbon responded calmly. "Besides, we know we have weapons that can effect Distorts, like the Star Rod, or the Warp Star and your Flight Star."

"Yeah, these are pretty awesome," the Dreamlander boy said. He withdrew the little orange star and tossed it up into the air. "I wonder how many monsters Sir Erran destroyed with this thing."

It was now that he looked over and noticed that, for once, his sister had not weighed in on the conversation. She was sitting nearby, but was bent over something. "Yo, Tiff," he called out, "what'cha doing?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." The blonde girl looked up quickly before turning back. "My gauntlets got broken in last night's fight. I'm trying to see if there's anything I can do to fix it, but it's starting to look like it's beyond my abilities."

"What do you mean?" Adeleine asked, leaning forwards to get a look.

"Well…" Tiff answered, holding up the damaged weapons. Sure enough, they were extremely broken, with the metal of the gauntlets practically ripped into ribbons.

"Whoa boy," Tuff exclaimed when he saw the damage. "You weren't kidding."

"And I worked on these for so long." The girl turned back with a look of severe frustration on her face. "What am I going to do now?"

"Maybe you need to find some sort of legendary weapon, like me." Her little brother grinned as he tossed the Flight Star bit in the air. "That way, not only does it not break, it's bound to have some sort of power that makes it super dangerous. Oops!"

He had let out that last exclamation because as he was tossing the star, he had miscalculated the decent of one of the arcs, and it bounced off his hand into the Fountain with a light plop.

"Dang it," he muttered under his breath and he began moving into the water to find it. "Everything's all colors in here. It's gonna take forever to find it."

"Here, we'll help," Ribbon states, and the others nodded as they followed her into the water.

Sure enough, just as Tuff had predicted, it did take a while to search through the Fountain. The rippling colors of the Fountain's waters made the bright orange color of the star blend right in.

Difficult though it was, it was not impossible. After a few moments of searching, Tiff reached down into the water and felt a small shape. "Hey, here it is!" she called out to the others as she pulled it loose. "Got it! Huh?"

"You found it?" Tuff asked as he ran over to join his older sister. He frowned when he caught up to her. "Hey, that's not it."

"No, but it sure looks like it," Tiff said, still somewhat surprised by what shew had discovered.

It was another little star, nearly identical to the one that Tuff had found. It was the same size, had the same slight bend to the arms, and had the same feel to the touch. The only difference was that it was bright red instead of orange.

"Where did this come from?" the blonde girl murmured as she studied the little Star. As she examined it, she turned to move into a better light.

This seemed to cause a reaction in the star. As she moved, it began giving off a faint glow and began to pull away from her. This was surprising enough that she let it go. Instead of falling right into the water, though, it traveled in a small arc before almost gliding into the water.

"Hey, wait!" Nearly as fast as she had let it go, Tiff recovered from the surprise and took off after the star. Thankfully, she had seen the path this one had taken, and it didn't take a lot of searching out to find it. "Got'cha!" she declared, shooting both arms into the water and pulling them out just as quickly.

When she pulled the star out of the water, she soon discovered that she had not one star, but two of them. It seemed at when the red star had pulled itself from her grasp, it had flown to where the orange one had landed. She now was holding both in one hand, and both were giving off a faint glow.

As the small group collected around her, they all looked down on the little duo in surprise. "There's two of them now," Adeleine murmured.

"I guess that does make sense," Ado said, touching her chin as she thought back. "Kabu did say that the Flight Star was fragmented."

"That's right!" Realization dawned on the group, and it had been Tuff who spoke up first. "Kabu did mention that the Flight Star had been broken in half. The orange one was my half, and that must mean that the red one, your half, Tiff, must be the other!"

"I think you're right." Tiff pulled apart the two star, handing the orange one to her brother while studying the red one closer herself. "It does look like yours, anyway. It even looks like a jewel, a ruby, maybe, but it feels like metal."

"Then we've done it!" Tuff launched himself into the air, quite forgetting that they were still in a fountain and, thus, soaking his companions in splashed water. "We've got both halves of the Flight Star!"

"That's great!" Ribbon said enthusiastically. "Now what?"

This got the young Dreamlander boy to stop in his splashing. "Well, now that you mention it, I'm not sure. Kabu only said that it was a treasure of our kind, and that it had been split in half, but not what to do when we had both."

"Maybe you can put it together again?" Ado suggested. "After all, halves are supposed to fit together to make a whole."

"It's worth a try." Tiff hefted the little red star. "What do you say?"

Tuff flashed a smile as he mirrored his sister's actions. "On three?"

She nodded. "One…two…three!" They both tossed the little stars as hard as they could, hoping beyond hope that this would do something in the way of putting the ancient treasure back together.

At first, the attempt seemed to work. Both little stars flew hard once they were tossed, arcing high in the sky and coming together as if they were going to collide. Before they could do so, though, they froze, coming within an inch of each other before stopping. There, they held their positions and each began rotating in a different direction. Light began to spiral off of it, and for a moment, it appeared that a single image was forming from the two objects.

Then everything stopped. The light-show ended and the two stars repelled each other backwards, before they spiraled back and came to land at the feet of their owners.

"Well, that didn't work," Tuff sighed as he bent down to scoop up the little orange star and deposit it in his pocket.

"I don't understand," Tiff said, looking in confusion at the ruby colored object. "It looked like it was working for a moment. Is there some piece to the puzzle that is still missing?"

"Wibbon! Tiff! Tuff! Ado! Ad'ween! Kaabii wanna pway, too!" The small gathering looked up to see Kirby running up to them, followed closely by Meta Knight. The toddler eagerly rushed over to join them in the fountain, as he assumed they were just having a wade.

"Children, do not be playing in the Fountain," Meta Knight called out, scolding them mildly. "It is too important a location to play in."

"Sorry, Sir Meta Knight," Tiff called back. "We were just looking for something that fell in."

Meta Knight nodded. "I see. Still, it is best not to be in the waters if at all possible."

As the young ones emerged, he continued. "It is getting close to lunch time. Why don't you go and see if Kawasaki and Nago have anything prepared?"

There was a small round of cheers for the idea, which was calmed when the older warrior raised his hand. "Now, I do have to warn you. There have been newcomers around Cappy Town. Many of them are helpful, but some of them are quite nosy. If you are asked questions, be polite, but as vague as possible. Furthermore, whatever happens, do not mention how Kirby was connected to last night's events at all. The last thing we need is the universe finding out he's a Guardian."

The kids all called out they'd be careful before running off. Meta Knight nodded in approval before turning to go himself. He had to give the warning, just in case, but he suspected the children would have known to keep quiet anyway. No, the Star Warrior's concern over loose lips lay elsewhere…

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To say that Dedede was not happy would have been the understatement of the year. As noted before, he tended to be happiest when everything was focused on him. However, what with the attack by Nightmare the previous night, and with Kirby and Meta Knight's band apparently sneaking off and finding out other secrets they refused to let him know, things were less focused on him than ever!

"Well, at least the Waddle Dees are working on the palace," he grumbled to himself. "Aftah all I did for those ingrate Cappies last night, you'd think I'd get some more attention."

"Oh, so you know about some of the goings on about last night?" Dedede spun around when he heard the question to see a young woman who looked vaguely like Kawasaki standing behind him. There were also camera crew around her, and she was holding a microphone up to him.

The Pengu immediately smiled and prepared to turn on the infamous Dedede charm. "Well, hello there," he said in what he was sure was a suave, charismatic voice. "I'm King Dedede, the rule around these here parts. Who, may I ask, do I have the honor of speaking to?"

"Lydia Ogden, Channel Fourteen News," the reporter answered. "So, Dedede, you say you know something about the mysterious lights from last night, as well as why this village is in ruins?"

Seeing his chance for a bit of attention, the Pengu eagerly snatched up the opportunity. "Boy, do I ever! I tell ya, I was there ta see it all!"

"Oh, really?" Ogden gave a sly smile. "With all I've been getting today, I'd gotten the idea that nobody saw anything. Can you tell me what went on?"

"I'll tell ya what went on," Dedede snapped, eager to have some spotlight to himself for once. "It was-"

"Sire," Bandana Dee spoke up, cutting the Pengu off before he could continue. "I don't think Meta Knight would want you talking about this."

"Well, who cares what that blue ball of ego thinks," Dedede responded. "Now, where was I? Oh, yeah. It was all that there Kirby's fault."

"Oh, dear," Bandana said in a hushed voice, and he went off to find Sailor. Maybe his brother would have an idea of what Sir Meta Knight would have them do.

"As I was saying before I was so rudely cut off," the "king" continued, "all of this was Kirby's fault."

"Kirby?" Ogden asked, a tone of surprise coming clear in her voice. "You mean that little pink baby?"

"That's the one!" Dedede responded, crossing his arms and giving a firm nod as he did so. "He's always running off here, fighting some monster there, getting everyone to look at him. It was even his fault that Nightmare ended up here in the first place. Does anyone blame him for this? Nooo, just because he sent that ol' warlock packing, everyone's cheering him on as a hero."

The reporter's expression changed when she heard this. "Wait; did you say 'Nightmare'? As in Nightmare, the warlock from the ancient Star Warrior Wars?"

"That's the one," the Pengu responded with a frustrated nod. "You know, if I hadn't let that Star Warrior Meta Knight stay here in the first place, everything would'a stayed nice 'n peaceful 'round these here parts. But, nooo, he just had to come and beg for a job, and me, bein' all maglificent and all, had ta give him just what he asked for. Look where all my genamesponsity and good will got me now."

"Wait, that Meta Knight from before is a Star Warrior?!" Ogden's eyes practically bugged out of her head. This was the scoop of the century.

"He sure is, an' he's training that pinky to be one, too." Dedede was wholly enjoying his limelight. "If I had my way-"

"Dedede! What have you been saying?!"

Everyone turned to see Meta Knight flying in as quickly as he could. He swooped down and as soon as he was close to the ground hid his wings with a swish of his cape. Now that he was close, it was clear to see by his blood-red eyes that he was not happy.

"Dedede, have you been giving information about the previous night?!" he asked without a pause. It was clear he was going to get the answers one way or another.

"Well, yeah," Dedede was clearly afraid, but was trying his hardest not to look so. "With all that happened in that fight between Kirby and Nightmare, I thought I'd get some attention myself."

"[Oh, you glory-hogging buffoon!]" the blue Puffal snapped out. "Don't you have any idea what you are doing! [Kirby is in enough danger as it is! There's no need for you to call everyone on Pop Star's attention to him!] No one needed to know the information about last night!

"As for you," he said as he spun around to face the reporter, "do you have any idea what you are doing?!"

"Boy, do I," Ogden replied cheerfully in a hushed voice. "Getting a Pulitzen Prize for sure!" She turned to the camera and spoke in a much louder voice. "Well, you heard it yourself, Tiramisu City. A returning evil, a child warrior prodigy named Kirby, and the last of the Star Warriors himself, Sir Meta Knight, all right here in Cappy Town! Back to you, Chuck!"

Meta Knight's eyes went wide in fear when he heard what information had just been broadcasted live. "[Oh, dear sugar.]"

To be continued…


	61. Paparazzi, Part Two

Now blockaded in a small cavern in the Dig Site walls, Meta Knight, along with his students paced back and forth. After the news report sent out the previous day, a creature more terrible than anyone could have ever imagined descended upon the little village's ruins.

"No, we're not going to give you an interview!" Sir Ebrum's voice, heavy with an uncharacteristic tension, could be heard from outside as he snapped at the flock of reporters who had gathered outside the hiding place. "We need to get inside; I am politely telling you to get out of our way!"

There was a loud clamoring of shouts and questions, and it took a few minutes before the completely worn out Ebrum family were able to make it in. "Oh, I do declare!" Lady Like exclaimed in frustration as she attempted to set her hair back into place. "They have fewer manners than most Grizzos!"

"That's why we're trying to hide it out in here," Mace said, a dry laugh in her voice. "When do you think they'll take a hint and go back to whatever hole in the ground they crawled out of?"

"Not anytime soon, that's for sure," Joe responded. "You got the food?"

"Right here," Tiff answered, handing over the cooler she and her brother had been carrying. "You guys holding out in here, Kirby?"

"Um, uh-huh," the little one nodded. He carefully moved the block back to get a look out. He soon regretted the decision.

"Hey! Look, it's Kirby!"

"Kirby! Over here!"

"How long have you been training, Kirby?"

"Can you give us a statement, Kirby?"

"Smile for the camera!"

"Yipe!" Kirby jumped back in shock as he was barraged by sound and light, and he slammed the block back into place as soon as he could. Once he had this experience, he turned back to Tiff. "Don' like t'is," he said, frowning firmly. "Too woud and bwight."

"Well, hopefully once they figure out you're not going to be giving them a story, they'll hit the road," Tuff said as he sat next to the little Puffal.

"Yes," Meta Knight responded, nodding in agreement with the statement, "but the only question is, how long will it take them to understand that."

"I hope it's soon," Silica sighed. "I don't like being holed up in here. It's worse than when we were facing the Collector."

"Yeah," Ax nodded in agreement. "At least we could fight back against her."

Sailor Dee sighed. "They just won't take a hint." He grabbed one of the sandwiches from the cooler and (to the amazement of his companions) took a bite before continuing. "I've been trying to get word from some of the Waddle Dees, but the crowd is scaring everyone off."

"Well, hopefully we won't have to be here for too long," Blade sighed. "We can't be all that interesting, especially when we just hole ourselves up. They've got to go home sometime."

"I hope you're right," Meta Knight said.

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Marx scowled as he watched everything going on. He had everything planned out, and that tubby moron had to ruin everything for him. Not that the jester minded the Star Warriors being made miserable, but the timing could not be worse.

After all the trouble he had gone to to make sure both halves of the Flight Star had been found by those two Erranite children. If anyone was going to be able to fuse them back together it was those two.

"Of course, that happens to coincide with the idiotic Pengu running his mouth to reporters!" the sorcerer scowled under his breath. "There's no way they'll be experimenting with those stars as long as these reporters are hanging around, which means they won't be put back together.

"And it had to happen right now, of all times!" As he spoke to himself, he only grew angrier and angrier. "Parm and Memu are bound to have figured out that the former protectors of the Flight Star are dead, and if they reach those kids before the halves can be fused back and united with the Warp Star, then my plans are blown! All because of a few stupid reporters!"

He stomped back a few paces and thought about what was going to have to be done. "Well, NME's gone, that's for certain," he mumbled to himself. "Without Nightmare himself there, they'll practically be running around like tookies with their heads off.

"But just because Nightmare's gone, that doesn't mean I don't have any power of my own." A plan immediately began to formulate in his mine. "Yes, yes! That's it! And I already have almost everything that I need!" He smirked and pulled a small badge out of his hat. "How could I forget out this? I'll clear those reporters out of the way. All I'll need is a frame to for this to take over. Now, where to get that?"

As he thought, he heard the sound of feet coming closer. Quickly, he shoved the badge back into his hat and dodged into the bushes to avoid being seen.

He had moved just in time. Nearly as soon as he had dodged into the bushes, the individual passed by. It was one of those mice who had come with that friend of Meta Knight's, the elderly one who was almost always in a mech suit. He was dragging a large cartload of various objects and artifacts with him. "Where do you want me to take this, boss?" he asked into the intercom system.

"There should be a cave system somewhere around the waterfalls," the mouse Star Warrior answered over the radio. "Meta Knight said the artifacts should be safe there until we have a way of transporting them back to Tiramisu City. The others and I will join you once we have gathered up what is left."

"Got it. On my way." The mouse continued on his way, none the wiser to Marx's presence.

This, however, did give Marx an idea. "So, those mice are hiding something, huh?" he chuckled quietly to himself. "Well, I'm sure they won't mind if I borrow something to help with my pest problem." Without another sound, he took off after the elderly mouse.

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"Any luck, boss?" Storo turned to look at the map Daroach was going over. The mice had gathered in what was left of the _Zephyr_ to gather the artifacts that had been inside, as well as look over their options for the problem at hand.

"Huh? Oh, yes, Storo." The mouse warrior looked up for a brief moment. He currently had his hat and cape off and a protractor in one hand. "I'm afraid not. From the looks of things, nearly ever cliff wall surrounding the caves where they're hiding are firm rock. We won't be able to tunnel in, and even if we did, we'd risk bringing the whole place down on them. No, no, we'll need to find some other way to get them out."

"We could always try fighting 'em off," Spinni suggested. When her recommendation only received looks of disapproval from her companions, she shrugged. "What? I didn't say hurt them. The lot of those folks are probably cowards anyway. They'd run first chance they got."

"You still think like a street brawler," Daroach sighed. He pressed a paw to his forehead before continuing. "If that was an option, then Meta Knight would not have need of our help. I might be better than him in cases that require stealth, but no one can match him in single combat. That, however, would go against the Star Warrior's code of chivalry. Annoying as all else or not, those reporters are unarmed and untrained. It would not be befitting of a knight to attack an unprepared opponent."

"So, we just wait out here until they go away?" Storo asked. This was an honest question, without any tone of sarcasm or frustration. "'Cause that could be a long time. They'll be in there for a while."

"I don't see what else we can do." The mouse knight sighed as he put his hat back on. "We'll just have to wait it out of a while and hope they lose interest quickly. They will, sooner or later, of course, but I do hope its sooner rather than later. Until those busybodies go away, all of us are taken out of the rebuilding scheme. Hopefully, the Cappies can hold out without us for the time, but I don't like being able to do anything."

"Leave it to can't-mind-her-own-business Ogden to be the cause of all these problems," Spinni scowled as she dropped onto a crate. "If I could just have three minutes alone with her…"

"But that would reveal the boss as the Red Thief Lord," Storo put in quickly, mistaking frustrated wishing for actual planning.

Spinni snorted. "I know," she grumbled quietly, "but a girl can dream."

"While I can understand the emotion," Daroach commented, rolling up his maps with a quick movement as he did so, "I'm afraid there are much more demanding tasks than dreaming at the moment. It appears that there is no obvious exit to the cavern system are currently holed up in, and while it might be most realistic to just wait and hope the pests decide to leave on their own, it is clear that none of us is going to be able to do that." He tucked the maps into a brown sack that had been hanging nearby and flung it over his shoulder. "So, what do you say we go join Doc at the storage cave and see what tools we have at our disposal?"

The two teens seemed much happier with that proposition than they were with just waiting around. They gathered the few items still left in the debris of the zeppelin and hurried off, hoping that there would be something that would give them some way out of the current feeling of helplessness in the face of annoyance.

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Marx grinned with delight as he looked over his options. It hadn't been too difficult for him to sneak into the cave that the mice were using as a holding chamber. The old mouse had been more difficult to follow than the sorcerer had initially expected, but though the old timer was fast, his mech was also not that stealthy. If one knew what it look for, the trail to the hiding place was easy enough to find.

The small magician had arrived at the destination only a few minutes after Doc had. There were a lot of artifacts in the cart, but it had been quick and easy enough to set them out in the cave, especially with a high-tech mech like Doc had made. Once he was finished, the elderly technician looked around.

"Well, Daroach said he and the youngsters would be along soon enough, but since they're not here yet, I suppose I can rest my eyes for a few moments." He chuckled. "Nothing wrong with a little cat-nap, as I always say." He leaned back in the cushioned seat of his mech, and nearly as soon as he shut his eyes, he was fast asleep.

Well, Marx wasn't about to let this golden opportunity slip away from him. As soon as he heard snoring coming from the old mouse, he crept into the cavern and began riffling through the artifacts. "Let's see what we have here," he murmured as he began rifling through a box. "Ancient gem, won't do. Turtle shell, worthless. Falchion, maybe later. Mr. Saturn? Where'd they get one of those? Orichalcum, I'll hold onto that for later. Triforce, eh, got no use for it. What's this?" He picked up a grey hat with a mechanical arm coming out of the top. He was quick in tossing it away. "Too strange."

He began looking through the various artifacts too big to be stored in crates, but even there, he had no success. The only thing was a mirror wrapped in brown paper, but the warning taped to the front discouraged him from even trying it.

It seemed that despite their many treasure hunting excursions, the mice hadn't found a single thing that would be of use for a frame. Marx was severely tempted to trash the whole place in simple frustration. However, the idea was interrupted by the sound of talking coming from outside. The jester dodged behind the mirror to avoid being caught.

"Well, this seems to be the place." That must have been the female mouse; there was only one girl in the whole group.

"Yeah," one of her male companions, the younger and larger of the two, responded, giving a laugh as he did so. "Even if you weren't out looking for us, you could tell just by Doc's snoring."

"Now, Storo, do not laugh at your elders." That was clearly the Star Warrior. They always had a tone of class and dignity to their voices, which one had to admit, even if you didn't like them. "One day you too will be in his position."

"Alright. Sorry boss." The younger mouse, Storo apparently, apologized. "Hey, boss, where do you want me to put this. It's kinda heavy."

"Oh, quite right." That was the Star Warrior again. "Just set it down over by the Mirror over there. Also, please be certain to set the mirror face down. It's good that it's still wrapped up, but one can never be too careful with that."

Hearing this, Marx began moving so that as soon as the new artifact was set down, he was behind it instead of the mirror.

"Hey, Spinni, you didn't happen to bring some of the cheesecake that was in the fridge, did you?" The big mouse, having set his burden down, moved back with the other mice, which gave the jester the opportunity to see what his new hiding place was.

It was a ginormous statue that, by the looks of things, had once been held in some ancient tomb or temple. It was a hulking thing made out of clay, segmented into four parts, though one part was made of metal instead of clay. It was ornamented in the middle with interweaving patterns, the innermost two of which resembled eyes shut in either sleep or concentration.

Marx grinned when he saw this. This things was just what he was looking for, and it was right here, ripe for the taking. Removing his hat, he reached in and pulled out the monster badge. Those stupid interlopers would never know what had hit them.

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"Those jerks gone yet?" Silica asked as her brother peered out of a small opening in the cavern wall.

Joe shook his head. "No, they're still out there. Y'know, I wish Javelin was here right now. We could've sent him out to deal with them. Try writing a story when all the facts you've got are random statistics."

"Or better yet, I wish the _Arrow_ were still in one piece." Mace looked down in frustration as she thought of the ship that had been her special project. "They we could have just gotten the heck off the planet until this all blew over."

"Maybe, maybe not," Sword laughed. "Who knows what these guys would have been capable of? Maybe they would have started a high-speed chase."

"Well, all I know is, Kirby's got the right idea." Ax chuckled as he motioned to the sleeping toddler. "If there's nothing we're going to be able to do to get out of here, maybe it is better that we conserve out strength then just sit around and gripe to each other."

Meta Knight sat in silence as this conversation went on, and stayed in silence as, one by one, his students followed their younger companion's example of falling asleep. He couldn't help but give a smile as he thought; he was proud of all of them.

Sword, Blade, Ax, and Mace had come so far from the street urchins he had discovered years ago. They had been mere thieves and brawlers back then, admittedly not by their own choice. His stomach turned at the thought of those people who would turn children to those occupations. Thankfully, he had gotten there in time to stop them from becoming too ingrained in that lifestyle.

Joe and Silica were becoming more like their parents every day. Meta Knight had known them both since infancy; he was even Silica's godfather. They both had Jecra and Garlude's fire and spirit, and would become great warriors in their own right one day.

Sailor Dee was, admittedly, was a unique case. The blue Puffal would have never imagined that he would ever take on a Waddle Dee as a student. They were so shy and quiet, the language their race spoke was entirely composed of eye movement! However, one day, it happened. For some reason, the young Waddle Dee had begun following Meta Knight around, and imitating him, as if to learn. Once the youngster started to talk, he learned that he had save the Dee's life, once, and in gratitude, the little creature was determined to help.

He couldn't be more proud of his older students.

Then there was Kirby. This was not to say he wasn't proud of him, as well; quite the contrary. Kirby had grown and developed faster than Meta could have ever imagined, and with the discovery that the little one was a Guardian, that sense of pride had only grown.

So had the sense of fear. After all, not everyone was going to want such a creature to exist, and would work to do what they could to make sure he didn't exist. That was why Meta Knight was determined to keep it secret.

So of course Dedede had to go and blow the whole thing. The one relief was that the word "Guardian" had never been uttered to the pretender, and thus that part was never mentioned. However, even if the specifics weren't out, the whole universe now knew that Kirby was special, and that, no doubt, would attract attention.

He was shaken from his thoughts by the sound of rumbling coming from outside. The warrior tried to ignore it at first, supposing it might be some trick that was being used as an attempt to get him and his students to come out into the open. However, when the screams started up, it became clear that something was very wrong.

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The reporters had been sitting outside in that dig site all day. A few of them had gone off to see if they couldn't get information from the villagers who had not fled, but the stream of information had been slow. Most of the Cappies and all of the Waddle Dees refused to talk; Meta Knight had warned them first that spreading too much information about the night before could spell disaster, and most of the listened to him.

A few others, primarily Dedede and Tokkori, were willing to tell what they knew, but what they actually knew was very little. Several different times did several different reporters ask questions, trying to figure out just what happened the night before so that they could report on the details, only to have the interviews derail and become about why pink Puffals shouldn't be allowed in houses or how it was their whole fault this whole time and that they should have never been allowed to rest, for the sake of peace.

Eventually, when it became clear that no one was going to spill any information of use or interest, they returned to the dig site to wait and see if the Star Warriors wouldn't come out and be interviewed.

It had been almost the afternoon when something finally happened. There was a loud rumbling, like something was causing an earthquake over the whole area. The waiting parties shot up, some in distress, others excitement, but all in confusion. There was no telling what was causing the rumbling.

That is, until it came into view.

A huge stone monolith rolled into view on top of a hill that overlooked the dig site. It was now a lot bigger than it had been, and the eyes, formally shut, were now open and roving wildly. Seeing the crowded area around, it gave a deep bellow before rolling down to go crush the little people.

Immediately, everything became chaos. People ran every which way to get away from the offending clay statue, but it seemed that escape was somewhat hopeless. The clay and metal creature, though huge, was ridiculously fast, and any time someone attempted to move away from the rolling mass, it spun around and took off in the direction, cutting off the path of escape.

The creature glared darkly before bellowing again. This time, it was a little more intelligible. "Hooplagoon!"

The few who were lucky enough to be further away from Hooplagoon screamed and attempted to dodge away from the monolith. Once again, however, it this only seemed to anger the giant creature. It growled in a tone that almost sounded like an engine revving and prepared to charge at the runners.

This time, however, it was hit by three bright stars, which sent it flying back. The victims looked to see where it came from, and saw the Squeaks racing to face the beast. "Storo, Doc, get the civilians out of here," Daroach called out. "Spinni, see if you can't alert those in the cavern to out current situation. I'll try to keep the Colossus back."

"On it, boss," Storo nodded.

"Alright, all of you," Doc called out, motioning to the reporters where to flee to. "Everyone try to keep together. Leave the beast-slaying to the trained professionals!"

Spinni nodded but said nothing. She rushed over to the cave wall with several Squeakers and set to opening up the doorway to the best of their abilities.

Daroach, for his part, was rather hard pressed. He was handling the huge beast very well, for the most part, but he could clearly see he couldn't handle the beast alone for any overly long amount of time. Put on top of that, he kind of had a problem with wheel-like enemies ever since his encounter with the Rex Wheelie. "I do hope you respond fast, Meta," he mumbled under his breath as he released another trio of stars. "I'm not sure how long I can hold him off by myself."

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The Star Warriors within the cave began to respond to the noise as soon as the screaming had started up. However, the panic outside, combined with the sheer weight of the rock put up to block out the pests, made it difficult to see what was going on. They soon got their first clear sign by a Squeaker that forced its way under the rock.

Most of the people within just looked in surprise at the newcomer. Kirby, the only exception, gave a delighted squeal. "Hii, s'keekah!" he cried out in delight as he picked the small creature up. "'Pinni send yew?"

"I sure did." They turned to see the mouse herself squeeze her way into the cave. "Sorry about the blockage. There was some damage outside from the rampaging beast."

"Rampaging beast?" Blade commented. "I guess that would explain a lot. What's going on out there?"

"Wish I could tell you in clearer terms," the female Squeak responded. "One moment, me and the others were just chilling out, making sure our inventory was all under wraps, when suddenly one of the statues comes to life! It gives out this really weird cry, and then tries to crush us! When it got here, however, it lost interest in use and started to attack those reporters who had been pestering out there. Daroach is holding the thing off and the other guys are getting the paparazzi out of here, but we're going to need some help out there."

Meta Knight nodded. "Very well. We will need a way out of here."

Spinni grinned. "Already on it." She motioned to the swarm of Squeakers, who had been at work on the doorway the whole time. There was already a sizable hole that one could get through, even with armor. "Never underestimate the little guys."

"Thank you," the senior Star Warrior said with a smile. "Alright everyone. Prepare for battle."

"Hey, little dude," Spinni called out Kirby. "Here, copy this." She tossed over a metal claw.

Kirby grinned excitedly. This was an ability he liked, and one he didn't often get to use.

Time was running short for Daroach outside. He had done a pretty good job at staying ahead of his opponent, but his typical attack and dodge techniques had two major disadvantages against this opponent. For one matter, there was the fact that this style worked the best when one was fighting in a team. It was easier to change your movement and attack patterns up when there was someone covering you while you were doing so. Secondly, they only worked perfectly when the opponent was slower than you.

Much to his dismay, the mouse warrior found that was not the case. He'd let off an attack, which if it hit a clay area, would stun his enemy long enough to prepare another shot. However, by the time the second was ready, Hooplagoon would simply spin around, allowing the blow to glance off the metal quarter before revving up and charging again.

Daroach was holding out heroically, but even the strongest of fighters will tire out eventually. He was starting to move slower, and the charges were becoming much more difficult to dodge. Indeed, it looked like he was not going to be able to dodge again. He had attempted to flee from another close charge when he tripped! He was able to pull his cape around himself for a quick teleport, but it was only able to take him a short distance away. The mouse lay only a few yards away, within full sight of his foe.

As the monster loomed in, ready to make the kill. It let out another loud cry and prepared to charge when it was hit by a missile. "Hey!" Silica called out, holding up her missile launcher. "Why not try picking on someone who can fight back!"

"Yeah!" Animal Kirby agreed. "Not 'tack D'woach!"

The monster now held back by the recently released Star Warriors, Spinni rushed to the downed Daroach's side. "Hey, boss," she said, giving a sly, somewhat cocky grin as she helped her leader to his feet. "Ya give up on us?"

"Quite the contrary," he responded, returning her smile. "I knew you would be arriving momentarily." He leaned himself on the Triple Star to help steady himself. "You could have tried cut in a bit earlier though.

"What, and ruin all the fun you guys were having," she laughed back.

Now given the room to fight, the Star Warriors began their work as swiftly as possible. "Alright," Meta Knight called out to his students, fighting as he gave the instructions. "We are looking at a very difficult situation. We have a large, dangerous opponent-" He was cut off as the Hooplagoon chose that moment to charge right at him. He wheeled around, missing the monster by just inches. "And one with very little patience," he added after the encounter. "What do we do now?"

"Try to find a weak point?" Sailor Dee asked, a tone of hesitation in his voice.

"Very good." The Warrior unleashed a Sword Beam as he spoke. "Now, the weak points here are rather obvious. This appears to be made of clay, which is not too hard to break."

"Yeah," Joe called back as he launched off several Vulcan Jabs, "but every time we try to attack this sucker, he spins around so our attacks only hit that metal band."

"This is why we need to figure out a way of limiting its movement. Kirby," the older Puffal called out to the younger, "please dig a trench to keep our opponent trapped in."

"Kay-kay!" the toddler called out as he jumped to perform his duty.

"Now," The mentor then turned to his other students, "try to lure it into the ditch. Once it is in there, it should not be too hard to deal with."

"Got it!" Ax called out, pretty much speaking for the rest of the group. "Come on, you big lump of rock. You think you're so tough?"

"Hooplagoon!" the monster bellowed before launching itself at the young apprentice.

That did the trick. Since the monster was more concerned with mowing the young Star Warriors down, it did not notice that it was headed right for the recently opened trench. This allowed it to slip in and get caught, right with the shielded metal portion trapped underneath it.

"Now, my students!" Meta Knight called out.

In response to their teachers call, all of the youngsters launched out their attacks at the crippled beast. This worked, as the unprotected clay was shattered upon the impact. Thus wounded, the monster shattered, turning back into the harmless statue it was before.

Now that the battle was over, the fighters gathered around the remains of their opponent. "What was that thing?" Sword asked, taking off his helmet to get a better look at the bits of clay.

"That was ours, I'm afraid," Daroach answered, limping over with Spinni's help. "That was an ancient artifact of the Regalic Ruins. We had collected it on one of our expeditions, as we had no idea that it had such capabilities."

"Perhaps it originally did not…" Meta Knight said slowly when he spotted the badge lying in the rubble.

Before anyone could ask what he meant, there was a loud cry. There, right over the edge of the hill, were the reporters, having come back once the danger was away. It looked like things weren't quite as over as they seemed…

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In the deep of space, miles and miles away from the Gamble Galaxy, a ship was drifting out in space. Despite its distance, the sensors on the ship were incredibly strong and capable of picking up signals from far, far away.

It was for this reason that the crew of the ship were now huddled around the television, watching what was going on with great excitement. It was an odd mixture of a crew. There were a dozen creatures, half of whom were Puffals. The other half was a variety of creatures that had all come together for the same purpose.

A purpose they were, at the moment, ignoring.

"Attention!" a gravelly voice rang out, startling the viewers from their show. "What in this great wide universe do you think you're doing?"

The crew all sprang back to their stations when they heard the voice. One of them, a tall, skinny, Cappy-like creature saluted. "Sargent, sir! We were just watching a news broadcast, sir!"

"A news broadcast, eh," the sergeant, a short, shaggy creature, responded. "And was there anything of great importance in this broadcast?"

"Actually, there was, sir," a teal female Puffal responded.

"And what would that be, Private Jillian?" the sergeant asked.

"We've found Sir Meta Knight," Jillian answered.

The sergeant turned towards the screen and smiled when he saw the image. "Well, it appears you have. Well done." He chuckled. "Well, that boy does make a habit of cheating death, doesn't he?"

"Well, carry on," the sergeant said as he turned on his heels to leave. "I had best tell her ladyship about this. She will be very happy to receive this news."

To be continued…


	62. Clean Slate, Part One

It seemed like it had been forever since there had been a day that was simply for relaxing. It had been nearly two and a half months since the attack by Nightmare. All since that time, the people of Cappy Town had been hard at work rebuilding their little hamlet. They had run into some problems at first involving some pesky reporters and a giant stone monster known as Hooplagoon, but those had been solved as quickly as possible.

By now, much of the work had been done. The frames for the new homes and buildings had been put up and finished for the most part. Even the new palace was mostly finished. All that was really left to do was to paint the buildings and set up the signs for the businesses.

Since most of the work was already finished, the villagers pretty much unanimously decided to take a good long break. After all, they could have hardly asked for a better one. It was a nice, crisp autumn day, and the fruit trees and bushes that had not been demolished in Nightmare's attack were now full of ripe fruit, just begging to be picked and eaten.

This tasty pastime was exactly what Kirby and his friends were doing at the moment. "Hey, Kirby!" Ado called out as she tossed up a bright red apple. "Catch!"

"Cat' wha'?" Kirby asked, turning to where his friend had called. Once he saw the apple, however, a broad grin spread over his face and he let out an intense inhale, pulling the crisp, delicious fruit into his mouth.

"Hey, be careful about that, Ado!" Lololo said, a laugh in his voice.

"Yeah," his twin, Lalala, agree. "We don't want to set off another Hypernova!"

"Who says?" Tuff asked, giving a mischievous grin. "It would be awesome to see another super copy ability! Like maybe super electricity, or super spike!"

"Well, I don't think he can just turn on a Hypernova like that, can you Kirby?" Tiff asked, stepping in lest her brother encourage the toddler to try something dangerous.

Kirby, who had not thought about that before, shrugged. "Dunno," he answered as he began looking for another apple. "Kaabii no' twy."

"Well, Sir Daroach did say that the power from the Miracle Fruit was directly tied to Kirby's emotional state," Adeliene pointed out. "Maybe he's only able to set off a Hypernova when he's scared or angry, like he was when Nightmare attacked."

Despite being the topic of the conversation, Kirby was becoming incredibly bored with the topic. He decided, as little children his age are wont to do, to wander off and see if there was something else to amuse himself with, in particular any more of the large, juicy fruit. Thus, he crept off as quietly as he could to avoid being pulled back into the conversation.

As he walked along, a happy memory drifted back to Kirby. Why, there were apple trees surrounding the little grotto where he and Meta Knight practiced! Some huckleberry bushes, too. Few people ever went around there, so those trees would be practically falling over from the weight of the fruit. He would have to go to amend that situation right away.

When he arrived at his destination, he found to his delight that his assumption had been correct. The apple trees were full of uneaten fruit, and the huckleberry bushes underneath them were similarly full. They were pretty much begging the little Puffal to come and relieve them of their burden.

He was more than willing to comply.

"So, you decided to come here to see if there was any untaken fruit, too?" The little one started when a familiar voice spoke behind him.

"P'yo, Medikni t'ewe?" he asked, spinning around.

Sure enough, sitting a good distance from where he stood was Meta Knight. The older Puffal was sitting with his back against a tree, a book opened in front of him.

"Yes, I am here," the Star Warrior answered. "It was too beautiful a day to spend indoors, and I remembered that there were berry bushes around the training grotto." He picked a handful of the berries and popped them in his mouth. "It seemed like a good idea to come out and read."

Curiosity overcame Kirby, and he toddled over to Meta Knight's side. "Wha' ya weadin'?" he asked as he settled down. "Can Kaabii hea'?"

"Well, I'm afraid this isn't quite for you," the blue Puffal responded to the pink. "It is an epic ballad from long ago, just after the time of Sirs Metian and Erran. It is a classic, and one you will learn about when you are older, but for now, there are parts that you don't need to hear."

"Oh," Kirby said, nodded. Then a quizzical look came into his blue eyes. "Why?"

"Why what?" The elder warrior was confused by the question.

"Why Kaabii got ta be o'dah?" Kirby clarified.

"There are just parts that you would not understand, nor do you need to understand."

"Why Kaabii no' undahstan'?" The little one was persistent.

Meta Knight sighed, a little annoyed, but at the same time remembering his own times of the unending why. "Just trust me on this."

Before Kirby could bring up another why, a call rang out through the forest. "Kirby! Kirby, where are you!?"

The toddler's face lit up when he recognized the voice. "Wibbon! Wibbon, Kaabii ovah hewe, wi' Medikni!"

Sure enough, it was not a few minutes after the little one had called out to his friend that she flew into view. "Kirby, there you are," she scolded. "Don't run off like that! We were worried about you."

"Kaabii 'kay," the young Puffal responded, waving his paw as if to shoo off any concern. "Kaabii wi' Medikni."

"Yes, but she is right," Meta Knight put in. "What if I had not been here, and you had run into trouble? You need to keep such contingencies in mind, young one."

Before the conversation could go on much more, a dark shadow covered over the area. "That's funny," Ribbon muttered as she looked up over the sky. "There wasn't supposed to be any rain today."

Meta Knight did not say so, but he suspected there was something off about that cloud. It did not look like a normal storm cloud to him. "Perhaps we had better be heading inside," he said, ushering the two children to the path as he did so.

Before they could go very far, however, a blast hit the ground in front of them, causing the three of them to be tossed three different ways. For a moment, none of them could move, and they could only look in shock to see what had fired at them.

When they saw it, they couldn't believe their eyes. Hovering overhead was one of the most hideous things they had even seen! It was a shape like a huge horned skull, floating over them. It had a necklace of skulls on, though it only had a dark cloud for most of its body, and on either side were skeletal hands.

"You, ancient warrior!" The trio jumped in shock when the skull bellowed out. "You who have defeated Nightmare! It is time for your power to merge with that of Necrodeus!"

Kirby could only whimper in terror when he saw that the huge monster was pointing at him. He tried all that he could to force his muscles to run, but the shock had overcome him. All he could to was stare in horror as the monster raised its weapon, a large rod, and let out a bright shock of light.

Thankfully there was someone who could muster the strength to do something. "Kirby! No!" Meta Knight sprang up as fast as he could, throwing himself between the child and the blast of light. There was blinding burst, and for a moment the children could see nothing.

When vision returned, the kids wished they still couldn't see. Meta Knight was gone; all that remained was his mask, cape, and sword, which lay in a little pile.

"M-Medikni?" Kirby asked, nudging the little pile as tears welled in his eyes. When nothing happened, he turned to the monster. "You hu'ted Medikni!" he cried out, voice harsh and hoarse with grief and anger.

He sprang up to deal with the monster, but it pulled back all of a sudden. "You are lucky your friend took that blast," the monster sneered. "I am now too weak to face you. But mark my words; you will learn to fear the name of Necrodeus yet!" With that, the huge figure pulled back and vanished from sight.

That really had only lasted a few moments, but to the children who had witnessed it, it had felt like ages. Kirby, in still in stages of shock and horror, turned back to the little pile of clothing where his mentor had once stood. "Medikni?" he asked questioningly, gathering armfuls of the cape as he did so. "Medikni 'kay?" He realized the futility of the question, but still asked it. When there was no response, he broke down and cried.

Ribbon flew over to his side, trying to think of something to say that could comfort her friend, but nothing would come to mind. All she could think to do was hug him.

They were sitting there for a moment, just trying to come to grips with what had just happened, when something occurred. Meta Knight's cape, which had been lying limp except for the portion Kirby had grabbed, began to move. A small lump formed on the other side of it, which began working its way towards the edge, letting out frustrated "poyos" as it did so.

"Wha?" Kirby looked over toward the lump, trying to figure out what was going on. He went over to the other side of the cape and lifted the edge for a look.

Underneath was a little royal blue Puffal baby! He was even smaller than the Puffalings were!

This revelation didn't help much with Kirby's confusion. "Medikni?" he asked, reaching down towards the tiny creature.

The baby looked up at him for a moment with wide blue eyes before rushing past him. The tyke ran off a few feet to one of the huckleberry bushes, where he set to picking off and eating as much of the ripe fruit as possible.

Ribbon was confused by this new development as well. "Is that…Sir Meta Knight?" she asked, peering over at the hungry infant.

Kirby nodded. "Is Medikni, poyo," he responded. Getting up onto his feet, he toddled over to where the now babified Meta Knight was eagerly picking berries. "Medikni 'kay?" he asked, touching the top of the infant's head.

Meta turned for a moment and looked at Kirby. Hope filled the little one that his mentor might recognize him and respond, but that hope was quickly dashed. "Poyo p'yo," the baby said in a huffy tone, clutching the berries he had picked closely. He was telling Kirby to go pick his own berries!

Dismay filled the young one as he watched his former mentor. The blast let out by that skeleton monster hadn't destroyed Meta Knight, but it had reduced him to an infant in both body and mind. "Medikni, I's Kaabii," he exclaimed, hoping beyond hopes that this would jog the now transformed Puffal's mind. "Pwease a'member!"

The baby glared at him for a moment before turning back to the much more interesting subject of huckleberries. Seeing this response, Kirby slumped down in dismay.

Once again, Ribbon flew over to comfort her friend, and this time she could think of something to say. "Well, at least he's still alive," she said, patting the pink toddler's back. "Maybe's there's something we can do to change him back to normal," she suggested. "After all, we figured out a way to turn you back to normal when this happened before."

Kirby brightened up a bit as his mind went back to the incident with the Magmire. "T'at wight! Kaabii tu'ned in ta a baby a'fore! We can tu'n Medikni back!" He jumped up as fast as he could to scoop the baby up. Before he could, however, another thought came to him. "Uh, how we change Medikni back?"

"Well, there wasn't any Magmire involved in this one, so I suppose there'll have to be some other way," the fairy responded, touching her chin. "Maybe Sir Daroach will know. After all, he's a Star Warrior, too, and he knows a lot about lore and legend."

"A'ight!" This seemed to reinvigorate the little Guardian. He jumped up and scooped the infant Meta up. "We go see D'woach!"

As they walked back through the woods towards the village, they soon came upon the rest of the kids, who seemed to be looking for them. Adeliene was the first one to see them.

"Hey, guys! They're over here!" she called out to the rest of the group before rushing over to Kirby and Ribbon. "There you guys are," she said as she arrived by the duo. "We were getting worried about you."

Her eyes grew wide when she spotted what Kirby was holding. "Oh, hi there, little guy!" the Paintrian artist said, patting the infant on the head. "Who's your new friend, Kirby?"

Kirby shook his head quickly. "T'is not new fwiend," he said, a tone of severity taking over his voice. "T'is Medikni. A big, mean monstah tu'ned him in ta a baby. We gonna go ask D'woach for help."

Instead of looking shocked, which was kind of what Kirby was expecting, Adeliene gave a small smile. "Well, that is an interesting story. Ribbon, do you know where this baby came from?"

"Kirby's right, I'm afraid," the fairy responded. "This is Sir Meta Knight. A monster came out of nowhere and attacked us. He was about to shoot Kirby with this weird ball of light, but Meta Knight jumped in the way and got hit instead. Afterwards, this is what had happened."

"Who's Sir Meta Knight?" Tuff asked as he joined up with the group.

Ribbon and Kirby could only in shock at the question. Who was Sir Meta Knight? Certainly they had to know, didn't they?

"T'is Medikni!" Kirby shouted in an uncharacteristically harsh voice, holding up the squirming infant. "A monstah tu'ned him in ta a baby, an' we need ta tu'n him back, poyah!"

"That's a very interesting story," Tiff said as she too arrived at the group, "but we need to find out where this baby came from. His parents must be looking for him."

Okay, this was just getting to be too much for little Kirby. "T'is is Medikni!" he borderline shouted. "Medikni now a baby, an' we gonna ask D'woach how ta change him back!" With that, he stomped off to go look for Sir Daroach.

"Hey, Kirby, wait up!" Ribbon called out, flying to catch up with the tyke. "I'm coming too!"

Confused, the others could only look at each other for a moment. They had no idea why Kirby had reacted the way he did. It usually took a lot to even make him frustrated, none the less out and out angry. Whatever had happened, it must have been rather serious. Thus, they too took off after the little Puffal, eager to figure out just what was going on.

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At the small cave that had become the Squeaks' temporary base of operations, everything was at a move. They were hard at work developing the new ship, which they would use to transport all their gathered artifacts back to Tiramisu City. They had been away from home for too long.

They had gathered up almost all of the materials they would need for the (admittedly short) trip back home when there was a call from outside the cave. "Hey, anyone home?"

Spinni leaned her head out from beneath the _Zephyr II_. "We're in here," she called out. "State what ya need."

Sword and Blade entered in. "We were about to start training," Sword started, "but we haven't seen Sir Meta Knight in a while. The others are going around asking about him, but no one seems to have any idea where he's gotten too. Some people don't even seem to remember him. Do you have any idea where he is?"

Storo gave the duo an odd look. "Sir Meta Knight? Who's he, some friend of yours?"

"Oh, no," Blade exclaimed in dismay, "not you too!"

"Now, Storo, these young warriors seem to be in some amount of distress." Daroach strode into the main area of the cavern. "This is not the time to be making jokes."

"Who's making jokes, boss?" Storo asked, becoming more confused by the moment. "I've never heard of this Meta Knight guy."

Daroach shook his head. He was used to Storo being a bit thick, but it was strange that he was denying knowledge of a friend. They would have to have a stern talk about this later.

"Now, my young friends," the mouse warrior said, turning to where Sword and Blade were still standing, "I, at the least, understand your question. I'm afraid I have no clear idea about where he might have slipped off to, but it is a fine day. He's probably gone off someplace where he can have some peace and quiet."

"D'woach! D'woach! He'p! Gotta big pwobwem! He'p!" Everyone turned in surprise as a panicked Kirby raced into the room. He was followed closely by Ribbon, and more from a distance by the other members of their small group.

"Ah, young Kirby, what seems to be the problem?" Daroach asked, turning to the alarmed youngster.

Kirby held up the squirming blue baby as he spoke. "Kaabii out wi' Medikni whe' t'e mean skewaton guy took a big gwowy stick, poyo, an' waved it an' t'ewe wa' a wight an' t'en Medikni wa' goned an' Kaabii thinked him dead, poyu, bu' in'tead he a baby an' now won' wisten to Kaabii an'…poyah…an'…" Unable to continue his hasty explanation, Kirby started tearing up himself, not quite certain what he needed to do.

"Now, now, calm down," the red-clad mouse said. "No one can understand what you are saying when you are in such a tizzy. Now, Miss Ribbon, can you explain what happened here?"

"I saw everything," Ribbon answered with a nod. "Kirby and I were with Sir Meta Knight in the training grotto when it happened."

"So you guys can remember him too!" Sword interrupted, excited that someone was finally giving a clear answer, even if they had not directly asked the question.

"Remember who?" Tiff asked as she and the other children finally caught up at the cave system.

"Some Meta Knight guy," Spinni answered, coming out from where she had been doing small repairs on the ship. She pointed a thumb at Sword and Blade. "They came in a few moments ago, talking about some guy who they were expecting. Apparently Daroach knows him, but Storo and I couldn't tell you who he was to save our lives."

"Getting back to the story," Ribbon put in, doing her best to mask a degree of annoyance, "we were out at the training grotto. Kirby had walked off to find another source of fruit and met Meta Knight there. I came after Kirby, and then this really weird cloud came up. A scary skeleton guy popped out of it and waved this stick weapon at Kirby, but Meta Knight jumped in the way. The skull guy ran away after that, and when we went over to see what had happened, this baby who looks just like Meta Knight crawled out from under the cloths."

"You can't really believe that story, can you?" Ado asked.

"It is a little far-fetched," her twin said in a softer voice.

Upon hearing the story, Daroach had turned a shade of white. Snapped out of it by the skeptical questionings, he rushed over to his library. "Not as far-fetched as you might think." He turned over to Kirby before going back to the papers. "Why don't you hand him to Sword or Blade, young one," he said. "This could be really bad, and they might have an easier time making sure that our child warrior doesn't wander away."

The Guardian nodded, handing the fussy baby over to Sword.

"What do you mean, this could be really bad?" Tuff asked. "They just found some baby and made up a story about this Meta Knight guy to go with it, didn't they."

"I believe it's worse than that," the mouse said quickly. "I can remember Sir Meta Knight, too, and know for a fact that they aren't making anything up."

"Are you calling us liars then?" Tiff asked in a hot tone of voice, immensely offended by the accusation.

"I am making no accusations of the sort," Daroach answered, not even bothering to turn to face the group. "You merely have forgotten about him, and it is not your fault that you have done so. Ah-ha, here it is."

He pulled down a relatively thin book with a paper cover. "This is manuscript about various spells that have been used over the galaxy. I cannot perform them myself, of course, but there is an importance in understanding what can be used against you and how you can deal with problems."

"Now," he went on, "if I am correct, then this particular issue may be a bit out of my league. Now! Here we have it." He turned the book around and pointed to a particular page. Unlike the pages around it, it was pretty much blank, with only the name and a brief description of the spell written down.

"The Clean Slate Curse," Daroach read aloud, "is a high level curse where not much is known about it. All that is known is that it is an identity erasure spell. Once the victim is hit by it, they vanish, as if they had never existed in the first place, and the only person who can recall that they had ever been is the spell caster."

"But Sir Meta Knight didn't vanish," Ribbon pointed out, a tone of confusion in her voice, "and there are a few people who can remember him just fine."

"I suppose that is both because Meta Knight was not the intended victim." Daroach straightened his hat and retrieved his cane. "As I said earlier, though, this spell is somewhat out of my league. Not being a creature of magic myself, there is not a lot that I can do to solve this particular problem."

"T'en Medikni a baby fo'evah?" Kirby asked with distress clear in his voice.

The mouse gave a small smile. "There, now," he said in a calming tone. "I didn't say that. There might not be anything that I myself can do, but I do think there is someone who might have an idea of how to break this curse. Now, come along, Squire Kirby, Lady Ribbon. You too, Sword and Blade."

"What do you want us to do, boss?" Storo asked.

"Just sit tight," the mouse warrior answered. "Your memories have already been affected by the curse, so I doubt there will be much you can do to help here, but you can still prep for our journey back home.

"As for you," he said, turning to the children who were also affected, "you had best go home."

"But we can help some way!" Tiff spoke up.

Daroach shook his head. "Like I said, you have already been affected, and it might get worse. You might not intend it, but the worse the curse becomes, the more likely you will be to interfere with what must be done."

The kids looked like they wanted to argue, but had to admit that his argument did make sense. Thus, the listened to what he said.

"Now," the mouse said, turning back to the few who knew who the baby was, "we must have haste. I do not know how much time we have."

"If you don't mind me asking," Ribbon said as she flew to catch up with the mouse, "where are we going."

"Why, to your home world, young fairy," Daroach responded. "I have no doubt that Queen Soleena will have an idea of what to do."

To be continued…


	63. Clean Slate, Part Two

The spring sun was shining bright over Ripple Star when the travelers stepped out of the Fountain portal. There was an intense contrast, leaving the autumn of Pop Star for the Spring of Ripple Star, but the difference in the weather couldn't have been farther from the travelers' minds. They had something far more important to think about.

"Lady Ribbon," Daroach said, turning to the little group and giving the instructions as he spoke, "as I have not had the honor of making the Queen's acquaintance yet, I will need your assistance in gaining an audience with Queen Soleena. Sword will come with us. Blade, you and Kirby remain here with our…young charge."

"Why Kaabii, Bwade, and Medikni no' come?" Kirby asked.

"I'm afraid that in his current state," the mouse answered, "Sir Meta Knight is in no state to be brought into a palace setting." He motioned to the infant, who was still protesting his being carried at the top of his lungs. "Perhaps it would be better to allow him to remain outside for a time." With that, Daroach and his two selected companions turned to go off on their own errand.

Once they had left, Blade set the infant down and went to sit by a tree while he watched the youngsters play. Relieved that he had finally been set down, the baby Meta immediately wandered over to one of the many flowering bushed to go examine their blossoms, right before selecting a sufficiently attractive one to put into his mouth.

At first, Kirby hovered over where the baby was playing, determined that his now infant mentor would come to no harm, no matter what happened. As time went on, however, the warm air did its trick, and the watcher became more relaxed. Somewhat drowsy, even.

He wasn't the only one, either. As he watched from his shaded place, Blade, too, began to feel unusually relaxed and somewhat sleepy. Had he been almost anywhere else, the young warrior in training would have been alarmed by this development and tried to rouse himself up and fight against the sleepiness. However, the peaceful atmosphere of Ripple Star caused him to let his guard slip, and he found himself falling deeper and deeper into a sleep like trance. He didn't even suspect something might be up until he saw Kirby fall over, asleep where he stood.

By that time it was too late.

"Ribbit."

Little Meta practically jumped out of his skin when he heard the noise. He could not remember ever hearing a noise like that before, and he wasn't quite sure whether it was friend or foe. He spent a moment looking around, but soon gave up when he couldn't find the source of the noise.

"Ribbit."

Well, it seemed he had given up his search a little too soon. Hearing the strange sound again, the baby Puffal began digging through the branches of the bush to see if he couldn't locate where the strange sound was coming from or what odd sort of creature was making it.

After a few minutes of fruitless searching, he found it. Sitting on a rock sat a small green frog. The infant leaned in to get a closer look at the strange creature.

The frog looked back at the baby for a moment before hopping away, as if completely disinterested in the newcomer. Dismayed, Meta took off after the strange creature.

Thus the chase when on. The frog hopped a short distance away, far enough so that the little one would be unable to catch completely up with it. In response, Meta would chase after the little green animal, curiosity overcoming any sort of caution. He needed to know just what this strange noise-making animal was.

This went on in such a way that the infant did not notice the specific pattern in the frog's hopping. It would always come up to the edge of the Fountain of Dreams before springing away from it. Every time, the hops to would take it, and by connection the little Puffal, closer to the edge, and closer to the deep side of the Fountain.

Several times there were close calls, and every time little Meta was only just able to catch himself to keep from falling into the waters. This did not shake his determination, however, and he continued on with his pursuit of the frog.

The last time he'd chase after the animal, he wasn't quite so lucky. The last hop brought the little green animal right out into the water, where it swam in for a fair distance. Without a single thought to what he was doing, the infant took off after it, too eager to catch the mysterious creature to realize that he was currently much too small to swim. It didn't take long for him to end up in over his head, both literally and metaphorically.

It might have been the end then and there, but thankfully someone reached him in time. A hand reached into the water and plucked the struggling infant up, pulling him out of the water.

It was Soleena, who had arrived on the scene with those who had gone to retrieve her. A good distance off, the others were trying to shake Kirby and Blade awake.

"I don't understand what happened," Ribbon commented as she attempted to get Kirby to wake up. "I know he enjoys naps, but he knew how serious this was. Why would he just fall asleep like that?"

"I do not believe it was his choice," Soleena responded, setting the infant Meta down. "Magic was used here, and of a dark variety that I have never sensed before." She closed her eyes as if focusing before carrying on. "The caster is still here, too. In the fountain."

It was then that the "frog" decided to make its move again. Springing clear of the water, it changed, taking on its true form. It was a little skull surrounded by a thick black cloud that looked and smelled repulsive. It charged ahead, intending to attack the small gathering while they were unawares.

That was its final mistake. Nearly as soon as it revealed itself, the group was aware of its presence. Daroach responded first, whipping the Triple Star out and firing off an Ice Beam that froze the monster into place. All it took was a single Sword Beam from Sword to finish it off.

Once the deed was done, the spell holding Kirby and Blade asleep disappeared, and the two were allowed to wake up. "Oh, my head," Blade groaned as he forced himself up. "It feels like I took about six liters of mead." He opened his eye and noticed the monster, still lying frozen on the grass. "Uh, did something happen while I was out."

"You can bet something happened," Sword responded, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "While you were dozing off, a monster almost lured Sir Meta Knight to his death!"

"Now, do not become impatient," Soleena scolded. "As I mentioned before, it wasn't their fault. That Skully placed them under a sleeping spell."

"A Skuwwy?" Kirby asked as he rubbed his eyes. "What a Skuwwy?"

"That's a Skully," Ribbon answered, pointing to the now dead monster. "I remember reading about those. They are not true living creatures, but rather creatures made of dark magic that act as extensions of their master's will. Whoever cast the Clean Slate Curse must have sent that Skully to finish the job."

"If only we knew who the caster actually is," Blade muttered quietly.

"Actually, that is what I can help with." The Fairy Queen produced a small book and opened it up. "Sir Daroach told me what you already know about the curse, and has asked if I can shed any more light on the topic. As it is, the library had a book that explains how to recognize a variety of evil spells and curses, as well as how to counteract them."

She opened her book and went right to a page towards the back. This page had no pictures and very small lettering. "The Clean Slate Curse is one such spell. As you already know, it is an identity erasure spell. The victim, when struck by it, essentially has their history erased, and it was like they never existed in the first place, with all knowledge, power, and experience going to the sorcerer who cast the spell. Because of this, it is incredibly difficult for us to actually know how the curse works. However, there have been some cases where sorcerers who used the spells explained what had happened, mostly in the area of bragging.

"For one thing, there appears to be a very sensitive calculation issue. Before the spell is cast, a series of years to be erased must be determined. Usually, this is the entire lifespan of the victim, but there have been instances where that hasn't happened perfectly." Here, she motioned to the infant Meta. "That much we can see for ourselves, all things considered. However, there is more."

"It appears," she continued, "that there is a relation between the closeness to the victim and how fast people forget them. Someone who has gained a friendship with the victim is likely to forget slower than one who was an acquaintance, and those who were like family will forget the slowest of all."

"That would explain why the others in Cappy Town couldn't remember who he was, but we could," Blade commented. "But why can you and Ribbon remember? I don't think you two are any closer to him than the people in Cappy Town."

"For Ribbon," Soleena answered, "I believe it was because she witnessed the curse being launched. She and Kirby will have an extra amount of time because of that personal experience. As for myself, I am not entirely sure. Perhaps it is my own level of power. That said, I am not immune to the effects of the curse. We must finish this soon; I can already feel my memories fading."

She then withdrew a small screen. "Now, the Clean Slate is an unusually strong spell, and only a select few sorcerers can use it, and even they need a long time to recover from the spell. Here is a list of the known magic users that are powerful enough to wield such a curse." Images flashed onto the screen, a variety of people who all had a look of unsavory intent in their faces. Much to the group's dismay, Nightmare himself was one of the listed.

Kirby spoke up the moment he recognized one of the individuals. "Him! T'at him!" The toddler was practically dancing as he pointed out the figure. "T'at t'e one who hu'ted Medikni!"

Soleena brought the picture up and enhanced it so that everyone present could see the image. There was no questioning it. The huge, skull headed monster with skeletal hands surrounded by a cloud of dark mist was definitely the one who had attacked before.

"Oh, dear," the queen murmured when she saw the image.

"Are you sure _that_ is what you saw?" Blade asked, hardly believing that such a creature could exist, none the less that they would have to deal with it.

"That's him alright," Ribbon responded, trying to sound bold but shaken by the image.

"This is Necrodeus, the lich." Soleena's face became stern as she spoke. "He is a criminal who is wanted for many crimes that have been committed in recent years. However, none have dared to apprehend him, even though his lair is known."

"Well, this is a problem," Daroach said, touching a paw to his chin. "Not one that can't be dealt with, though. I suppose it will be interesting. Never taken on a necromancer before."

As Kirby held on to the infant Meta, who was equally disturbed by the conversation, a question came into his mind. The pink toddler looked up and asked his question, though he doubted that he'd like the answer. "Wha' a necwomancah?"

"A necromancer," Soleena answered, "is a wizard who has touched some of the foulest of forbidden magic and let it consume them. He is not a Distort like Nightmare and Zero, but don't allow that to make you let your guard down, young Guardian. He is terribly dangerous, and will kill you if given the opportunity."

"Isn't there anything that can be done to stop him?" Sword asked, turning to the queen in dismay.

She nodded. "Indeed, but it won't be easy. Now, young Kirby, when you were attacked, did Necrodeus use any kind of weapon against you?"

The youngster thought for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, he had a weally big stick, an' he waved it at Medikni, an' t'at when Medikni tu'ned int' a baby."

The fairy queen nodded. "I thought as much. Because of what they have done to themselves, Liches are heavily dependent on channels. That rod must be the source of his power." She knelt down and put a hand on the little Puffal's head. "Kirby, to change Meta Knight back to his proper age and restore his memories, you will need to destroy the staff that Necrodeus was wielding. Now, this won't be easy, but you can do it. I would aid you, if I could, but I can feel that, in a few moments, I will not remember what your quest is about. Will you try and succeed?"

Though the recent revelation about his opponent made Kirby all the more frightened and anxious, he was also determined not to let his friends, and especially not his mentor down. He looked up, holding one of his paws up and speaking with as much firmness in his voice as he could muster. "Kaabii find a way ta he'p Medikni," he said confidently. "Kaabii destwoy t'e bad wich wod, and save Medikni!"

"Very well," she responded with a smile. "He would be very proud of you. Now-" She was about to continue with her explanation when a loud sound cut her off. The group turned and could see a swarm of little creatures rushing towards them.

You see, while they had been speaking, they didn't bother to notice what the little Skully who had been cut down by Sword was doing. Still frozen and unable to reform itself, it began letting out a cry that was at far too high a pitch for the gathered to hear. However, that cry did not go unanswered. Now, rushing towards them at a faster rate than they could have imagined, was a group of Skullies, at full power and charging with the intent to kill.

"Necrodeus must have sent them to hinder us," Soleena said, summoning her energy sword as she spoke. Her voice held the tone of command that spoke of one who was used to giving orders under pressure. "Kirby, Ribbon, protect Meta Knight. Try to get through the portal and back to Dreamland if you can. These creatures will mean to kill him if they get anywhere close, so don't allow them the opportunity. Sword, Blade, Sir Daroach, you three are with me."

Once the orders had been given, they small group split up to do as they had been directed. Kirby snatched up Meta and was in turn picked up by Ribbon. The fairy then flew as fast as her wings would take her to the Fountain, eager to reach the portal before the enemies were upon them.

Meanwhile, back on the shore, the remaining four stood their ground, waiting for the foe to come closer. They did not have long to wait; soon, the hoard of Skullies swarmed up upon them.

It was not that these creatures were difficult to fight. Quite the contrary; because they were no more than extensions of their master's will, without will or being of their own, they individually made terrible fighters. However, there were hundreds of them at the moment, and while it wasn't hard to stop the creatures, as soon as one was gone, five more came up to take its place.

As a result, things were slow going. For the most part, the four fighters on the shore were able to keep the hoards back. However, occasionally a single skull like monster was able to slip past the protectors and take up the chase over the fountain and attempted nipping at the three youngsters as they attempted to make their escape.

Thankfully, even those who made it through the block were usually quite useless, and it didn't take all too long for Kirby to dispatch the monster with a swift kick. These attacks happened about three or four times before the children were finally able to activate the portal. As soon as they were able to reach the center of the fountain, Ribbon activated the portal, slamming it closed behind them as quickly as she could, lest some of the monsters dive in and follow them to Dreamland.

It was a rather bumpy trip in, but after a few moments of traveling through the Fountain portal, the trio soon found themselves resting on the grass in the autumn air once again.

Now settled on his own two feet once more, the little Meta happily got up and began toddling around the courtyard, eager to view just about everything. "Poyo," he squeaked happily as he went around starting his mini adventure.

For their part, Kirby and Ribbon were a bit too shocked to respond in quite the same nonchalant way. Since they were away from the enemies that were trying to kill them, they were able to relax somewhat, but instead of wandering around they pulled back to the far wall and leaned against it.

"You alright, Kirby?" Ribbon asked her younger friend. "Those creatures didn't bite you, did they?"

Kirby smiled and shook his head. "No. Kaabii not bited." He leaned back and looked up at the sky, mind going over everything they had found out. "So we go ta Necwodi'us wair, and we fin' and bweak his wand. T'en Medikni be otay."

Realizing that her younger friend was vocalizing what they needed to do because of his own fears, Ribbon wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Hey, it'll be okay," she said in a quiet tone of voice. "After all, we now know what Meta Knight needs to be cured, and we can go and do it. And, after all, we're not alone. Most of our friends might not remember Sir Meta Knight, but Sir Daroach, Sword, and Blade will be coming with us." She tightened her hold to give him a hug. "We'll be in and out of there as fast as we possibly can, and Sir Meta will be back to himself in no time. You'll see."

The tot smiled back at her and was about to speak when he saw the fountain begin to bubble up again. "Uh, Wibbon! Wook! Wook!" The little pink Puffal stood up as soon as he saw it and started jumping and pointing with excitement.

"What is it?" Ribbon asked, turning to look where her friend was pointing. Sure enough, the portal to the fountain had opened, and in a moment, Daroach stepped out of the portal. Close behind him, Sword and Blade came behind.

Kirby hurried over and grabbed baby Meta before rushing over to the newcomers. As he and Ribbon drew closer, however, it became clear that the arrival wasn't quite as good as they imagined.

Daroach had a stern and somewhat anxious look on his face and he was moving faster than the two brothers behind him. Furthermore, neither Sword nor Blade seemed to be making any move to follow him, drifting off at a slower pace to another area of the courtyard.

"Kirby, Ribbon, come," the mouse called behind him, not bothering to look back as he moved. "I now know the location of Necrodeus' lair. If we are to arrive there before it is too late, we need to move now. Time is of the essence."

"But what about Sword and Blade?" Ribbon asked.

"Regretfully," came the response, "they will not be accompanying us on this particular battle."

"Why not?!" The fairy cried out in alarm and flew over to the two knights in training. "Why aren't you two coming?" she asked in a somewhat scolding tone of voice. "Don't you want to help Sir Meta Knight?"

The two brothers looked at each other for a moment. Sword then gave a question of his own that provided all the answers they needed.

"Who is Sir Meta Knight?"

To be continued…


	64. Clean Slate, Part Three

"Wha'!" Kirby exclaimed in shock and horror. How could Sword and Blade, of all people, who had served Sir Meta Knight through most of their young lives, have forgotten him already? "Medikni is Medikni!" he squeaked out as he held the struggling baby up, unable to think of any way to voice who his mentor was.

"Oh, so that's Meta," Blade said. "Well, he is a cute baby, but I can't see why you'd need our help. Wouldn't it be better to find his parents?"

Frustrated by their lack of cooperation, Kirby was about to continue with the argument when Daroach interrupted. "It is a matter of grave importance," he said in a calm, firm voice to the young knights in training, "but not one that you need to be overly concerned about. Why don't you go and do some training while you wait for your master to return?"

"Yes, sir!" Both knaves saluted before turning to go,

As they left, Sword looked over at Blade. "I didn't want to ask Sir Daroach," he said in as hushed a voice as he could muster, "but for the life of me, I can't remember who our master is. Do you have any idea?"

"I was hoping you did," his brother responded in dismay.

"What's going on?!" Ribbon exclaimed in shock. "It hasn't been all that long! Why can't they remember him anymore?"

"I'm afraid the curse is mving much faster that I originally thought," the mouse replied. "Lady Soleena forgot what was going on during the battle, and it wasn't long after that Sword and Blade ended up in the state you have just seen them in. As I said before, we must make haste. I fear it won't be too long before I too forget our mission. Come, we must make it to the _Zephyr II_."

Kirby glanced down at Meta for a moment before looking back to Daroach and Ribbon, who were already rushing off.

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

It had taken a few minutes to get everything aboard the _Zephyr II_ set up, especially since the rest of the Squeaks would not be accompanying them, but they were able to get everything set and the four passengers aboard without all too much trouble. Of course, the Squeaks were dismayed when they learned just where their leader was headed off to, especially without them, but Daroach had assured them that he would be fine, and that they were more needed back on Pop Star preparing for the return trip anyways.

Once the trip was underway, Daroach kept to the pilot's station so that he could steer the ship, and Ribbon flew too and fro, helping by turning this switch or pressing that button. Kirby wanted to help, too, and was given the task of watching over the infant Meta.

This task was, unlike the first time, rather easy. By now, completely worn out by his adventures, the little blue Puffal had slipped into a deep sleep. Thus, there wasn't much that Kirby had to do, other than wait, watch, and think.

As he thought, the whole weight of the situation really sunk in to him. If he failed at this, Meta Knight was gone. Permanently. There was no way around this fact, and there was little that the pink squire would be able to do to change it.

And what was there that he could do to change it? Why, enter into the lair of a despicable monster, accompanied by only a few people who were already rapidly losing their own memories, and destroy said monster's source of power.

How on earth was a little Puffal like him going to be able to manage that?! Of course, he had faced evils in the past, but those times they had been to stop them and keep them from continuing their evils. He had never gone in before with the only option being to go right to the center of their lair and destroy the source of their power!

He curled up and gave a little whimper, overwhelmed by the task at hand. The little one sat like this for a few moments, when he felt a hand resting on his side.

It was Ribbon, who had helped as much as she could and was now sitting outside. She rubbed his side in a comforting manner as she approached him. "Kirby?" she asked, concern clear in her voice. "Are you alright?"

The Puffal sat up, trying to think of a way to respond to his friend without worrying her. Finally, he decided to just state the truth. "Kaabii scawed." He looked down, trying not to meet his friend's gaze. "Don' know if I can do i'. T'e monstah weally big, and Kaabii weally small."

"Well, yeah," Ribbon replied, mind racing as she tried to think of a way to comfort the younger child. "But it's not like this is the first time. You've faced lots and lots of monsters before, and you always came out on top! Think about it; you've faced psychotic hunters, evil witches, bandits, and even Nightmare himself! This Necrodeus guy can't be worse that Nightmare, after all. He's only an evil wizard; you've fought and beaten a Distort!"

"Had t'e Miwaca Fwuit t'en," he said in a hushed tone of voice.

"And you still have it now!" the fairy responded. "Remember what Sir Daroach said? The Miracle Fruit power wasn't a one-time thing. It will come when you need it, and go when you don't. That way, you're never without any sort of aid and help.

"Besides, you'll never be alone," she added, giving a comforting smile to her young friend. "I'm here, and Sir Daroach is here. The others might not remember, but once everything is fixed, they'll be back too. Everything is going to be fine. You aren't doing this all alone."

When she said this, Kirby was reminded of something else a fairy had told him. He remembered his meeting with the Lady Stellara and the Lord Photron. How they had told him that the road he was to take would not be easy, but to remember that he would never face these horrors alone. All he had to do was ask for the help, and he would have the strength necessary to face the task.

Taking all this to heart, he turned and smiled at his friend. "T'ank yew," he said in a quiet tone of voice. "Kaabii gonna need he'p, but Kaabii can do it."

Ribbon wrapped her arm around his shoulders. "Of course you can. I know you can."

It was now that Kirby noticed the thick clouds that has started to overtake the environment outside. "Huh, wha' happenin'? Whe'ed t'e sky go?"

Sure enough, where there had previously been skies, and at least some light, there was now nothing but dark choking clouds. Indeed, it seemed that not even a speck of light was able to escape the thick formations.

As they wondered about the change in the atmosphere, they soon could tell they were descending. After a few minutes, the _Zephyr II_ was firmly on the ground. Despite their lower altitude, they were still surrounded by the black clouds, and they made everything near impossible to see.

It was then that Daroach was able to join them.

"Sir Daroach," Ribbon asked, staring out the window, not quite sure she wanted to go out into that sort of atmosphere, "why is everything so cloudy here?"

"That would be the work of Necrodeus," the mouse answered. "He is a loathsome creature who cannot stand the light of day. It is said that he wishes to gather all the strength he can so that one day he can blot out the light completely. You will have to be very careful when you move out."

These words did not help the frightening atmosphere of their surroundings, especially the last part. "A'n't yew coming too?" Kirby asked, shocked by the mouse warrior's phrasing.

Daroach shook his head. "I am ashamed to say, but the curse has already taken a hold of me. I have only the vaguest memories of Meta left, and I fear that soon I will lose even those completely. Once that happens, I will become a hindrance, rather than a help, to your mission. I will remain here for when you complete it, but I must keep myself under lock and key, lest I go out and try to stop you. But you will not be totally without help."

Going over to one of the special hiding places he had hidden around the ship, he pulled out the Triple Star from where it had lay in hiding. "Here," he said, handing it to Ribbon as Kirby picked up the sleeping Meta. "You can use this to defend yourself from any enemy who approaches you. Use the blue switch to activate the freezing ray, and the gold one to fire off the stars. It will also give off a glow which will allow you to see through these infernal clouds."

"Thank you," the fairy responded, still feeling anxious and unsure about what she was going to have to do, but feeling somewhat better since they wouldn't be defenseless.

"Go now," Daroach said, "and complete your mission before it is too late. Move in the direction that the clouds grow thickest. At the center of the bank is the palace in which Necrodeus lives. I wish there was more I could do." With that, he turned and enter another chamber, which he set to lock from the outside.

The children turned to the outside, not quite sure what they were going to do, but knowing that they'd have to do something. The life of their friends and the memory of all of their friends depended on them not failing in this task, difficult though it may be.

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

It wasn't too difficult to follow as the clouds grew thicker. Too bad the area completely stank, like a swamp that hadn't had the opportunity to drain in years.

"We need to turn this way," Ribbon called out as she held the Triple Star aloft, doing her best not to gag on the hideous fumes. "I think the clouds get thicker in this direction."

Kirby nodded, but dared not open his mouth in response. This whole area carried the stench of the destruction its master had wreaked, and it was becoming pure torture to move through the clouds.

Even little Meta, who had remained asleep from the time they had left the _Zephyr II_ seemed to be troubled by the foul clouds. He coughed and rubbed his face in his sleep, as if trying to rid himself of some loathsome hitchhiker.

As they were passing along, they soon came to a cave that seemed to be unaffected by the clouds. "Hey, Kirby, look over there!" Ribbon called out, motioning towards the small opening. "I think we can take cover in there for a while and rest. Do you want to take a bit of a break?"

There had been no need for her to ask the question, for as soon as she had pointed out the little area of rest, Kirby had already made a beeline for the entrance. Ribbon flew close after him, as eager as her young friend to escape the horrendous atmosphere.

Once they made it inside, they found to their relief that this area, indeed, seemed to be free from the terrible clouds of stink. They slumped down against the walls, desperate to catch their breath. Much to their delight, they also found that the area contained a small pool of water, which was a delightful change from the wretched territory outside.

Once she had taken a drink from the pool, Ribbon leaned back and looked up about their surroundings. "Hey, Kirby, take a look up there," she said, motioning to the roof of the cavern. "Aren't those pretty?"

Kirby followed her gaze and was shocked by what he saw. Up on the roof of the cavern were brightly colored crystals, which seemed to spark and shimmer in the light of the Triple Star. Furthermore, the sparkles of the crystals reflected off of the pool, which sent shimmers of rainbow colored light all around them.

"Hard to believe a beautiful place like this could be hidden in such a loathsome area," the fairy continued.

The toddler nodded, and while a part of him was eager to get back to and finish their quest, another part of him was content to stay here for a while. It was almost like he had been here before, and that it held some sort of importance to him.

Not too far away, little Meta seemed to be enjoying himself, too. He had taken a drink and was now enjoying himself by splashing around in the pool.

After a few minute of rest, Kirby finally decided that they had waited long enough. Turning to Ribbon, he gently nudged her. "Wibbon?" he asked, "yew weady ta go?"

In response, the fairy looked at him with a bit of confusion. "Go? Go where?"

This frightened Kirby, and though he had an idea of where this was going, he held on to the hope that it wasn't what he suspected it was. "We gonna he'p Medikni."

"Medikni?" Ribbon repeated. "Who's Medikni?"

That was enough to shake Kirby out of the peace of the cave completely. Without hesitating for a moment, he rushed over and grabbed Meta Knight, who was not pleased to be pulled away from his swim, and rushed back out. He plunged into the clouds, not even taking the time to notice the stifling clouds.

Behind him, Ribbon tried to keep up, confused by the little Puffal's actions. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out why he was acting this way. However, she did know one thing well enough. Something had spooked the little one, and pretty badly too. Whatever had happened, it couldn't be good.

Kirby ran through the clouds, using only the thickening of the atmosphere at his directional guide. This was not a difficult feat to perform, considering the lich's hatred of light. It was only a few moments after the little one had plunged back onto his quest that he found himself hitting a wall.

Literally, in fact. He had been in such an urgency to arrive at his destination that he hadn't spent much time paying attention to where he was running, and ended up running smack into a castle wall. Once he recovered from the blow, however, he was able to take a good look at where he would be infiltrating.

It was a huge, dark building that looked as if it hadn't been lived in for a very long time. Once, it must have been very beautiful, but the inhabitance of the litch and his minions had taken its toll. The walls, which looked to have once been white sandstone, were now so dirty and eroded that much of their original brilliance was long gone. Indeed, the only mark of their original beauty that was left was a little carving that appeared every now and then of two shooting stars with their paths crossing.

Kirby didn't have long to wonder at the old markings. Now that he was certain he had arrived at his proper destination, he moved the infant Meta onto his back and made his way into the foreboding place.

Inside the palace, the clouds weren't quite as thick, but it was just as dark as outside. If it hadn't been for Kirby's own luminescent eyes, it would have been completely impossible to see at all.

What he did see as he moved through the halls of the palace was much more of the same as he had seen outside. The carving of the stars appeared more and more, and there were other signs of long gone inhabitants. Ancient tapestries, paintings, and statues line the dank hallways. What was most surprising about these various pieces of art was the fact that they all, near exclusively, represented Dreamlanders, and in particular, the now familiar figure of Sir Erran appeared repeatedly. Less often, there were images of Puffals, especially Sir Metian. All these images stuck in Kirby's mind, and he decided that once Meta Knight had been freed from his curse, they would need to figure out what all of these meant.

Right now, however, he had more urgent things to think of than the ancient art of the palace. Somewhere within the depth of the castle, would be the rod that Necrodeus had used to curse Meta Knight. All Kirby would have to do was find it and destroy it. Then everything would return to how it had been. Then everything would be alright again.

As he traveled through the halls of the ancient palace, the little one failed to notice that he was being followed. Dark figures of Skullies trailed after him, closing doors and setting traps. There were others ahead of him as well, acting in the same manner; blocking off some passage ways and opening others up. He was being lead, though he didn't realize it, and he was expected.

Before too long, he found himself walking up the stairs of a huge tower that seemed to spiral on and on. Moving as quickly as he dared, holding tight to the infant clinging to his back, Kirby ascended, reaching to the heights of the tower.

When he had been walking for fifteen minutes (that felt like three or four hours) he finally got the idea to puff up. Taking a deep breath, he and Meta slowly rose up. This was not much faster than traveling by foot, but it was a bit more relaxing and was definitely quieter.

After another ten minutes of floating, they made it to the top of the tower. Making his way over to a ledge so that he could land, Kirby released the breath he had held, which allowed the two Puffals to fall to the ground with a light plop.

Now that they had made it to the top, the pink Puffal looked around, getting a good look at their surroundings. That was when he saw it. The rod. It was sitting right there! All he had to do was smash it, and then their quest would be over. Meta Knight would be free!

Kirby rushed out, eager to snatch up the rod and destroy it, finally breaking the horrible curse. However, as he rushed ahead to grab a hold of it, it floated out of reach. There was a burst of smoke and a dark, wicked laughter filled the room.

"Did you really think that it would be that easy, Guardian?" the voice bellowed. "Fool!" It was now that the speaker emerged from the room. It was Necrodeus, who was now holding the rod up out of reach.

"Give 't ta Kaabii now, yew meany!" Kirby shouted out. He was afraid, but currently anger and determination were forcing the fear back. "Tu'n Medikni back!"

"So this is what you want?" The lich gave a cruel smile. Lifting the rod up to his mouth, he swallowed it. "Its power belongs to me!" he laughed once he had done this. "As soon yours will be, too!"

Kirby had only a moment to dodge before one of Necrodeus' fists came down, almost squishing the little Puffal. He rushed to the other side of the room, looking desperately for something to copy off of and defend himself with, but there didn't appear to be anything he could use.

Seeing the little one's panic, the lich laughed. "Yes, run, pitiful Guardian!" he called out as he lashed out again. "There is nothing you can do! I will destroy you and absorb your powers, just as I have done to many others before you! There is nothing you can do to stop me!"

Kirby peeked over his should as he ran and was relieved to see that Meta had the sense to find an area of cover to hide in. There wasn't anything he could do at the moment to reach his infant mentor, but at least he had the relief of knowing he had reached safety.

He didn't have too long to process this information, however, as the huge fist came down again, smashing into a column he had taken cover behind. This blow, while it didn't hit Kirby, was hard enough that it stunned the youngster, leaving him frozen where he had fallen for the moment. Necrodeus laughed, raising his fist again for another blow. He believed that his victory was close at hand.

Before the blow could strike, three gold stars shot out of nowhere. All three struck the hand that was about to strike, with the third one hitting dead center. This blow seemed to injure the lich, who cried out and pulled his injured hand back.

"You leave them alone!" Ribbon called back as she flew in, holding up the Triple Star in preparation for another attack.

"You meddling fairy!" Necrodeus roared. "How dare you interfere in the affairs of your betters!" He lashed out at her with his good hand. He missed her and, since he was swinging with the intent of crushing he little fairy, smashed into the floor completely, getting his hand caught in the process.

Seeing his opportunity, Kirby dashed ahead to the trapped hand and began kicking it will all the might he could muster in his little body. Whack! Smack! Crack! That seemed to do the trick, since as soon as Necrodeus got his hand out, he held it limply towards his head, unable to use either of them to fight.

The battle wasn't quite over yet though. Even though his hands were now injured beyond use in the battle, the litch wasn't quiet defeated just yet. Summoning up as many Skullies as he could, he sent the swarm out to attack the little duo.

Kirby and Ribbon held their own bravely, the Puffal kicking with all his power and the fairy launching off as many stars and ice beams as she could. However, it just appeared to be too much. They were starting to be overwhelmed.

That was when something happened that surprised them all. Little Meta, who had stayed in hiding during all of the battle, now could look out and see that the two were being overrun, and without any help, they weren't going to be able to make it. Though he could not remember properly who he was, the little blue Puffal still held his sense of honor and justice, and he rushed out, determined to help his friends to stop the terrible monster they were facing.

Good intentions and the ability to help, however, and two different things. Once the little Puffal hurried out of his hiding place, he was snatched up by two of the Skullies, and was dragged to Necrodeus. Once he was within reach, the lich snatched him up and squeezed him. There was a loud sound and Meta went completely still.

Kirby had seen the whole thing. Desperate as he was to help his mentor and teacher, he couldn't do anything. How now looked over at Meta's still body. "Medikni?" he asked in a quiet voice. "Medikni? Papa?"

There was no response, and something seemed to snap within Kirby. A familiar feeling he had once before began filling the little one, and he let it come. Soon, starting with the little stars in his eyes, the Puffal's body began shimmering in iridescent colors.

Ribbon, though she could not remember Meta Knight, could remember enough about Kirby to recognize what was happening, and she ducked to find cover as quickly as possible. It was best to not be in the direct line of fire when Kirby was about to perform a Hypernova.

Perform on he did. Opening his mouth up, he began inhaling to the fullest extent of his abilities. Nothing could escape the vortex. All of the Skullies that Necrodeus had unleashed were immediately pulled in, the power of the Guardian's attack being far too much for them. Even Necrodeus himself was struggling not to be pulled into the youngster's mouth. To avoid this, he launched off several energy balls at Kirby, hoping this was shake him and break his intense inhale.

This proved to be a mistake. As soon as the shots were fired off at him, Kirby inhaled those as well. Once he had them caught, he copied off of them, and in a flash, he had become Beam Kirby. Like before, the transformation didn't stop there. Both sides of his hat elongated, and the pom-poms at the ends turned into stars. Likewise, the rod in his paws grew, increasing in its own size and strength. He had become Flare Beam Kirby!

Raising the rod above his head, Kirby unleashed a huge energy ball. It hovered above the young Guardian's head for a moment before shooting out an energy ball at top speed against Necrodeus. It was only by sheer speed that the lich was able to dodge the ball, which crashed out behind him.

Unlike the energy produced by a normal beam ability, this energy did not dissipate once it hit the wall. Instead, responding to the control of the young one, it rebounded, coming back and striking the enemy hard.

Necrodeus was not defeated, though, responding to the strike, he unleashed several more energy blasts of his own, aiming at Kirby and the areas around him. They crashed down around the youngster, shattering stone and throwing dust everywhere. The little one was forced to duck down to avoid the debris and soon disappeared into a cloud of dust.

Believing his victory was at hand, the lich went closer to where the Guardian had been standing with the intent of absorbing his power. However, Kirby wasn't down. As soon as the villain had put his head close to where the youngster was, Kirby jumped out, knocking Necrodeus over his skull like head with the rod.

One the last strike, Necrodeus saw his opportunity. Lashing out, he caught the rod in his teeth. Before Kirby had much of an opportunity to respond, the lich yanked the weapon out of his paws and swallowed it.

"Fool!" Necrodeus bellowed. "You have now given me the power of the Guardian! With it, I will be invincible! The universe will be mine! I will be unst-" Suddenly, he stopped. Truthfully, he looked much less invincible, and much more ill.

Suddenly, bursts of light began breaking through his skull. "What is this?!" the lich questioned. "What is happening?!" The cracks of light grew more and more, and suddenly, with a bright flash of light, the skull was vaporized.

As soon as Necrodeus was dead, all of the wickedness he had ever worked vanished. The wicked clouds disappeared, allowing the bright sun to shine through. A forest and mountain area could now easily be seen, since the smothering atmosphere was gone. Even the palace, though still dirty and now with the tower in shambles, looked much more like some sort of ancient treasure than the foreboding area of terror it had before.

The less noticeable parts of his curses evaporated, too. Ribbon blinked and shook her head, feeling as if some sort of heavy cloth had been taken off her head. "What the? Kirby, what's going on?" Reality hit her like a ton of brick. "Wait, Sir Meta Knight! We came to help Sir Meta Knight! Where is he?"

Kirby looked down sadly, prepared to answer that the knight was dead, when another voice answered for him.

"I am right here, though at the moment, I can't say where 'here' is."

Both children turning in shock and delight to discover that there, standing right before them, was Meta Knight! He had been restored to his proper age and was leaning against a bit of rubble.

Kirby could hardly contain himself with joy when he saw his mentor standing alive. He immediately ran over and hugged the blue Puffal. "Papa!" he declared joyfully.

There was a moment of silence before Meta Knight spoke. "What did you call me?"

Shocked at the realization of what he just said, Kirby pulled back and looked down, somewhat ashamed. "I sowwy," he said in a hushed voice.

Meta Knight, however, was not upset. "No, it's alright," he said, patting the youngster on the head. "You may call me Papa, if you want."

Kirby smiled hugged his father again.

Meta Knight then turned to Ribbon. "Since I currently do not have my mask, I'm afraid you are going to need to explain to me just what was going on here. For the life of me, I can't recall anything that has happened.

The fairy chucked. "Well, it's kind of a long story…"

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The next day, a gathering of people stood around ruins of the ancient castle and surrounding areas. For the moment, adults who were there were Sir Meta Knight, Sir Daroach, Sir Ebrum, Lady Like, and Mr. Curio. The typical group of children had also accompanied, but the two groups had pretty much gone to explore different areas.

At the moment, the two Star Warriors were standing closely with the Ebrum parents, speaking in hushed tones. "So," Meta Knight began, "is this the place?"

Sir Ebrum shook his head. "No, but it is close. In fact, I'd bet there are tunnels in that mountain that connect to it."

"This does appear to be one of the areas founded after we left, though," Lady Like said thoughtfully. "Our symbol is etched in everywhere."

As the adults spoke among themselves, the children were exploring into the cavern where Kirby and Ribbon had rested for a while. "So you say that this area was free from that Necrodeus guy's curse even when he was alive?" Tuff asked as he craned his head back to look up at the bejeweled ceiling.

"Yep," Ribbon responded. "I don't know why, but out of everything there, this was the only area we could escape from the stink."

"That must have been a tough trek," Tiff said thoughtfully. "Sorry we weren't there to help you guys out."

The fairy waved the apology off. "No need to be. It wasn't your fault you forgot, it was Necrodeus', but he's not going to be bothering anyone else again any time soon."

As the fairy answered, she spotted a bright red crystal embedded in the wall that gave her a sudden reminder. "Oh, I meant to ask earlier, but have you and Tuff figured out anything more about your halves of the Flight Star?"

Tiff shook her head, removing the little red star from a small pouch as she did so. "No yet. It's pretty clear these are the halves of the same object, but for the life of us, we haven't figured out how to put them back together again. I'm beginning to question if there is a way."

"There'll be a way," Tuff responded, confidence completely clear in his voice. "Whoever split it in half had to have some sort of plan. If they didn't, why would they have done it in the first place?"

His sister looked down intently at her own little star. "I don't really know, but I've got a funny feeling that, whatever the reason it can't have been because of anything good." She took a few steps towards the water. "I just hope that we'll be able to figure out-hey! What's going on?!"

She had cried out because, as she had taken her steps forward, her star started glowing as brightly as possible and tried to pull itself free of her grip.

Seeing her distress, Kirby raced to her side. "Kaabii he'p!" he called out, joining her in trying to reign in the ruby object.

"I'll help too!" Tuff called out. However, as he raced to join the duo, he tripped and fell flat.

His own little orange star zipped out of its carrier once it had the opportunity, glowing brighter than any of them had ever seen it glowing before. It smacked into the ruby star, knocking it free from the struggling Tiff's hand. Once free, both stars dashed on their own towards the back of the cavern, where they smacked into the ground hard enough to shatter the stone ground that it crashed into.

The kids could only stair in shock for a moment at what they saw. "What was that?" Ado couldn't help but ask, breaking the rather uncomfortable silence.

"I have no idea." Tiff responded. Since she and Kirby were the closest to the landing area of the twin stars, they rushed over to see just what had happened. Tuff, Ribbon, and both sets of twins followed close behind.

At the point of impact, it became clear just how hard the little stars had hit. The entire ground had been cratered, with shattered fragments of ancient stone lying all around. At the bottom, the two little stars lay, without a chip or scratch on them.

Tiff reached down to pick her Ruby Star up, fully expecting that it would be a struggle. However, much to her surprise, it was easy as anything. "How strange," she muttered. "I wonder why they did that."

"Hey, look down under the rubble!" Lalala called out as she floated down to join them in the crater. "It uncovered a box!"

Sure enough, buried in the rubble that had once been the cavern floor, was a medium sized black box. "Here, Kirby," Tuff called as he skidded in and retrieved his Topaz Star. "Help me get this out."

Once the box had been unearthed and hauled out of the crater, they now could have a clear look at it. They found that it was made of shining black stone, and that there was an emblem of two crossing shooting stars, same as the carving that had been at the castle.

"It looks like it's made of obsidian," Tiff commented as she ran her hand across the top. "It must be very old. I wonder who could have put it down here."

"Who cares about that?" Her brother was not quite as interested in the box's history as he was in its contents. "Let's open it up and see what's inside!" With that, he took a hold of the lid and flipped it open.

Tiff was prepared to scold her brother, but what rested inside amazed them both to silence. Crossed, one over the other, were two silver bows, each with the outer edge sharpened like a knife, except where the handle was. Each had a bright gold string, and despite the many years they must have been buried, neither looked tarnished, or even dusty.

Carefully picking up one of the bows, the Dreamlander girl examined it closer. "These have to be several thousand years old," she said as she held it up to the light, "but they look brand new. I wonder how they could have stayed in such good shape."

That was when she noticed her brother with the other bow, pulling back the string as if to fire. "Hey, Tuff, be careful with that!"

"Aw, will you chill, sis," he said in somewhat of a teasing voice. "It doesn't even have an arr-" Before he could finish his sentence, a glowing energy arrow materialized right at the area where he had drawn the string. In surprise, he released the string, and it shot right out before striking the roof.

"Children!" The kids all looked up and realized that the adults had come to join them. Lady Like had been the first to arrive on the spot. "What happened?" She raced over to them, but froze in shock when she saw the bows her son and daughter were holding.

"We were just looking around a bit," Tiff explained, holding up her own bow as she spoke, "and we found these buried in the cave. We're not quite sure what they are."

"I know exactly what they are," a voice said from the entrance of the cave. They all turned to see Meta Knight standing there, eyes flashing bright green. "Those are the halves of the Duciel Bow, the ancient weapon of Sir Erran, and the twin weapon of the sword Galaxia."

To be continued…


	65. Meet New Friends, but Find the Old, Part One

"Raise your elbow just a bit," Meta Knight instructed. "You'll want to keep as much control over the path the arrow takes as possible." He was standing in the training grotto with Kirby, training with the youngster in the art of archery. However, there was a difference here than usual.

"Like this?" Tiff asked as she followed the instructions. She and Tuff, upon the discovery of the Duciel Bow, had joined Kirby in his training and instruction in the way of the Star Warriors. Sir Ebrum and Lady Like had been won over by the fact that their children had been chosen to wield the halves of the ancient weapon, as it would be necessary for them to actually know how to use them if they were to be able to do so safely.

At the moment, however, the three children were training with wooden practice bows instead of the ancient weapons. Tuff had already released his shot, and had almost hit the middle. Tiff released the arrow, which buried itself in one of the target rings about two rings from the center.

"Well done," the blue Puffal nodded. "Your aim has already begun improving."

"Kaabii tu'n!" Kirby declared before jumping ahead. He unleashed his own shaft, which hit dead center on the target. "Kaabii win, poyo!" he declared, cheering and dancing in victory.

"Hey, he can't call that a win!" Tuff complained. "He's got the Arrow Ability! That's cheating!"

Meta Knight did his best to smother a laugh. Indeed, now that Kirby had classmates to train with, things were reminding the older warrior more and more of his own training days. "Training is not a competition," he responded calmly. "A Star Warrior will rejoice just as much and more over the success of his fellows as his own success. Remember, when you have reached your full training, you classmates will become your backup." His eye flashed pink with amusement. "Would you rather have someone who lagged far behind in skill watching your back, or one who has repeatedly reached success in their own accomplishments?"

"Alright," the Dreamlander boy said, shrugging. "I just don't get why we have to use these bows. Wouldn't it be better to work with the Duciel?"

The warrior shook his head. "Basics must be taught and understood before anything more specialized can occur. Besides, you will need to know a bit more about the Bow's history before you begin using it regularly."

He glanced up at the sky before continuing. "That said, it seems to be getting closer to the afternoon, so perhaps a bit of a break and a history lesson are in order." He motioned for the three children to seat themselves. Once they were sitting, he instructed the brother and sister to place their halves of the ancient bow in front of themselves, while placing Galaxia in front of Kirby.

"All of these weapons," he instructed, motioning towards the three objects, "are thee of the ancient treasures of the Star Warriors. They are both made out of the same three metals: Keinomine, Efferomite, and Shyron. In Galaxia, the three metals are combined into an alloy. In the Duciel Bow, the Keinomine and Efferomite have been combined. This combination is what gives the weapons their durability, especially their resistance to scratching and chipping, and the resistance to heat. Shyron is a metal with the special trait that, when a lot of potential energy is stored within, it will build up that energy and release it in an intense burst. It is this effect that causes Sword Beam in Galaxia, and what forms the Energy Arrows with the Duciel Bow. This effect can be mimicked with other metals, but it is nothing in comparison to the raw power contained in a Shyron burst. As said before, in Galaxia, the Shyron is mixed with the other metals, and it is what the string of your bow is formed from.

"Now, very little is truly known about the weaponry's origin. Legend tells us that they were given to the Star Warriors' founders, Sir Metian and Sir Erran, by the Fire King Photron, who was recently discovered to be a Guardian."

Kirby beamed at the mention of his own discovery. "Kaabii finded t'at ou'! Phot'on say so!"

Meta Knight nodded, taking the interruption in stride. "Indeed. It was said that these were given to the founders to face some evil they had found themselves pitted against, but we have no memory for complete certain what that was."

The warrior searched his mind on what to say next. Truthfully, history and lore had not interested him all that much as a child, and he was ashamed to say that he never really paid all that much attention in those classes because of that. He did, however, have a little more to talk about. Making a mental note to see if Daroach knew anything more of their history, he went on. "Until recently, we did not even know if Metian and Erran were real people, or were simply legendary figures that crept in over time. We now know, as you yourselves know, that they were in fact, historical figures, but the exact details on who they were and what they did are still unclear."

"Sir Meta Knight! Sir Meta Knight!" All four individuals looked up when they heard the call. Running up to them were Sword, Ax, and Silica. The three knaves looked to be in somewhat of a hurry.

Meta Knight stood up as his students approached. "What seems to be the problem?" he asked once the three teens had arrived.

"There's a ship that's come into the atmosphere and is landing in the woods," Silica answered, pointing off into one of the denser part of the forest. "We received no call on who they were, but once we got a closer look, we got some bad news. It's a Dreadnaught-37 Beta Ship!"

"Is that bad?" Tuff asked, looking confused at the designation.

"Bad but confusing." Meta Knight picked up Galaxia as quickly as he could. "Dreadnaughts were a specific kind of ship favored by Nightmare's troops in the first part of the war."

"But they haven't been made at all ever since Nightmare's imprisonment in the Fountain of Dreams," Sword explained. "Without any announcement of what their intentions are, we're in the dark about what we're dealing with."

"This could be incredibly dangerous." With a swift movement, Meta Knight swept up Galaxia and sheathed it. "You three had best head back to the village. We will join you once this issue is dealt with. With that, he and the older students hurried off in the direction of the landing ship.

"That figures," Tuff grumbled as he picked up his bow. "Even though we're Star Warrior squires now, too, we still get left out of the exciting stuff."

Tiff smiled as she picked up her own bow. "Well, at least we're finally getting somewhere. Come on, we'd better be getting back to Cappy Town."

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Deep in the forest, not too far away from the area that have been cleared out of Necrodeus' influence, a portal opened up. Three huge dog like creatures stepped out, and it was incredibly clear these things were not natural animals. They looked to be dripping ink and paint, and almost looked as if they were dripping apart as they moved. The portal closed once they had stepped through, and they sat, as if waiting for something to happen.

One of them was holding something inside its mouth that was struggling to get out, and was putting up a fairly good fight. The creature had to fight hard to keep its captive inside, and soon it became too much for the monster. The little prisoner finally succeeded in breaking free, causing the monster to briefly dissolve into a blob of of inky paint.

The force of the escape sent the now ex-captive barreling into a nearby tree. It was a little fairy-like girl, with short, multicolored hair. Straightening up from her crash, she carefully smoothed her pink dress down. "Oh deaw," she muttered quietly. "T'at hu't a wot! Now, whe'e am I?" She looked around her surroundings and found to her dismay that nothing looked like what she remembered.

She had other things to worry about, though. By now, the paint creatures had realized what was going on and had regrouped themselves. The three of them were now gathered together, and they charged forwards in an attempt to catch the little fairy girl again.

Realizing what was happening, the little girl transformed, taking the form of a paintbrush with the handle the same color as her dress and the brush the same color as her hair. She could move faster in this form, and she hoped that this would allow her to escape her terrifying kidnappers. She also hoped there would be someone around who would be able to help her.

Despite the burst of speed the paintbrush gave her, the ink-paint monsters kept right on her heels. Several times they got a bit too close for comfort, and the little fairy was forced to move up to avoid the snapping jaws. Every time, she was able to move out of the way, but every attack got closer and closer.

Soon, the chase was starting to wear down the little fugitive. No matter what she did to try to keep ahead of her pursuers, they soon caught up, and the bursts that were required to keep out of reach was wearing her stamina thin. She soon realized she need to shake them for good, or else she'd get caught for certain.

She did the only thing she could think of doing. She flew into the branches of a high tree, retaking her fairy form as she did so. Since the paint monsters had previously been forced to keep to the ground, she might have a chance if they couldn't climb trees.

Her hope, however, proved to be mistaken. When the monsters reached the base of the tree, the three of them merged together to form a single blob-like monster, which began sloshing its way up the tree, reaching the branch the little fairy was resting on.

Looking down in dismay, fairy did the only thing left she could think of. "He'p!" she called out as loudly as she could. "Somebody, he'p me!"

Despite her cries, it didn't appear that there was anyone around to help the distressed little fairy. She tried to climb up the branches of the tree to get away from the encroaching slime as it sloughed and bubbled its way up to her. The chase was looking hopeless, though, and soon the slime was starting to take ahold of the hem of her skirt.

In desperation, the fairy called out one last time. "Somebody, pwease! He'p!"

As desperate and hopeless as it seemed, this call seemed to have actually done some good. Right as it looked that the monster was going to take ahold of her again, a glowing arrow shot out of nowhere, striking the side of the tree and scraping away an amount of the paint-ink monster. It let out a screech of pain when it was hit and was forced to release its prey.

The fairy looked to see what it was that had saved her. Standing not too far away was Tuff, who had just unleashed an energy shaft from the Duciel Bow. Tiff and Kirby were not too far behind him.

"Hey, you! Slime creeps!" the Dreamlandian boy shouted out, pulling out the string to summon another energy arrow. "Why don't you try picking on someone who can actually fight back?!"

The fairy looked on in delight and admiration, but the monsters didn't seem to share her opinion. Splitting into three again, the monsters turned to the newcomers threateningly, deeming them the more important issue to deal with. The escaped hostage could be dealt with later.

In response, Tiff pulled back the string on her bow to summon an arrow of her own, and Kirby looked around for something he could copy. It was pretty clear they were going to have a fight on their hands.

The monsters charged at the trio, prepared to engulf the youngsters. Fully prepared for this, the young Dreamlander siblings loosed their arrows. They both hit the middle monster, which let out a shriek of pain before evaporating.

The remaining two continued their charge, one of them focusing in on Kirby. The little Puffal was more of a threat than it had supposed. Kicking out, he struck the monster hard, causing some of the ink to splatter off. This the young one inhaled, becoming Paint Kirby.

With the new ability, Kirby painted up a massive tidal wave. The sudden surge of water washed over the area, wiping out the monster completely.

The last monster had made it up to the young Dreamlandian siblings, and had gotten there too fast for either of them to come up with another energy arrow. In desperation to protect herself and her brother, Tiff lashed out with the sharpened edge of the bow, slashing through what passed as the ink monster's face.

It let out an angered shriek before charging at them again and attempting to engulf them. This, however, turned out to be a big mistake. Once it had surrounded the siblings, this gave them the opportunity to attack with the knife edges of their bows, slicing through the ink. Once they cut their way out, the ink evaporated as the last monster was defeated.

Now that the danger had passed, the trio turned to the fairy girl, who was now trying to work her way out of the tree. Kirby, as usual, lead the way in the greeting. "Hii!" he called out, waving just about as energetically as possible. "It 'kay now! T'e monstahs all goned!"

Moving out of the tree, the girl came to stop in front of them and curtsied. "T'ank yew," she said, her voice making it clear she was about Kirby's age. "T'ose mean monstahs twied to eat me, but I 'scaped. T'ank yew fo' savin' me."

"That's okay," Tuff said, grinning as he hefted his bow on his shoulder. "We're Star Warriors. Saving people's what we do. My name's Tuff, by the way, and this is my sister, Tiff, and our friend, Kirby the Guardian."

"I's Kaabii!" Kirby cheerfully clarified.

The girl curtsied again. "My name Ehwine, Pwincess of Mus'an."

Kirby happily wandered over and shook her hand. "Hii, Ewwine. Where Mus'an?"

"My name no' Ewwine," the girl clarified, "it Ehwine, and is t'is Mus'an?"

"I think she means Elline," Tiff explained, having gotten used to somewhat garbled toddler speech. "And as for where we are, Princess Elline, I'm afraid we're not in Musean. We are currently in Whispy Woods, in the country of Dreamland."

This seemed to distress little Elline. "Whe'e Dweamwand on Woomio Stah?"

The trio were confused for a moment again, but Tiff gave her guess as to an answer. "Do you mean Lumio Star? As in, the planet?"

"Uh huh," Elline chirped. "T'at it! A'e we cwose to Paintwiad?"

"We no' on Woomio Stah," Kirby explained after a moment. "We on Pop Stah. T'at 'nothah pwanet."

"Wha'!" the little fairy exclaimed in shock. "We no' on Woomio Stah? T'e monstahs go fah away." Tears began to well in the toddler's eyes. "I wan' my sistah. I wanna go home." She slipped down and started to cry.

Kirby, who was always upset when he saw someone cry, rushed over and hugged the other child. "Don' wowwy," he said, doing his best to sound comforting. "We fin' yo' sistah. My Papa weally goo' a' findin' peopo'. I su'e he fin' you sistah."

Elline looked up, hope showing through the tears. "Weally?"

"Yeah!" Tuff joined in, trying to help. "Sir Meta Knight-that's his name, by the way-knows just about everything."

"If anyone is going to know how to get you home," Tiff added, "it's him. We'll just have to get back to the village to wait for him to get back."

The fairy brightened at this idea. Standing up, she hugged Kirby back and shook the Dreamlander siblings' hand. "T'ank yew all," she said, recovering from her shock. "I dunno wha' wou'd happen wivout yew."

Tuff grinned. "Hey, it's like I said earlier," he chimed. "It's just what we do." With that, the four headed off in the direction of the village.

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As Meta Knight and his students moved through the trees, anxiety was the prominent atmosphere among the group. They had caught up with the remainder of the teens, so at least their group was a bit larger, but since they had no idea what they were going up against, there was still some tension. "Be prepared for a battle," the Puffal warrior instructed his students. "There are two likely explanations for this landing, and I'm afraid neither of them spells out anything good for us."

"First of all, there might be fringe groups left over from the old wars who have arrived again," he called out. "This would be the more preferred of the two possibilities. If this is the case, then the enemy will be hostile, but disorganized. It will be likely that they will attack, but if they haven't heard from Nightmare, then they won't really have any idea what they are up against."

"That doesn't seem like quite a favorable option," Mace commented, making sure she was in a state to grab her flail at a moment's notice, if necessary. "I'm a bit afraid to ask, but what's the other possibility?"

"That they have reached contact with Nightmare." Meta Knight's eyes glowed white, broken by flashes of red. "If that is the case, then it means not only are Nightmare's older followers drifting back to join him, but that he is growing confident enough for all, out open warfare once again. If this is the case, we must do our best to nip it in the bud, if that is a possibility. Be prepared for whatever is to come."

The warriors soon arrived at where the Dreadnaught was situated. It was sitting completely still, not making any sign that there was anything happening. Indeed, it appeared to be completely lifeless and abandoned.

This wasn't a comfort to Meta Knight. Too many times in his youth had been tricked by a "dead" enemy ship. "Keep your weapons close at hand," he instructed his student. "This may be a trap. Stay close together and follow my lead." The teens nodded, making it clear they understood their orders, and the group came in closer to the apparently abandoned vessel.

Not even sure if there was going to be anyone there to respond, Meta Knight walked up to the hatch of the vessel. Reaching up, he rapped on it with the back of his gauntlet. "Open up, on orders of the Star Warriors!" he called out. "Identify yourself! Are you friend or foe?"

He backed up, motioning his students to be on the ready. He didn't know what was coming, and he wanted to make sure they would be ready no matter what it was.

At first, there was no response. The ship just sat, as if there was no one inside to respond to the order. After a moment, however, there was a response. A rather unexpected one, at that.

The hatch opened up, and soon the occupants of the vessel filed out. However, they were not the servants of Nightmare, as they had been expecting. Instead, about a dozen creatures filed out, and half of them were Star Jumper Puffals! The other half were a variety of other creatures from a variety of different planets. All twelve stood in single file outside of the ship and Saluted. " _Donec Tenebras Perit!"_ They called out in unison.

This took the gathering of Star Warriors off guard. "Are you guys Star Warriors?" Ax asked, confusion clear in his voice.

None of the creatures varied to answer, but someone else spoke up first. "At ease!" It was a gruff, shaggy man wearing a green hat with a golden star on it that stepped out.

When they received the call, the others relaxed, but they didn't make a move. The gruff man who had spoken came closer, smirking as he spoke. "I'm surprised at you, Squire Ax," he laughed. "Or should I say, Knave Ax. I'd expect you'd know by now the difference between the Star Warriors and the Galaxy Star Army."

"Sgt. Cosmos," Meta Knight said, throwing a salute as he spoke. "This is a surprise. I did not know a portion of the GSA had survived the Great Downfall. This is great news."

"I've told you a thousand times," Cosmos laughed, "you can call me Kit now. You haven't been a squire in years. As for our survival," the sergeant laughed, "you've made cheating death a bit of a habit yourself."

"I have been fortunate," the blue Puffal responded, "but have lost much. However, you must come. I have learned much since we last spoke, and there is important news that must be told."

"I have news myself," Kit responded, "and some of it is vital that you learn it now. Follow me. The first bit is important that you learn it alone."

Meta Knight nodded. "Alright." He turned to his students. "This will not take long. Make sure out companions here are updated on the important info we have learned in our time here."

"Yes, sir!" The knaves saluted before turning to begin speaking with the GSA members.

Once the followers had begun mingling, Meta Knight followed Kit Cosmos aboard the ship. "I know it seems rather odd that we've been traveling in a Dreadnaught," the sergeant commented, "but everything will be explained in time. For now, the important thing you need to understand is that you were not the only Star Warrior to survive the Downfall."

The Puffal nodded. "I know. I have already run into Sir Daroach and Lady Alivea. The three of us have been working to train those students we have left."

This honestly seemed to surprise Kit. "Well, that is good news, but that is not exactly what I meant." He took a breath. "Perhaps it is just best if you find out for yourself."

Here, the sergeant turned and opened a door. "Your Ladyship, he has arrived."

Not quite sure what to expect, Meta Knight followed. He most certainly was not expecting who he saw, and the surprise caused him to slip back into his original tongue. "[Mama!]" he exclaimed in Boxin.

Lady Rosalyn smiled when she saw him. "[Meta, my son!]" she exclaimed tearfully. "[I hadn't dared hope it was true!]"

To be continued…


	66. Meet New Friends, but Find the Old, Part Two

"T'is is Cappy Town!" Kirby exclaimed as they made it to the entrance of the city. He always loved it when he was able to introduce new friends to old ones. "T'is whe'e all Kaabii's fwiend wive! Weh, a'most all Kaabii's fwiends. Sah D'woach wiv in Ti'masu City."

"It weally pwetty," Elline commented. She flew over to a tree that had been changing colors in the fall air. "I nevah seed weaves wike t'is afore. All t'e weave fwom home ah gween. Why t'ese wed?"

"T'ey tu'n wed 'cause it amost wintah," Kirby answered, "an' t'e weave ah wa'mah when t'ey wed t'en when t'ey gween."

"That's not exactly right, Kirby," Tiff corrected. "While they do change color because of the change of the seasons, it's actually because of a change in their chlorophyll production. You see, chlorophyll is the chemical that turns the leaves green. When there's a change in the chemical production, the leave change, either red, yellow, or orange, before falling off."

Both toddlers stared for a moment, clearly not comprehending what had been explained.

"They can't make that chloro stuff in the winter," Tuff put in, "so it changes color."

"Ah, Kaabii undahstan now!" Kirby exclaimed. That was when he smelled something. "Oh! Miz S'iwo mus' be makin' cookies. C'mon, Ehwine, wet's go get cookies!"

"Oh, I wike cookies!" the little fairy chirped, hurrying to follow Kirby.

Before going, Kirby waved to the Dreamlander siblings. "Bye! See yew back at t'e pa'wace!"

Once the toddlers had run off, the elder of the two sighed. "Tuff, don't tell them things like that," Tiff scolded once the two of them were on their own. "That's not how nature works, and now they're going to have faulty information."

"Oh, lighten up, sis," her brother laughed. "They don't need the school lecture yet. They'll understand it later. C'mon, we better head back to the palace."

As Kirby and Elline rushed into the village restaurant, they found to their delight that the little Puffal's assumption had indeed been true. Inside, Shiro had been hard at work with baking some cinnamon cookies.

"Hii, S'iwo!" Kirby called out as he jumped onto a book.

The older cat lady smiled. "Good morning, Kirby. I thought you might be coming in today. Would you like to have a cookie?"

The little Puffal jumped so enthusiastically on his chair that he almost fell off. "Yeah! Kaabii wike cookie!"

"Now remember," Shiro pointed out, "you only get two. I can't have you eat the whole plate all at once." It was here that she first noticed Elline. "Well, hello there. Are you one of Kirby's friends?"

Elline curtsied, but Kirby answered before the girl could speak up. "Uh-huh. T'is Ehwine. She a pwincess from anover pwanet, and Kaabii showin' Cappy Town!"

"He vewy nice," the little princess continued. "Kaabii and his fwiends save me fwom mean ol' monstahs."

Shiro set down two plates, each with two cookies, in front of the little ones. "Oh, dear," she said, shaking her head. "That sounds very scary."

"It was," the fairy agreed. "T'ey comed out of nowhe'e, and gwabbed me afore I could 'scape. But Kaabii say his Papa can he'p me go back home." Kirby nodded in agreement with the last statement, but his mouth was too full of cookie for him to make a verbal response.

"I'm sure he can," the older cat said. "Until then, I hope you enjoy you're stay in Cappy Town."

Once they had finished their treat, Elline turned to her guide. "So, whe'e we goin' to next?"

Kirby thought hard for a moment, touching his paw to his face as he thought. Just then, a thought came to him. "Oh! Do yew wike paintin'?"

Elline nodded vigorously. "Uh-huh. I wuv paintin'! Pwincesses ah a'ways taught ta do aht. My sistah Cwaycia is a scu'ptah, and she make weally good statues, but I paint weally, weally good."

"T'en yew wike Ado and Ad'ween," Kirby continued. "T'ey also weally good paintahs, and t'ey ah pwincesses, too!"

When he said the names, there was a very clear change in Elline. When he had said his piece, she stayed quiet for a moment before speaking up. "Yew said yo' fwiends ah named Ado and Ad'ween?"

Kirby nodded. "Uh-huh."

"An' t'ey pwincesses too?" she asked.

Once again, her companion nodded. "Uh-huh."

"Was t'eir mommy Queen Cawigwah?" the fairy asked again. "And t'ey have mean aunties named Dwacia an' Paintwa?"

Kirby was now starting to notice how much Elline seemed to already know. "Yeah. How did Ehwine know t'at?"

The little fairy grinned brightly. "T'ey vewwy, vewwy famous at home!" she explained, excitement clear in her voice. "T'at stowwy to'd alla time! Ev'yun in Mu'san knows 'bout Pwincess Ado an' Pwincess Ad'ween! We get tah meet t'em?"

Kirby nodded. He had never imagined his friends were so famous. "Uh-huh. They wiv wit' Mistah Cu'io in t'e museum. Wanno go now?"

"Yeah! Wet's go now!" Elline jumped up. "Uh, whe'e t'e museum?"

"Museum t'is way!" the Puffal responded, motioning her to follow him. "He'e, Kaabii show t'e way."

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"Mama!" Meta Knight exclaimed in surprise. "You are alive! What happened! How did you make it out?"

The Boxin lady smiled. "It wasn't easy, and it was very close. As you know, I had gone to the Epsilon system to train some recruits for the GSA in ancient smithing techniques. Sgt. Cosmos had also been there to do the actual boot camp training. That was when we were attacked by Nightmare's forces."

"Cowards didn't even have the guts to attack us head on," Kit scowled. "Snuck in through several landing ports and attacked the bunks. Poor kids who were asleep there never stood a chance."

"Yes." Lady Rosalyn looked down sadly. "We lost many good friends that day. We almost didn't make it ourselves. The monsters took a handful of our youngest students captive, apparently with the plans to make them slaves. Well, we couldn't just stand by with that."

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_All had turned to chaos in the little training building. Monsters swarmed the hallways, tearing through walls and floors to get at their target. The few senior memembers of the Star Warriors and GSA fought as hard as they could to hold the hoard off, but they were vastly outnumbered._

_Within her forge, Lady Rosalyn had set up a barricade over the door. More than once now did she wish she had her Pole-ax on hand._

_"_ _Lady, they're tearing through the walls!" one of her students called out. "What should we do?"_

_"_ _Arm yourselves with whatever's at hand," the Boxin lady called out. "Hammers, tongs, pokers, bars of iron or steel, grab them. Heat them up as must as possible, if you can. We're going to have a fight on our hands, don't you doubt. Be prepared to give them hell!"_

_That was when the monsters broke through. It wasn't through the tough barricade, but instead through a weaker part of the wall. The first creature, a monstrous centipede, worked through the opening and began attacking some of the trainees._

_In response, Rosalyn hefted up her anvil and, giving a spin so as to give it a bit of momentum, tossed it at the creature. It smacked into the monster, which didn't arise from the blow. It had gone down, but the battle was far from over, considering the swarm of creatures that now flowed in through the opening in the wall._

_Grabbing her largest smithing hammer, she smacked another monster aside, before knocking another hole. "Work your way out, if you can!" she called out. "We're sitting ducks in here! Try to make it to the ships!"_

_The students rushed out, obeying her orders to the best of their abilities. She stayed behind to protect the escapees to the best of her ability, smacking the foe aside with long sweeps of her hammer. The monsters were swept aside, but when one or two fell, they were soon replaced by six or seven more._

_Once the last of the students made it out, the Boxin Lady left the confining area herself. Instead of going to the ships, however, she headed back to her room. She'd need her own armor and Poleax if she was to make it out._

_Getting her armor on wasn't a slow task. She had designed it herself with the thought of being able to get in and out of it with ease in mind. Thus, the monsters who had followed her to the living chambers soon found themselves facing a fully armed Star Warrior Lady._

_Now properly ready for the fight, she rushed out to the main area to join the more seasoned warriors. Much to her distress, though, they were losing fast. None of the other Star Warriors had survived, including, much to her grief, three of her daughters, with the fourth missing. Of the few members of the GSA left, only Kit Cosmos was still standing and fighting, wielding a huge blaster._

_He had been cornered by several shrew-like monsters. He was able to hold a few back using the blaster, but in the course of the battle, the one of the monsters had made a successful sneak behind him. It bared its teeth, which it prepared to bury in his back._

_It never reached its mark. Before it could lunge, Lady Rosalyn charged in, skewering the monster with the spike on the end of her weapon, before pulling out and unleashing a Ax Burst, sweeping away the monsters who might think to attack from that direction._

_Noticing the aid he had received, Kit nodded. "Thanks. How are things from that way?"_

_"_ _Not good," she responded. "I didn't see any of ours, though there's more of Nightmare's ilk than I ever want to see again. Where are the remainders of our troops?"_

_"_ _That's the bad news," the sergeant responded, firing three more bursts at the enemy. "I'm afraid you and I are the remainder of our troops."_

_Smacking her ax down on a monster, she turned in shock. "Certainly the_ Solarian _will be sending backup!"_

_"_ _Not unless they can protect themselves better than we can," he responded. "Just before this attack, we got news that they, and just about every other base we own were under attack as well. Furthermore, Sir Arthur took a band of his men, including your husband and son, to another planet to deal with a threat there, and we've heard nothing from them since. It looks like we're going to be on our own from here."_

_"_ _We'll have to make it to the ships," she said, unleashing another Ax Burst to clear out another hallway. "If we're to have any chance of survival, we'll need to get out here."_

_Cosmos nodded, and the two hurried down the hallway. It wasn't an easy run, and by the time they made it to the landing docks, both seasoned warriors were wounded and bleeding. It was clear this wasn't going to be a fight to the finish. It would be a miracle if they could escape alive._

_Furthermore, they found there was another issue once they got there. Every ship belonging to the Star Warriors and GSA had been utterly demolished in one of the waves of the beasts. Instead, the only working vessels that were stationed were the ships the few intelligent servants of Nightmare had piloted in._

_They also saw how much of their own people remained. There, being loaded in chains on-board one of the Dreadnaughts, was about a dozen of the students, some of them no older than teenagers. There were monster guards surrounding the area. "Getting in there's not going to be easy," Rosalyn muttered as she looked over the scene._

_Kit gave a mischievous grin as he hefted his blaster. "Hey," he commented, almost laughing at the danger, "if we ever wanted a lifestyle that was going to be easy, we wouldn't have gone into this line of work."_

_The Boxin returned the expression. "True," she responded with a shrug. "That's our only way out. So, shall I go first, or would you like that honor?"_

_He smiled and charged his gun. "By all means. Ladies first."_

_The monsters had no idea what had hit them. They had expected that all of the seasoned warriors had been slain in the earlier part of the attack. Thus, when a hail of gunfire came out of nowhere down around them, the most common result was uncoordinated panic. This meant they were not prepared to meet the Boxin Lady's ax as it came right down on them._

_"_ _The way's cleared!" Rosalyn called out. "You take the ship, I'll free the captives."_

_"_ _Got it." Cosmos darted into the pilot's seat of the Dreadnaught. Thankfully, it was a more simple ship, meant only to sneak in small amounts of troops to preform stealth missions. Before long, the soldier got the ship up and in the air. They had made it. They were free from the attack._

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"Troubles, of course, were far from over, as you can imagine," Lady Rosalyn said as they finished their explination. "For a long time, we believed we were all that was left, but now, we find that not only have we survived, but so have you, your students, and even little Kirby."

"Kirby?" Meta Knight asked. "How do you know about Kirby?"

Kit Cosmos laughed. "You do a good job of keeping a cover when you're out on a mission, son," the veteran laughed, "but when it comes to peacetime, it seems you can't keep word one under wraps. We got some feed from various news stations, reporting the actions of the tyke."

"Admittedly," the Star Warrior Lady picked up, "we're not exactly sure what happened with the initial event that drew the reporters there in the first place, but we did see the battle with that Hooplagoon creature. He has developed into quite the warrior."

Meta Knight sighed. "There is much more to the story than that," he said after a moment. "I'd recommend you sit down. This is a rather long, rather complicated story…"

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The artist twins had been enjoying a relatively peaceful morning that day. The museum and antique shop hadn't opened up quite yet, so the times had been rather quiet, perfect for the young girls who enjoyed some quiet times to paint.

At the moment, Ado was working on a portrait that had been commissioned by Mayor Len for the new Town Hall and Adeleine was hard at work painting a still life of Dynablade's nest she had recently sketched.

That was when the knocking started up. "Ado? Ad'ween?" It was clearly Kirby who was at the door. "Yew home?"

Adeleine put her paintbrush down and wiped off her hand. "I'll be there in a moment." She walked over to the door and opened it up. "Good morning, Kirby. We were just working on some projects. Who's your friend?"

Kirby beamed. "T'is Ehwine. She new hewe, an' she a pwincess from 'nothah pwanet. She wanted tah meet yew." He motioned for Elline to introduce herself.

The fairy girl, however, kind of froze up when the door had been opened. The missing princesses of Paintriad had been such as legend where she was from that it was amazing that she was actually meeting them. As a result, she was somewhat speechless.

Timidly, she curtsied. "He-hewwo," she stuttered out, mind racking for every ounce of etiquette she had ever learned in her short life. "How d-do yew do?'

"Aw, you a little shy?" Adeleine smiled. "It's okay. You don't need to be nervous."

Kirby had been standing patiently nearby, but he was starting to become frustrated with Elline's sudden bout of shyness. Deciding he had to do something, he spoke up. "Ehwine wike's ta pain', too! She also ah ahtist!"

Catching on to the youngster's attempt to break the ice, the older girl took the bait. "So, you like to paint, too? Well, my sister and I are working on some projects right now. Would you like to come and see what we're doing?"

Elline was still stunned speechless, but she nodded enthusiastically. "Uh, uh-huh," she was finally able to stammer out.

"Well, come on in then." Adeleine motioned for the two toddlers to follow her. "We're not anywhere near completely finished, but you can come and take a look anyway."

As they moved in, Ado looked up. "Hey, Kirby," she called out. "What's happening?"

"T'is my new fwiend, Ehwine," the pink Puffal chirped out. "She a pwincess fwom anover wo'ld, an' she gonna visit. She ah ahtist, too, so she wanted tah say hiii!" Once again, he leaned out a paw to the little fairy to get her to speak up.

"Hii," she mimicked shyly.

Ado laughed. "Cat got your tongue? That's alright." She motioned to her easel. "Would you like to take a look?"

"Kaabii wanna see!" Kirby piped up. He took Elline's hand and rushed over, eager to see what his artist friend was working on.

"It's not done yet," the girl commented. "I've got the basic colors laid out, and I'll begin the shading pretty soon. When it's done it will look much better."

To Kirby, it already looked great. He could clearly see that it was supposed to represent the mayor, and the coloring had been done so that nothing was outside of the lines. To him, it clearly was quality work.

"So, Elline," Adeleine said, coming to sit next to the youngsters, "Kirby said you're a painter, too. What do you like to do?"

The little fairy looked up a bit timidly. "I wike tah paint t'e statues my sistah makes," she said in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "T'ey look very pwetty, bu' t'ey don't wook as good a t'is." She motioned here to the unfinished works.

"We've been practicing for years," Ado comforted. "You're still pretty young, so don't beat yourself up." She pulled out a clean canvas and set it out on an empty stand. "Here. Why don't you show us what you can do, and we'll give you some pointers?"

Elline looked up wide eyed. "Weally! T'ank yew!" With that, she set to the canvas, determined to do her best.

As the small group of children were focusing on the painting being done, nobody noticed a pair of piercing red eyes watching them through the window. The eyes then pulled back as the watcher slithered off to tell its masters what it had seen.

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"A lot has happened since the Downfall," Lady Rosalyn commented once Meta Knight had finished his own explanation on the happenings of worlds. She gave a small laugh. "You always were certain there was something special about little Kirby, but no one could have imagined it would be this big."

"And there is proof of the existence of Sir Metian and Sir Erran." Kit shook his head. "To think, we've been around Pop Star all this time, and never really paid it any attention. Had we had any idea, we would have begun the search for Stormholt long ago."

"There doesn't need to be a search." Meta Knight folded his cape around himself as he explained. "I did not know this for a very long time, but while we had lost memory of the fortress, not everyone had. The people of Sir Erran are still here, not only on Pop Star, but here in Dreamland. I have met two of their agents, a husband and wife named Parm and Memu. There is more to the story than what I have told you, but it is not my place to tell you. When we have the opportunity, I will introduce you, and they will explain the story in full.

"Until then, know that this information is not safe to speak of in the open. Nightmare has risen in power again, but he is not the only threat out there. The ancient terror Dark Matter has arisen as well, and there are numerous enemies who have allied themselves to Nightmare. We must be cautious with who we share knowledge with."

Rosalyn and Kit both nodded. They knew well enough what sort of dangers one could get into when you shared information too freely.

"Now," the Puffal warrior said, turning towards the exit as he spoke, "we had best be heading back to the village. I have sent Kirby, along with two of my other students, back there, and I had best make sure they have made it safely."

As they moved out of the ship, both the teens and the group of GSA members were gathered together and instructed to move into the town. A cheer went out among the GSA soldiers, who hadn't been in a real village since the Downfall. There was a general consensus that a bit of relaxation time was just what was needed.

No one noticed the snake like creatures watching from beneath the foliage of the forest. Before anyone could take notice, they slithered off back to their masters to make their report.

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"You lost her!?" Drawcia shrieked loud enough to shatter glass. She was berating a small paint creature, the last little bit of the monster that had abducted Elline. "How dare you come back and report that you have failed in your mission! I instructed you to bring the Princesses here, and not only did you fail to bring the elder, you lose the younger! You worthless worm!" With that, she waved the paintbrush, and the remnant of the creature evaporated.

"I don't see why you're so surprised." Paintra was hovering in a nearby tree, and as usual, could not resist the opportunity to point out the flaws in her sister's plans. "Baby or not, Claycia and Elline are blood-born royals, not some commoners who have no magic of their own." She got off the branch and moved closer. "Besides, they're mixed blood. Only Elline actually shows her Paintrian heritage. The Crown Princess is clearly more a Sculptrad. Why would we even be interested in her?"

"Paintrian, Sculptrad, Scrybix, or Compset, it is all art magic," the elder witch retorted. "With a good amount of adjustment, it can be forced to do what you want it to do. All you need is to patience to actually work with it."

The younger witch made is grand show of yawning. "Aw, not that this isn't _fascinating_ and all," she snorted, "we've already know that the princess who is of more use to us is here. Why don't we go after her?"

"You really want to make an unprepared attack on a person who has allied themselves with a Guardian?" Drawcia cast her younger sister a glare. "You saw what happened to Nightmare, and he was a Distort. No, if we want to get her away from her protector, we need some sort of plan."

There was a rustle of grass as another of the paint creatures returned to the area. Seeing it, Drawcia turned. "Report," she said in a dark voice, "and you had better have good news."

The creature did not make an audible sound as it answered. However, it did make its report to its master, and what it had to say did please her much more than the previous news.

"Ah," she said, relaxing somewhat. "So they have joined up with the princesses of antiquity. This could be used to our benefit."

"So, you're ready to attack now?" Paintra mocked. "I though the last time the Guardian worked with the Princesses of antiquity, it ended in a humiliating defeat."

"That was different," Drawcia scowled. "My defeat came only because Lord Nightmare drew me away from the fight before I could finish my attack. Had I had more time-"

"You would have had your butt kicked even harder," he sister mocked. "Face it, Drawci. You're scared of a couple of babies."

"You speak big for one who has seen no fight yourself," the sorceress snorted. "How many warriors have you faced in battle? At the very least, I can say that I have taken my part in the fight."

Paintra sneered. "Yeah, the fight against babies."

Drawcia took a deep breath, resisting the urge to attack her sister. As therapeutic as that would have felt, it would do nothing helpful in the long run. Instead, she decided to focus on how she was going to launch her attack.

"I need to take control of something," she murmured to herself. "Preferably something that is large and dangerous already. That way, it won't take all too much magic to make it a genuine threat."

While she was musing over what she intended to do, there was another sound as the final of the sentinels she had sent out. It sent out its silent call, signaling that it had come back.

She didn't even bother to turn to the creature when it arrived. "Report," she said, not turning her eyes away from the plans she was drawing up.

This changed when she heard just what the creature was trying to say. Spinning around sharply, she questioned the monster. "What did it look like?"

The creature shape shifted, turning into a miniature version of the Dreadnaught ship. This pleased the witch immensely. "Well, then, it appears we'll have a tool after all."

"Show us where it is," she said to the creature. Upon receiving its order, the creature turned back and slithered off, moving as fast as possible in the direction of the ship.

"Come along, Paintra," Drawcia called.

"Why should I?" the younger witch snorted back.

"You don't need to," Drawcia commented, "but that would mean that the power drained from those princess brats would belong only to me."

This startled Paintra. "You mean that thing actually found something useful?"

"Useful and dangerous," her sister responded. "Come, we have a ship to claim.

To be continued…


	67. Meet New Friends, but Find the Old, Part Three

"T'ewe!" Elline exclaimed as she finished off her painting. "I done!" She turned it to show the three people with her what she had painted.

For the most part, the trio were unable to think of what to say. It was beautifully painted, with lines clearly set out and every color going well together. If only they could tell what it was that was painted.

Finally, Adeleine decided to hazard a guess. "That's a very nice bird. If that a kind that's from your home?"

The little fairy frowned for a moment, before brightening up again. "T'at no' a burd," she said, "but it does wook wike one. T'at t'e _Bastwon_. It Cwaycia's ship t'at she take when it time to go somewhe'e."

"Ah!" Kirby chirped cheerfuly when he realized what was represented. "Kaabii's fwiend D'woach have a ship, too! It wook wike a big bawoon, an' it called _Zephah II_."

Before much more conversation could go on, there was a knock at the door. "Miss Ado and Miss Adeleine," Meta Knight's voice called out from outside, "may I come in? I was told I could find Kirby here."

"Sure," Ado called out. "The door's open."

As Meta Knight came in, Kirby became excited and rushed over. "Papa!" he squeeled. "Kaabii make new fwiend today an' she named Ehwine, an' she a pwincess fwom the pwanet Woomio Stah, but bad monstahs comed an' wanted to take her away and hu't her an' Kaabii an' Tiff an' Tuff saved her, an' t'en we go wooking fo' yew, but we couldn't fin' yew, so Mrs. Shiwwi gived us a snack, an' t'en we goed to see Ado and Ad'ween, 'cause Ehwine wike to paint too, an' now we ta'kin' 'bout ships."

Elline, not sure how to keep up with her new friend's line of chatter, but feeling she needed to say something, smiled and waved. "Hi!"

Meta Knight smiled and patted his son on the head. He honestly had very little idea of what his son had just said, and he made a mental note to ask Tiff for clarification over the newcomer's identity as soon as he found her.

"That is very nice, Kirby," he said. "It is also very nice to meet you, too," he said to the young girl.

"Now, Kirby," he said, turning back to the little pink Puffal, "I have some rather important news, and news you should be there to hear. We must be heading back to the palace."

Kirby smiled. "Uh-huh, we go to pawace now!" He turned to Elline, enthusiasm clear in his voice. "We go to pawace, an' yew can meet King Dededededededededede."

"Oh!" Elline exclaimed. "Is he t'e king of Dweamwand?"

Kirby nodded as fast as his little body would allow it, completely missing the looks of humor coming from their elders. "Uh-huh! He wivs in a big castle, an' all t'e Waddle Dees se've him, an' t'ey wisten to 'Dana Dee, 'cept fo' Saiwah Dee, 'cause he wisten to Papa." The little Puffal grinned. "My Papa vewy sma't."

Elline nodded in amazement. "Ohh, I nevah seed a king a'for. What I 'apposed tah do?"

Kirby took her hand. "It otay," he comforted. "Kaabii intwoduce ya. Kaabii an' King Dedededededededede a'e fwiends." With that, he rushed off, taking the little girl with him.

Meta Knight thanked the artist twins for their time before turning to follow the youngsters who had run off. He was going to have to see for himself the response of the self-centered Pengu.

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Dedede, for his part, had been enjoying his morning immensely. The biggest reason being that ever since those annoying kids found those bows in that cave system, Meta Knight had been taking them out to train. Which meant, most importantly to the self-proclaimed ruler of Dreamland, that they were not in his palace, annoying him.

As such, the Pengu was pretty much free to do whatever he wanted without the annoying presence of Kirby or the nagging presence of his older friends. As such, Dedede had decided to go the one place he loved but was often afraid to go to for fear of running into the little Puffal.

"Ah, the kitchens," he sighed to himself. "You've never looked so beautiful." He then spied a huge cream pie that was meant to be the dessert for dinner that night. "Or so bountifus," he snickered, taking it out. This would probably get him scolded by Lady Like later, but at the moment, the Pengu didn't care. All he cared was that he was getting a huge cream pie all to himself.

Or, at least, that was what he thought. "Hi, Dedededededede!" he heard a cheerful voice call out behind him.

This startled Dedede enough that he ended up tripping and falling face first into the pie. For a moment, he just lay where he was, hoping that he was hearing things.

"Oh, yew fe'. Is Dededededededede 'kay?" Kirby asked.

Nope. The Pengu wasn't hearing things.

"What are you doing here, Kirby?" Dedede asked, pushing himself up. His face was covered in pie, but he was trying to ignore that for the moment. "Didn't Meta Knight take you and the other kids out into the woods today?"

Kirby nodded. "Uh-huh, bu' t'en he had some 'portant stuff ta do, so Kaabii an' Tiff an' Tuff goed home. T'at when we hea'd someone cawing fo' he'p, an' that whe'e we met Ehwine. She woyalty."

Dedede had really only been half listening up to the part where Kirby said he met someone royal. Well, the Pengu ruler had been attempting to meet a queen himself for years. This could be his opportunity. "Royalty, ya say?" he questioned. "Why didn't ya say so? Where is she?"

"She wight he'e!" the child answered, motioning to the other child standing next to him.

Elline mimicked his cheerful attitude. "Goo' monin', yew'r highness," she greeted with a curtsy.

Dedede frowned. She might be royalty, but she was way too young. Any interest the Pengu had previously had was immediately lost. "Kirby, I'm busy right now," he snapped, trying to look as serious as he could covered in cream pie. "You need to make sure I'm not doing anything before you barge in and make my life any harder!"

"Otey!" Kirby said, smiling as brightly as ever.

The toddler was about to continue in his explanation of current events when they were called away. "Kirby," Meta Knight called, "you may come in now. We have some news that is of great importance."

"Otey. We come," the child called. Before they left, he turned one more time to Dedede. "Bye, Dedededededededede!" he called out.

"Hav' nice day, yew'r highness," Elline said before turning to follow the Puffal.

As they left, Dedede grumbled a little more. "Stupid Kirby," he mumbled. "Making me lose my pie. I'll bet he did that on purpose. We'll, at least his little friend got my title right." With that, he turned and went to go change his robes and mourn his once enjoyable day.

As they went to the other room to go greet Meta Knight, Kirby decided to explain a few things to Elline. "My Papa is ah Stah Wa'ee'ya," he said, his face the very picture of serious attitude. "T'at means he wesponsibah fo' t'e safety of wots and wots of peopahs. Sometimes, when somet'ing weally bad happens, t'en he calls all t'e wa'ee'yas togever so we can figgur out what ta do.

"Oh!" The fairy seemed impressed by the sheer importance of everything she was being told. "Kaabii ah Stah Wa'ee'ya?"

"A'most," the Puffal answered. "Kaabii be Stah Wa'ee'ya some day. Wight now, Kaabii jus' G'adi'an."

"Ohh," Elline said knowingly, before pausing for a moment. "Uh, wha' a G'adi'an?"

"It mean Kaabii gonna beat up bad guys who wanna hu't peopah," Kirby said. "It vewy impo'tant job."

"It soun' impo'tant," the fairy responded, looking at her new friend with a look of amazement.

As they entered the room where Meta Knight had been waiting for them, they soon realized there was other people there as well. Kirby could vaguely recognize them, but he couldn't for the life of him remember where he had seen them before.

Thankfully the elder Puffal didn't leave them in the dark. "Kirby," he said, "I know you probably can't remember them, but these two here are allies of ours. This is Sgt. Dakonyo Cosmos, a member of the GSA, and Lady Rosalynnaito, a lady of the Star Warriors. She is also my mother."

It took Kirby a few moments to be processed what was being told to him, but he was a bright child. Once he figured out just what that meant. A bright look came into his face, and he turned to the Boxin lady. "Yew Kaabii's Gwandma!" he said cheerfully before going over to hug her.

Lady Rosalyn laughed. "Yes, I am, and I've missed you, little Kirby. I've heard that a lot has happened to you since we last met."

The little boy looked up with a look of delight in his eyes. "Yeah! Kaabii make wots of new fwiends! Wike Tiff an' Tuff an' Ado an' Ad'ween an' Wohwohwoh an' WaWaWa an' Ehwine!" He motioned over to Elline. "Kaabii met Ehwine today an' we gonna he'p heh fin' heh sistah!"

Hearing her name spoken, Elline curtsied. "How do yew do?" she asked politely.

Both adults, somewhat puzzled by the toddler's rather odd form of speech, turned to Meta Knight. "I am not aware of the full details myself," he said, shrugging apologetically. "I have sent for one of my older students who was present at the time. Hopefully she will be able to clarify what is going on."

"Now, Kirby," he said, turning once more to the youngster, "we have a lot of important things to discuss. First of all, I would like you to call your Warp Star."

Kirby beamed. He loved using the Warp Star. "Otey! Kaabii do t'at!" he complied. Jumping up, he called out in the loudest voice he could muster. "Wa'p Stah!"

Everyone waited for a few minutes. At first, it appeared that nothing had happened. However, after a moment, there was a whoosh and the sounds of doors being slammed open. In a heartbeat, the star flew in, moving quickly but stopping directly in front of Kirby.

Fully enjoying himself, Kirby jumped onto the star, but did not move. He just sat on the little object, waiting to be told what to do next.

"Well, I'll be!" Kit declared in shock. "That's Sir Metian's star, alright. Where did you find that thing? It's been lost for ages!"

"That is the truly odd fact of the matter," Meta Knight answered. "It really wasn't. I know it does not look like it, but the Star of Metian was also my Lynette's Warpstar pendant this whole time." Turning once more to the youngster, he called out, "Kirby, show them how you keep the star when you are not using it."

"Yes, sah," the child responded. Hopping down, he allowed the star to shrink down to its original state. As it did so, the silver chain it was always attached to reappeared, and the child put it over his head.

"To think," Rosalyn murmured in amazement, "we've had the Warp Star right here this whole time."

Meta Knight nodded, his eyes turning grass green in thought. "I have spoken to an ancient sage on this matter. He believes that Lynette was probably the direct decedent of Sir Metian himself, and thus inherited the Warp Star as an heirloom. How her family forgot the importance of the medallion is unknown, nor does it really matter. What does is that it has made its way into Kirby's hands, and he is now its master."

There was the sound of footsteps approaching the room, and Meta Knight nodded. "We have made other discoveries as well in a similar vein for the legacy and bloodline of Sir Erran." He turned to the newcomers as they came in. "These are my students Tiffany and Humphry Ebrum. They will be able to explain this segment of the line."

"My name is Tuff," Tuff grumbled. He hated the name Humphry and had to wonder what his parents were thinking when they gave it to him.

Deciding to intervene before her brother got further into his complaints, Tiff turned to Meta Knight. "We came as soon as we got your message," she said, giving a salute as she spoke. "What can we do."

The older warrior nodded and motioned to the two newcomers. "These are Sgt. Cosmos and Lady Rosalyniato, part of what is left of the old GSA force. I have asked you to come so that you can give your part of the story in relation to the Duciel Bow and the Flight Star."

"Well, I'm afraid we don't know all too much," she said with a shrug. Both she and Tuff pulled out the twin bows and stars, laying them in open view. "The halves of the Flight Star we're actually not completely certain where they came from. Tuff found his in the rubble of what had once been an ancient Dreamlander village, and I found mine in the Fountain of Dreams, not long after the attack by Nightmare."

"It was really weird, but cool!" Tuff piped in. "We were in this really old cavern when all of a sudden, my star started to fly off on its own power! Tiff's did, too, and they both crashed into the ground on the other side of the cave. It smashed the whole floor to pieces! It was awesome! It was like, crash! Crack! Boom!"

"Maybe you should get back on topic," his sister stated, nudging him in the side as she spoke.

"Oh, yeah, right," the boy replied, getting back to his narrative. "Well, we went in to see what the Stars had done, and at the bottom of the crater was this black box, and the bows were both inside of it. They responded to me and Tiff, but they don't seem to work for anyone else."

"Thank you," Meta Knight said once the siblings had finished their story. "Please wait before leaving. There is one last question I wish to ask before you go."

He then turned back to the two newcomers. "So, what do you make of these recent revelations?"

Rosalyn shook her head. "It seems almost impossible to believe, yet impossible to deny the signs. Even in appearance, these two both closely resemble the few icons we have of Sir Erran. You statement is more than likely, especially since we now have little Kirby's connection now, too."

"Statement?" Curiosity filled Tiff to a near unbearable level. "What statement? What's going on?"

Meta Knight's eyes flashed green for a moment before he spoke. "There has been an idea that has been in my head since the Dreamlander Ruins had been found, but has become stronger and stronger as time goes on." He placed a small card on the table. "You have already seen the ancient image of Sir Erran from the ruins, but here is a copy of the most ancient portrait the Star Warriors have had of their founders without their masks. Do you notice anything in particular?"

The brother and sister crowded closely around the table, eager to see just what was so special about the picture. It was Tiff who noticed it first. "He looks just like me!" she gasped.

Sure enough, with the clearer view that the image gave, the ancient warrior had an incredible resemblance, even more so than simply being the same species. Most of his facial features, though more distinctly masculine, were of the same line, and the eyes were near identical. The only difference was his hair and beard, which were the pale green and yellow that Tuff had.

Meta Knight nodded. "It was rumored that this was a portrait painted by Lady Tabitha, the wife of Sir Erran. If this is true, I doubt she would have gotten the features of her own husband drastically wrong."

"Wait," Tuff said, the pieces falling into place in his head. "If we look kind of like him, and we now have his stars and weapon, then what you're saying is that we're descended from him?"

Meta Knight nodded. "It seemed incredibly likely. There is no definitive proof, of course. I am not a descendant of Metian, but his sword responds to me. However, I believe the stars do have a necessity of being of the line."

"But that couldn't be," Tiff said. "Kirby has the Warp Star, and he's not descended from Sir Metian any more than you are?"

"Actually," the warrior responded, "there is a connection. When Kirby was brought to the Star Warriors, I was not permitted to adopt him, but for the purposes of care, Lynette was. By the laws of the Star Warriors, Kirby was graphed on to her family line, and is to be considered of her blood. This was used as a way of allow him to be brought into our family, but it appears to have had an unexpected side effect."

Tiff caught where this was going. "You mean Lynette was the descendant of Metian? And that makes Kirby his descendant, too?"

"Yes. That is what I believe." Meta Knight turned to Kirby. "You inherited the Warp Star, which had been an heirloom pendant, from her side of the family. It is more than likely that this was handed down from family member to family member for so long that the actual nature of the treasure was forgotten, until one came who could wield the star to its true power."

"If that is the case," Kit said, crossing his arms and giving a confident smile, "then it means that, in more ways than one, the people of Sir Metian and Sir Erran have come into contact again." He gave a laugh. "Well, that's just the good news we've been needing, all the disasters of the past having happened."

Meta Knight laughed, his eyes turning pink as he spoke. "Indeed. This would be a revelation that bring hope to many."

"How many people know about this?" Tiff asked. "I mean, this is all news to me."

"Outside of those in this room, only a select few," the blue Puffal answered. "More will be spoken to you of this matter at another time. Right now, there is another issue to discuss here."

"I am of the understanding that the two of you were present when Kirby met up with young Elline here," Meta Knight continued, "am I correct in that statement?"

Tuff nodded. "Uh huh, we were there. There were these really weird paint monsters that were trying to get at her, but the three of us were able to deal with them." He gave a smile and shouldered his bow. "Of course, I did the most, but Tiff and Kirby helped."

"What he means to say," Tiff put in, rolling her eyes at her brother's bragging, "was that they weren't all to difficult to deal with. They were just some weird living blobs of ink or paint. After getting hit with an arrow or the blade part of the bow, they pretty much evaporated."

"After that," she went on, "we learned what happened. Apparently, those things appeared in her home on Lumio Star and brought her here. We're not quite sure how they got here, but that's what happened."

Meta Knight froze. "Wait, did you say Lumio Star?'

Elline nodded. "Uh-huh. Ehwine home is Woomio Stah!"

An unnerved tone came into Meta Knight's voice. "Oh, dear. I think know who we are dealing with."

"What is it, my son?" Lady Rosalyn asked. "What is the trouble?"

"I had not mentioned it in detail yet," the warrior answered, "but among the enemies we have faced were the two witches of ancient time, Drawcia and Paintra. Drawcia has attack us on her own once, and the both of them had aided Nightmare in his plotting. After the Distort's first major defeat at the hands of Kirby, many of his allies slunk off into the shadows to continue their own plots. They two witches were among them."

"But why would they be after Elline?" Tuff asked. "I thought they wanted Ado and Adeleine's paintbrushes."

"They do, but it is not the twins that they are after exclusively," Meta Knight answered. "If my assumption is correct, they are after all of the line of the throne."

"But the Paintrian Kingdom is long gone," Tiff stated. "The capital of Musean isn't even in the Paintria territory; it's in Scrybia."

"That is true," Kit said, "but if I remember correctly, the royal bloodlines of the four nations that forms the Musean Empire. A new ruler could come out of Paintriad, Sculptura, Scrybia, or Composon."

"Considering the imprisonment they were sentenced by King Coloran," Meta Knight continued, "it's likely they also have a personal vendetta against his descendants."

"But I thought Lady Calligra only had Ado and Adeleine," Tiff said. "Were there other kids before them?"

"No," Meta Knight said. "After out run in with Drawcia and Paintra, I thought it would be wise to do a bit of studying into the history of the Musean Empire. I discovered that several years after the supposed death of Queen Calligra, Coloran took another wife, a princess of the Scrybix people. This is what led to the unification that eventually resulted in the Musean Empire, and it is from this union that Princess Elline is descended."

"T'at why da mean witches wanna get Ehwine?" Kirby asked.

"I am afraid so," Meta Knight answered. "It is well known that the witches have stolen the powers of others before, and it is likely they went after Elline first, instead of the Crown Princess Claycia, is that Elline is Paintrian in powers and appearance. She would be the more valuable target."

As she listened to this Elline was becoming more and more nervous. She, of course, had heard of Drawcia and Paintra, but only as the sort of boogeymen that lurk only in stories and eventually are defeated. Finding out that they were not only real, but coming after her, was extremely unsettling.

She was frightened by this, but as she noticed the others in the room, and they were handling things calmly. Determined not to look afraid, she spoke up. "We stop t'em," she said after a moment. "I can he'p."

"Yeah!" Kirby cheered in agreement. "We can fight 'gain, and stop t'em! We can a'ways stop t'e bad guys!"

The adults paused for a moment when the children's bold insistence were heard. Meta Knight smiled, and a blue tinge came into his eyes. "That is very brave of you, but if we can keep you two out of the battle, that would be preferable."

"Besides," he said, deciding to tempt fate just this once, "this is only speculation. We have no proof that it is indeed the Paintrian Witches who are behind this."

There was a shock wave that shook the castle, forcing those within to grip onto nearby furniture to steady themselves. Once the shock had passed, Sailor Dee rushed in. "Sir Meta Knight, Sir Meta Knight!" the young Waddle Dee was crying out. "There's trouble outside!"

"What is it?" the warrior questioned his student. "What caused that?"

"We're not quite sure," Sailor answered, "but some sort of creature came up and attacked! The others are outside trying to deal with it. It's huge!"

Meta Knight nodded. "We will come."

Turning to the children in the room, he then addressed them. "Stay in here unless it becomes unsafe to."

"But we can help!" Tuff tried to speak up.

Meta Knight shook his head. "No. We will try to keep you out of battle if at all possible. Stay in here and protect Elline. If I am correct, then that thing came here after her." With that, he, the other two adults, and Sailor Dee rushed out.

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Outside, chaos was reigning as a behemoth dripping with ink and paint was going on a rampage against the palace. However nearby, one of the witches stood back, controlling the monstrosity.

"Go," Drawcia instructed the creature. "Destroy the pitiful castle. You may kill everyone else, but remember, we want the princess alive."

The monolith gave a machine like groan before moving ahead against the building. With a swift blow of its arm, it began its tirade against the castle and its inhabitants.

Of course, response was swift. As soon as the student of Sir Meta Knight and the GSA members figured out what was going on, they rushed out to deal with the issue.

"Alright guys!" Knuckle Joe called out to his team, who had broken off from the GSA for a closer attack under the cover fire from their allies. "This is a big one. We've got to pick out where the weak spot it before it does too much damage."

"You're not worrying about this, are you, Joe?" Mace asked, a joking tone in her voice. "After all, it's just a normal paint-covered, witch controlled monster. Just an average Wednesday."

"I know," Joe responded, flashing back a cheeky smile. "I was just in the middle of that new Justice Alarm comic, and I want to figure out how it ends." He jumped up, firing off a succession of Vulcan Jabs to drive the behemoth backwards.

"I know what you mean," Blade responded, unleashing a Sword Beam at the monster. "These attacks just come in at the most inopportune times."

Silica rolled her eyes as she unleashed a barrage of bullets at the monster. "Cut the banter, guys. We've got work to do." Seeing the monster reel back from the blows, she followed it up by switching around to a missile.

"Hey, nothing wrong with making chores a bit more fun, Sis," Joe responded. "Just lighten up a bit."

The white haired girl smirked. "I'd rather light him up a bit." With that, she unleashed her flame thrower on the monster. Thankfully, it seemed that the paint the creature was dripping in was flammable, and it caught fire and burned away.

"See, you're getting it," Sword commented. "Puns always make the battle brighter, or at least that's what Sir Daroach would say."

"Hey, guys!" Ax called. "Take a look at what's underneath all that goop!" He pointed to where the paint had been burned away. Underneath the magic gunk was a metal hull, where numbers could be faintly see written on the side.

"That's our ship!" one of the GSA soldier, a Pipinite solder by the name of Kaylon shouted out.

Sure enough, the hulking monstrosity had been reformed and taken over by the evil paint magic. This they could only see briefly though. Once the fire had burned down a bit, Drawcia unleashed another blast of magic paint, covering over the areas that had been cleansed.

"Oh, dear, this isn't good," Javelin muttered. "That ship was made with 89.6547% hull strength. It will be incredibly difficult to break through that alone, not taking into account the magical defenses supplied by the witch."

"We're just going to have to be tougher, then," Joe commented. "Come on. We might not be able to take that thing on, but at least we might be able to give it hell until help arrives."

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In the village, those who had been closer to the palace paused in their work to watch the chaos of what was happening. For the moment, worked stopped and people froze, wondering what was going on.

Ado and Adeleine had been two of the onlookers. They had paused in their work when they heard some of the destruction that was going on around the palace. Moving as fast as they could, they hurried over to a hill that had a good view of the palace so that they could get an idea of what was happening.

Ado moved faster than her sister, and thus reached the destination first. Upon arriving at the hill though, she froze.

"What is it?" Adeleine asked as she arrived at her sister's side. However, when she got a good look herself, there was no need for any comment.

"We've got to get over there," Ado said. "That thing is trouble, and it looks like it is made of paint magic." With that, she prepared to take off in the direction of the palace.

Adeleine caught her sleeve. "We can't just run off!"

"Why not!" Ado shot back. "They're our friends and they need our help!"

"Yes," her twin explained, "but we left our paintbrushes at home. If we tried to go over now, there would be nothing we could do."

Realizing her sister was right, Ado shrugged. "Oh, yeah, that's right. We'll, let's go get our brushes first, and then we can go to help."

"Got it!" Adeleine responded.

The two of them rushed back to the small house attached to the antique shop, but upon their arrival found a surprise. The door had been pried off its hinges, and there were sounds going on inside as if someone was rifling through their belongings.

Rushing inside without a thought, they two artists prepared themselves to deal with whatever intruder had broken in. "Hey! Stop!" Ado called out. "Get out of here! This isn't yours!"

The intruder looked up, revealing herself to be a girl slightly older than them with pink hair. When she spotted them, she let out a high pitched laugh. "Little babies come to protect their toys, did they?" she commented with a cruel grin. "Don't worry. I've just come to take what's mine. Now, where are those paintbrushes?"

They realized that this must be Paintra, as Meta Knight had already warned them that he had seen her freed when he had been caught by Nightmare. Deciding to play dumb, Adeleine adopted a blank expression, motioning to Ado to attempt to grab the brushes while she acted as a distraction. "What paintbrushes?" the young artist asked, doing her best to look completely dim.

Paintra snorted. "You know what I'm talking about," she growled. "You'd better chalk up those brushes, or else you'll live only long enough to regret it."

Continuing the façade of ignorance, Adeleine shrugged. "Oh, so you want my paintbrushes, huh?" She moved her hand in a pocket, as if reaching in for a desired object. "Here, I'll give you what I've got in here."

"You're not quite as dumb as I supposed." The witch gave a smile. "Just give me what I came for, and no one will get hurt."

A mischievous look came into the artist's face. "Oh, I'll give you what's coming to you." With a swift movement, she pulled a box cutter out of her apron pocket. Spinning in, she rushed ahead, forcing the young witch to give up her position and move towards the door.

This gave Ado just the time she needed to move to the back of the room, where the hidden compartment where the two magic paintbrushes had been hidden. Whipping the compartment open, she took up her own brush and tossed Adeliene's to her. "Here, sis!" she called out. "Catch!"

"Got it!" Adeleine snatched up her brush. Wielding the brush in one hand and the knife in the other, she turned back to the witch. "Get out of here now," she warned in a dark voice. "We won't just stand around and watch as you hurt people. Just leave now, and you won't have any problems."

Paintra watched them, and for a moment, seemed pretty concerned and angry. Then, she suddenly burst out into laughter. "Do you really think that you scare me?" she asked mockingly. "I was willing to let you do this the easy way, but I will have those brushes, even if I have to pry them out of your cold, dead hands!"

She suddenly transformed into a paintbrush and began painting on the wall. At first, the paintings didn't look like anything in particular, considering the rather sloppy, chaotic positioning of the lines. Once the artist was done and the pieces came to life, however, trouble soon became apparent.

The strange line beings jumped off the wall, and Paintra, regaining her more humanoid form, pointed to the two girls. "Kill them, my minions!" she practically shrieked. "Kill them and bring their paintbrushes to me!"

Initially, the twins weren't concerned too much about the creatures, since they were rather slap-shod, angular creatures. Then a reality about the creatures came to life. They were _fast_. The girls only had a few moments to set up a barrier and try to escape out the back door.

As they rushed out, they soon realized the monsters had sliced through the barrier with relative ease. "This isn't good," Adeleine said. "We're going to need to get help as soon as possible."

"You got that right," Ado commented, laying down an ice slick behind herself to slip up the monsters. "To the palace?"

Her sister nodded. "To the palace."

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Meanwhile, the battle against Drawcia's behemoth was not going well. As Javelin had predicted, the intense strength of the defense of the monster's core had made it incredible difficult to attempt to fight off the monster directly. They were running out of options, and things were looking more and more desperate as time went on.

After several full minutes of the attack, however, Silica soon found herself in a rather opportune position. Noting that Drawcia seemed to be giving her full attention to controlling her monster, the girl saw that she might have the opportunity to get a sneak attack in on the witch.

Glancing around for backup, Silica noticed that her closest teammate was Mace. Breaking off, she pulled her sister in arms aside. "Take a look over there," she said, pointing over to the position Drawcia had taken. "Notice anything off about that strategy?"

It took Mace a moment, but the mechanic soon caught on to her friend's observation. "She's leaving her who back uncovered," she responded.

Silica gave a grin. "It'd be a shame to miss such an opening, don't you think?"

"A real shame, especially considering it's practically gift wrapped." Mace hefted her flail. "Now, we can't allow such a letdown to occur, now can we?"

With that, the two lady knaves rushed off to take the position. Usually, such a stealth attack would be rather difficult, considering the armor traditionally worn by Star Warriors, but in this case, the thunderous booms caused by the mechanical monstrosity hid any noise the girls were making. Thus, it wasn't too difficult for them to make it up behind Drawcia. Wielding flail and multi-weapon, the two of them sprang out, prepared to deal with the witch.

Unfortunately, they found that their attack hadn't been as unexpected as they had assumed. As soon as they launched out of their hiding place to attack, Drawcia spun around and smashed the ground with the paintbrush. Since she was still controlling the behemoth, she couldn't use as much of the magic that she would have liked, but she did still have enough to do some damage.

As soon as the brush touched the ground, large fissures opened up, swallowing the two lady knaves as they sprang out. Thankfully, the crevice wasn't too deep, so Mace and Silica weren't hurt by their landing, but they were still put into a position of weakness that their enemy could exploit.

"Foolish wenches!" Drawcia scowled at the girls. "Simpering idiots! Did you really think you could sneak up on a lady of grand powers like that? On one of such grand power and majesty?"

"No, we didn't think that," Silica shot back. "We thought we could sneak up on an old hag playing around with stolen goods."

At that comment, Drawcia really exploded. " **I am a sorceress, not a hag!** " she bellowed out, enraged by the comment. She shot off several fireballs, which the girls had to rush to avoid. "I am a lady of prestige and power! Of grace and mystery! You will acknowledge my-!" She had suddenly been cut off when she was struck with the haft of a pole ax.

"What!" the witch snapped when she realized what had happened. "Who dares to strike a lady?!"

Lady Rosalyn laughed as she lifted her poleaxe to prepare another hit. "You talk too much."

She then jumped back to avoid a strike from the witch. "Nice strategy," she said turning to the girls climbing out of the crevice, "but you need to be more certain of your opponent's ignorance before mounting a sneak attack. You ready for round two?"

The girls nodded and joined the older Star Lady in preparation to meet the witch head on.

Meanwhile, the battle with the behemoth was still on for the rest of the group. Despite Drawcia's sudden lack of concentration, the beast was still taking a lot to deal with. Already, the Star Warrior knaves were beginning to weary, and the GSA were running low on ammo.

Determined not to give in to desperation, though, the teens fought on. They got as close to the monster as they safely could, desperate to land some meaningful blow. No matter what they tried, however, the hits weren't doing much, no matter where they landed.

The weariness that the creatures of flesh and blood were suffering was not shared with their opponent of metal and paint. Indeed, it seemed that the creature had finally broken their resistance. Making its way closer to the palace, it prepared to smash in.

It never got the opportunity to. As soon as it raised a huge limb in preparation to smash down on the castle, a bright beam shot out. When it struck, all the paint that had been on that area evaporated, and the monster was forced to fall back.

The teens turned to see who it was that saved them, though it did not take any masterful guess work to know who it was.

"We were wondering what was taking you," Knuckle Joe said, giving a cheeky grin as Meta Knight landed.

"I was in an important meeting, but one that can be put on hold for the time being," the blue Puffal responded. "Now, what is this thing?"

"You remember that witch who covered over Cappy Town with that weird dome a while back?" Blade asked. "Well, it looks like she came back, and she's got some kind of vendetta going on."

"I knew about the witch Drawcia," the knight commented. "She has come after a guest Kirby invited in. I will explain everything in more detail later. Right now, our most urgent business is keeping that creature at bay."

Meta Knight glanced over, pleased to see that Kit Cosmos was rallying his own men to the fight as well. This was not going to be easy, but at least they would have the support they needed.

To be continued…


	68. Meet New Friends, but Find the Old, Part Four

It didn't take too much to actually make it into the palace, as Ado and Adeliene found out. They were forced to take a back way in, considering the battle that was going on in the front way, but to their relief, they were able to make it to the back gate with relative ease.

Relative being the key word. As they ran, they were hotly pursued by the angular creatures that Paintra had set on them. To the twins' dismay, nothing they tried to throw back at the creatures slowed them down, even by a little, and they were surprisingly fast.

To make matters even worse, the young witch herself was keeping up with her creatures, shouting insults and taunts along the way. "Why don't you come back?" she taunted. "They only want to play with you!" She then gave a cruel laugh. "Of course, I'm not sure how much you're going to like their idea of play." With that, she let out another high pitched laugh, before painting up a swarm of little angular creatures, this time who could fly.

The twin by now had made it to the back gate of the palace. The rushed into the wall as quickly as they could, slamming the huge wooden door behind them as they did.

As Ado braced the door, Adeleine used her paintbrush to cover away the seam between the door and its frame, temporarily fusing it into one piece. "That's not going to hold them back forever," Adeleine commented, "but at least it'll buy us a bit of time."

"Hey! What in this big, wide world is going on out there?!" The girls turned around to realize that they were being approached by Dedede. The Pengu looked mad, and was speaking in a way to match. "There's so much noise goin' on, I can't take my midday nap, and when I look out my window, it's a de-de-disaster out there! I want an exhalation right now!"

Ado shook her head, deciding against a detaining about how he wanted an "explanation," not an "exhalation." "Look," she said, doing her best to disguise the annoyance in her voice, "we don't have time to explain everything. Right now, it is very important that we find Kirby. Do you know where he is?"

This seemed to only make the Pengu even matter. "How dare you! I say how dare you! You charge right into my own home and start making demands of me, refusing to answer my polite demand! Why I ought to-!"

Before he could go on, one of the angular creatures succeeded in slicing through the thick wood of the door. Having succeeded, it flailed about, trying to get ahold of the people hiding within.

"What the heck is that?!" Dedede cried in alarm when he saw the strange appendage make its way in.

"That," Adeleine explained, "is why we need to find Kirby. Those things have been chasing us here, and they will make it in. It's only a matter of time!"

Dedede snorted. "Well, I ain't afraid of no thin-man monster." He whipped his hammer out. "An' I don't need no Kirby to fight my battles for me. These things are not breaking into my palace."

Realizing there was not a lot they could do here at the moment, the twins decided it would be best for them to head into the palace and see if they could not find the little Puffal within. Running as fast as they could, they moved into the palace and began searching through the halls.

For his part, Dedede did very well against the angular creatures. They were sharp as knives, but needed to be in close range to actually land a dangerous blow. This was not a limitation on Dedede's hammer, so he was able to strike out at the creatures before they could actually reach them. Furthermore, it appeared that the monsters were actually rather fragile, so a blow from the hammer succeeded in smashing them to bits. It didn't appear that they monster would be able to do anything after all.

"There," the Pengu said, leaning on his hammer and looking over his handiwork. "I don't see what those kids were so scared of. Those monsters were nothing but junk!"

"Eeh hee hee hee!" Paintra laughed as she flew in. "That's what you think!" Turning to the bit of broken monster, she gave a laugh. "Why don't you show our tubby friend just what you can do?"

"Hey! Who you calling tubby?" Dedede raised his hammer and prepared to charge at the young witch.

He never got his chance. Hearing their master's summons, the pieces of the monster rose up and reformed into one giant angular man. Seeing the Pengu, it grabbed him so fast that his hammer flew out out of his hand. Once it had snatched him up, it punched the ground so that a hole opened up, before shoving the so called king in the hole, burying him up to his shoulders.

"You stay there for a little while, fatty," Paintra taunted. "I have bigger fish to fry. Don't worry, though. I'll come back to play with you later." Cackling, she flew off. As it followed her, the huge angular man broke off into several litter ones as well.

"Hey!" Dedede shouted. "Someone get me outta here! And I'm not fat!"

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In the same room they had been told to wait in, Tiff, Tuff, Kirby, and Elline were getting anxious. There was a lot of sounds coming from outside that didn't sound good, but they were bound by orders to remain where it was safe.

"This stinks!" Tuff said finally, choosing complaint over uncomfortable silence. "We should be out there, doing something! After all, it's not like this is the first time that we've been attacked! We can help!"

"Yes, but we have our orders," his sister responded. "Obedience is one of the most important virtues for a Star Warrior in training. We can only go against orders if they are inherently evil or doing so would put life in danger."

"Yeah, I know," her brother responded. "I'm not gonna disobey, but I don't have to be happy about it." He crossed his arms in frustration. "Man, I never thought I would wish I could have gone on one of Mom and Dad's business trips."

For her part, Elline had been sitting quietly, looking down at the floor. Finally looking up, she turned to Kirby. "T'is Ehwine's fau't," she sighed finally. "Mo'e monstahs commed to take me. If I go, t'en maybe yew be safe."

Kirby shook his head hard, taking the little fairy's hand. "No," he responded. "It only bad peoples' fau't. Bad people choose ta be bad, an' we hafta fight t'em when t'ey bad. Ehwine didn't do anyt'ing bad, an' Kaabii he'p Ehwine."

She smiled for a moment before looking down again. "I wish t'ere was somet'ing I coul' do ta he'p."

"T'ere be somet'ing," Kirby comforted. "Yew see."

Before any more conversation could go on, there was the sound of footsteps running up. Hearing this, Tiff and Tuff stood straight, preparing their bows for whatever was coming. Their caution, however, was unnecessary.

"Guys!" Adeleine called as she and Ado rushed into the room. "Thank heavens we found you!"

"What's going on?" Tiff asked as she relaxed her bowstring.

Without pausing to explain, the twins set to painting up a barrier between the room and the hallway they had ran out of. "We were being chased!" Ado explained once they had finished the protection. "Strange paint creatures that were summoned by a witch tried to catch us! They chopped through everything that we tried to put between us and them, and their coming this way!"

"Wai'," Elline said when she heard their story. "Yew say t'ey paint monstahs?"

"That's exactly it," Ado responded. "Weird things that sort of look like people, but if they were made of knives."

"Ehwine know what ta do!" The little fairy became excited and took her paintbrush form as quickly as she could. Flying over the barrier painted up by the older artist, she painted several bright pink orbs on the outside of it. Once she was finished, she flew over to join the other kids.

Just in time, too. As soon as she had make it back to the safety of the barrier, there was the clanking, clattering sound of the angular men as they ran into the hallway. Their enemies were upon them.

"Let's get outta here!" Tuff shouted. The kids took off running, though the two Dreamlanders kept their bows to the ready and the Paintrians prepared to paint up a defense when necessary. However, at least against the angular men, that would not be needed.

When the angular men came in view of the barrier, they rushed it with the intention of chopping through it, just as they had chopped through all the other barriers before it. However, as soon as one of them touched one of Elline's pink orbs, it shattered open, and a pink fluid flowed out of it, soaking the angular man and the other monsters around him.

At first, this didn't appear to do anything. However, after a minute, the liquid went into effect. The angular men that had been soaked in the liquid began to melt away. By then, other orbs had been burst as well, and Paintra's army began to melt away.

As they moved out, the fleeing kids could only catch a glimpse of what had happened. Looking up in surprise, Tiff turned to Elline. "What were in those orb things you painted?" she asked.

The little fairy smiled. "Paint t'innah. It vewwy good ta melt away any constwuck t'at tu'ns mean. I wasn't ab'ah to make t'innah a'for 'cause the monstahs snuck up on me, but now I was able to make it weally good!"

Paintra was discovering the paint thinner by now as well. To her rage, she found that the thinner effected the monsters in such a way that they were now permanently melted away, and she could not summon them back. "No fair!" she shrieked at the top of her lungs. "You're cheating!" With that, she took off in hot pursuit of the young ones.

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Meanwhile, outside the fight against the behemoth was still waging. With her attention torn, Drawcia was becoming more and more strained by the battle. In terms of power, she outweighed all three of her enemies, but she was outnumbered and had less experience in direct combat. Furthermore, the taxation that came from controlling a monster that was currently in a losing battle against another segment of warriors was beginning to wear on her powers.

Not that this was any reason for the warrior ladies to drop their guard.

"Whatever you do, remain on opposite sides of her," Lady Rosalyn instructed the younger girls. "She's strong, but she's not omnipotent. She's already splitting her focus between us and the beast; make her split it further." She accentuated her own teaching, keep to the witch's front, allowing her students to take the sides and back.

This tactic did its job. While powerful, Drawcia could barely hold her focus on Star Lady in front of her. Old though she was, Lady Rosalyn knew her trade well. Sending off Ax Burst after Ax Burst, she forced the witch to take her head on, allowing Mace and Silica to strike in from their positions with gun and flail.

On the part of the behemoth, the fight was going similarly. What had been a losing battle for a handful of teens and inexperienced soldiers became almost one sided in favor of the defenders as soon as some experience joined in. Furthermore, since he was bearing a Guardian forged weapon, Meta Knight was able to cut away pieces of her control. These areas were usually reclaimed rather quickly by the regenerating paint, but the continued and repeated strikes were wearing her thin.

Finally, Drawcia decided that she couldn't take much more of the split tactic. She had one more trick up her sleeve. She'd just need to slip away from her current battle first.

Taking to the sky, she attempted to slip away from the Star Ladies by flight. Her effort was interrupted as Mace tossed her flail up, wrapping it around the witch's waste and pulling her down. "You didn't think you could get away just like that, did you?" The lady knave chuckled. "Well, you've got something else coming, you old witch."

That bit of banter proved to be a poor decision for the teen. Turning in rage, Drawcia whipped out her paintbrush and struck at Mace with and intense amount of power. " **I am not a witch!** "

The bolt of magic struck Mace hard in the torso, sending her flying back and slamming hard into a tree. The bolt did not knock her unconscious, but it did knock her breath out and make it impossible for her to get back into the battle.

Seeing the blow dealt to her sister, Silica became more serious in her own attacks. She prepared to rush in to face Drawcia in hand to hand combat. She was so determined to take down the foe before anyone else could be hurt that she didn't hear Lady Rosalyn trying to call her back.

"Don't go in alone!" the Star Lady called. "You can't face her in close quarters!" Her warnings fell on deaf ears.

As soon as she was in close enough range, Silica switched her weapon from gun mode to sword mode. Rushing at her opponent, she raised the weapon for a strike. Unfortunately, Drawcia was ready.

Spinning around, the witch fired a burst of paint at the young warrior, throwing her back and pinning her to a tree. Silica struggled to escape from the trap, but found it near impossible. The substance was like a thick, quick hardening cement. Soon, it was hardened, and the knave was pinned back and unable to move a muscle to escape.

Seeing her enemy trapped, Drawcia moved forward to kill her opponent. "You dared to mock me!" she yelled as she approached the trapped girl. "Me! The greatest Paintrian sorceress who ever lived!" She raised her paintbrush, fully prepared to land the killing blow. "You will not regret that mistake for long."

Before she could land the final blow, she was struck heavily in the side from a blow with a poleaxe. This stunned the witch and knocked her back a few paces. As soon as she realized what had happened, she turned to see what had hit her.

Rosalyn was standing there, wielding her poleaxe in a defensive position. "Touch either of these children, witch, and you will be the one to regret it."

Drawcia sneered. "I had nearly forgotten about you, bag," she snarled. "You think you will fair any better than they did?"

"Whether I fall or not does not matter," the Boxin lady responded. "If I am to die, than I am to die. What does matter is that if I am to die, then I will do all in my power to make sure that your threat dies with me."

Drawcia let out a battle cry and charged Rosalyn, who raised her weapon and responded in turn.

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Inside the palace, the children were still fleeing with Paintra in hot pursuit. The young witch was getting angrier at the moment, painting rapidly to come up with new monsters in an attempt to kill the younger children she was pursuing.

Thankfully, as long as they kept moving, the young ones were relatively safe. While the creatures Paintra came up with were strong, they were still vulnerable. They shattered to pieces whenever Tiff or Tuff unleashed an arrow, and they were held back and melted whenever the Paintrian princesses could set up a barrier. However, the times when they could set up a barrier were few and far between, and well intentioned as they were, the Dreamlander siblings were mortal and beginning to tire. It was clear they couldn't go on like this indefinitely.

Much to little Kirby's frustration, there didn't seem a lot he could do. He would have liked to have sent his Warp Star out to destroy the monsters, but found that the small confines of the palace walls and inopportune place for such attacks. Furthermore, he had found no opportunity to take up a copy ability that would have been of use.

Soon, a new issue would also creep up on them. The six had finally reached an area where they could set up another paint thinner trap. Ado and Adeleine had set up the barrier and Elline flew over to the other side to set up the traps. After the first two traps, however, she began to struggle in her flight, and she was unable to paint a thing.

"No!" the little fairy whimpered. "No! Not now!" She struggled to keep up her painting, but to her dismay didn't seem to even have the strength to keep in flight.

Seeing his new friend in distress, Kirby flew out and caught her before she could fall. "Wha' goin' on?" he asked as they settled down on the protected side of the barrier. "Ehwine 'kay?"

The little girl nodded, but tears flowed free. "I wunned outta paint!" she cried. "I twied to get mo'e, but I don't have mo'e! I so sowwy!"

"What do you mean, ran out of paint?" Tiff asked.

Elline wiped her eyes. "When Paintwians paint usin' ou' own paint, we need to weplenish. It takes a while, unless we dwink some, and if we paint a wot, t'en we run out. I so sowwy."

The kids looked on in dismay for a moment, but just then, almost out of nowhere, Ado brightened up. Smiling, she patted the younger Paintrian on the back. "You did your best, Elline, so don't worry about it. Beside, you just gave me an idea."

"An idea?" Tuff asked. "What do you mean?"

"Think about it," the artist answered. "Elline was using her paint to help with the barriers and the traps, and she ran out. Well, Paintra is using her own paint, too."

Recognition came into Tiff's eyes. "Ah! I see! Since Paintra's been using her own paint to paint up her monster hoards, she can't be too far from running out of paint herself. We just need to figure out some way to get rid of the paint monsters she's using, and eventually she'll run out of ammo!"

"How are we going to do that?" Adeleine asked. "Elline can't handle making any more thinner, and Ado and I don't have enough time to try to figure out how to. How are we going to destroy the paint so that Paintra has to replenish?"

The kids thought for a moment. Suddenly, Ado brightened up. "Hey, do you remember when we had to fight the Wolfwrath, and we found out there was a problem with you and me fighting them because our paint is flammable?"

Catching on to her twin's suggestion, Adeleine practically cheered. "Yeah, that's it! If we can find a way to set those paint creatures on fire, then there's no way that witch will be able to summon them back!"

"Yeah!" Tuff laughed in agreement. "She controls paint, not ashes!"

Painting up a torch, Ado took it over to Kirby. "Here," she said. "Copy off of this, please."

"Otay!" Kirby deeply inhaled, pulling the torch in and copying off of it. There was a bright flash of light, and when that had faded away, Kirby was standing in front of them wearing a coronet with a polished jadeite gem in center and wreathed with flames all around his head. He had become Fire Kirby!

Just in time, too, since it was at that moment that Paintra's beasts had overcome the barrier and begun breaking through. The limbs of the monster who were getting through could be seen through the cracks, and Paintra's cackling laugh echoed over it all.

"I've got you now," she taunted. "Your power will soon belong to me!"

It was then that one of the angular men finally broke completely through the barrier, pushing its way in with a determination to destroy its prey. As soon as it made it through, though, it had Fire Kirby to deal with.

Taking a deep breath, Kirby exhaled a large amount of fire, setting not only the angular man, but the surrounding barrier on fire. Thankfully, those stones of the palace floor and walls were not flammable, but anything made of paint was not so lucky.

The monster itself didn't seem capable of full comprehending that it was now on fire. Instead, it began moving around erratically, in now particular plan or pattern. This had the effect that soon all of Paintra's monsters were smoldering and unable to continue their mission.

Realizing the advantage they now held, Tiff picked up Elline and motioned to the others. "C'mon!" she called out. "Let's get out of here!"

The other children nodded, taking off in an attempt to get farther away from the witch. Kirby took up the rear, prepared to deal with whatever creature their enemy might come up with in an attempt to stop their flight.

It was a good decision. Paintra was now even more enraged by their success. "No! No! No! I'm the powerful spell caster here!" she shouted, sounding more like a tantrum throwing brat. "I'm supposed to win!"

Spinning around, she painted up several ice monsters to pursue them. "Kill them!" she shrieked. "Kill them all! Especially that creampuff!"

The monsters charged ahead, but Kirby was ready for them. They launched several ice attacks at him to force him to lose his fire ability. However, he was able to move away from such attacks near effortlessly, dispatching them with a few well aimed fireballs before rushing off after his friends.

The kids soon however realized they had hit a major problem. The flight path they had taken had brought them up to the higher levels of the palace instead of down to the lower levels. Now they found themselves trapped at the end of their path: a large balcony several stories in the air.

"Okay, there's got to be a way down from here," Tuff said, looking over the edge of the balcony. "Maybe we can use our stars to lower ourselves down."

"Not a bad idea," Tiff responded. She pulled out her ruby star. "Ado, Adeleine, can you find a way to tie Tuff and my stars together? That way, whoever is getting down will have something to hold on to."

"Good idea." Adeleine took one of the stars and began painting the connector between the two.

Before she could finish, however, a splot of pink paint landed among them, forcing the kids to scatter. "Did you really think you could get away from me?" the witch shrieked. "You might have defeated my monsters, but now you need to take me on!"

In response, Tiff and Tuff both fired off energy arrows at the witch, but she dodged them with ease. Tiff turned to the three Paintriads. "Get out of here!" she called out. "Tuff, Kirby, and I can deal with this brat.

"That's what you think!" Paintra cackled. She spun around, summoning up three large energy balls, which she sent slamming into the balcony. The masonry gave a loud crack and began sliding down towards the ground.

Thankfully, the kids were able to save themselves. Kirby hurried out on the Warp Star, catching Adeleine and Elline, while Tiff, Tuff, and Ado steadied themselves with the line connecting the halves of the Flight Star.

They were far from safe, however, despite the close call. Paintra charged again, summoning down a rain of scalding paint. The kids were forced to scatter for cover.

In attempt to fight back, Tiff and Tuff both scooped up their stars and tossed them at the witch. Seeing his friends' actions, Kirby followed suit, sending the Warp Star hurtling in the foe's direction.

The three stars met about halfway there, and a change started to occur. The two stars froze and began spinning around each other, while the Warp Star began orbiting around the two. This spinning motion continued, and as the kids watched, the two stars began to fuse and a new star began to form.

Unfortunately, Paintra was no as enthralled by the new development. Blasting out with a huge blot of paint, she struck the stars, interrupting whatever had been happening. This let out an intense burst, tossing all of the viewers back.

Since she had been farther back, Paintra recovered from the burst before her opponents did. "You are pathetic!" she cackled out. "Did you really think you could stop me?!"

Elline looked out in dismay at the destruction. This was her fault. The witches had been after her, and her new friends were suffering because they were trying to defend her. She sighed, supposing that, in her weakened state, there might be only one thing she could do.

"Wai'!" she called out, waving her arms. "P'ease stop! I-I come!"

"Wha'?" Kirby called out in distress.

"Elline, don't!" Ado shouted. "She's dangerous!"

"Shut it!" Paintra sneered, firing off a paint burst in the direction of the protesters. Turning back to Elline, she gave a cat-like grin. "You were saying?"

"I will go wiv you, an' no' fight," the little princess said as clearly as possible, "if you weave fwiends awone."

"Is that all?" the witch cackled. "Your power is all I want anyway. Just hold still, and no one else has to get hurt." With that, she fired off a blast intended to take Elline's powers.

Something, however, happened to cut off the blast. During this whole time, Tuff had been moving quietly to where Elline was standing. Since everyone was paying attention to the dialog between witch and fairy, no one paid the boy any attention until he moved.

Using this advantage, Tuff shot out as fast as he could when Paintra had shot out her attack and pushed Elline out of the way. As a result, the blast hit him full on instead of her.

The attack had been meant to drain Elline's paint-based magic and transfer it to Paintra. However, since Tuff did not have any such magic, all it did was stun the boy, knocking him unconscious in the process.

"No!" Elline called out, rushing to Tuff's side.

"My brother!" Tiff called out in alarm. She turned to Paintra, her eyes flashing with white hot fire. "You _Hag!_ " With that, she loosed bolt after bolt after bolt from her bow.

This came as such a surprise that, for once, one of the shots hit Paintra. It didn't hit lethally, but it was enough to ground and weaken the witch. She crashed into the ground.

Nearly as soon as she hit the ground, Paintra attempted to get back into the air. However, like Elline earlier, she found that her paint magic had become drained, and she no longer had the strength to fly, nor the strength to face the young warriors in battle.

She did have enough strength for one last gambit. Over the wall, she spotted Drawcia's behemoth, coated in her sister's paint magic. She might have one opportunity.

Transforming into a puddle of paint, she slithered off faster than her opponent could catch, and slithered up to take the machine. The color changed as she took direct control of the monster and then turned to destroy her own opponents.

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In the meantime, this change did not go unnoticed. "What in this wide universe is going on?" Kit Cosmos asked as the robotic monstrosity changed color and turned to face another direction. "What is that thing doing?"

"I have an idea," Meta Knight said, "but I've got a bad feeling about this." He turned to his knaves. "See if you can't get the monster's attention," he ordered. "I think I know where I can get some information."

"On it!" Knuckle Joe answered, throwing a salute. He and the other knaves turning and did their best to begin firing at the monster's face in hopes of distracting it.

This did work. Since Paintra was now directly controlling the monstrosity, it was no longer immune to any distraction. As Sword Beams, Ax Bursts, and Vulcan Jabs from the students were shot up right into her line of vision, the witch was forced to have to deal with these new annoyances rather than turning straight to her original targets.

"Get away from me, you pathetic insects!" she shouted while she attempted to swat at the attackers.

Kit laughed. "That's the stuff, boys!" he shouted out. Turning to his own troops, he called out orders. "Give 'em whatever backup you can! This thing isn't indestructible, but we've got to throw everything we've got at it!"

With his students working to give him some time, Meta Knight flew over the palace wall in the direction that the Paintra monster had been heading. There, just as he had expected, he found the remainder of his students. They had gathered around the unconscious Tuff and were looking in concern for where their opponent had run off to.

"What has gone on here?" he asked, swooping down to land next to them.

"T'e w-witch," Elline sniffled, "she was gonna hu't me, bu' Tuff 'atected me, an'…an'…"

"Long story short," Ado put in before the little fairy could break down, "we were attacked. You know that witch Drawcia? Well, her sister came and attacked me and 'Liene, and we came here looking for help. We ran into the others in one of the halls, but unfortunately, the witch followed us here. We were able to weaken her, since the paint they use is flammable, and she ran off, but not before injuring Tuff."

Walking over to the Dreamlander boy's side, Meta Knight examined him. "He's going to be fine," the warrior finally said. "He's in a state of shock, which is very common for those who have been hit with energy weapons. Given time to relax, he'll make a full recovery."

"Ado, Adeliene, Tiff," he said, "I want you to take Tuff and Elline to Kirby's house. The witches won't think to find you there. Kirby, I'm going to need you're help if we're to stop this opponent."

"Poyo!" Fire Kirby responded, pulling a smart salute.

The battle against the Paintra controlled behemoth was starting to turn south. Having replenished her own paint supply with the layer coating the ship, the witch now had a supply of power that was far beyond that of her enemies. Using this, she was able to launch repeated attacks at the fighting force, and soon wore them out.

She was preparing to utterly annihilate those who had dared to stand up to her when a loud cry startled her. "Kirby! Now! Use Fireball!"

Responding to Meta Knight's cry, Kirby shot out. Flames wreathed around his body, he struck the body of the machine repeatedly.

At first, this didn't seem to be doing anything. Paintra prepared to mock her opponent for his futile attempt. However, as she looked down to direct her insult, she realized, to her horror, that it hadn't been as ineffective as she had assumed.

Everyplace the little Puffal had struck had caught fire, and the fire spread rapidly due to the flammable paint. The witch tried desperately to put them out, but as soon as she had one fire dealt with, Fire Kirby would have already set six more. In the end, the supply of pain that the witch had taken was burnt up and she was forced to abandon the robot and retreat.

Meanwhile, the fight with Drawcia had been a failing fight for Lady Rosalyn. The Boxin Lady had known this from the start. Experienced though she was, she was not a match for the witch on her own, and all she could hope to do was keep Drawcia distracted long enough for help to come.

Thus, it was at this moment that the elderly Star Lady found herself disarmed and helpless in her enemy's power. "You dared to challenge a great sorceress!" Drawcia declared. "Now be prepared to-"

It was now that help arrived in the most unexpected way possible. "Uh, Drawcia," Paintra interrupted, rushing up to her sister, "we'd better get out of here!"

"Paintra, I was just about to…" the witch didn't finish her sentence. Realizing that the behemoth had been lost and her sister had been weakened, Drawcia saw that to attempt to fight now would be suicide. Scowling, she turned to her enemy.

"Don't think this is finished," she scowled. "I'll deal with you later." With that, both witches summed a portal and vanished from sight.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Rosalyn slumped down. They were safe, for now.

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"Are you certain of this decision?" Meta Knight asked as they stood on the pier in early morning. It was several days after the witches attack, and the small collection of GSA members were preparing to shove off for Ice Cream Island.

"Yes, I am quite certain," Rosalyn responded. "It has been wonderful reuniting with you and Kirby during this time, but I should like to see your sister again as well."

"And if there are more recruits over on that Island," Kit said firmly, "then I had best head over to begin training."

"I understand," the Puffal responded. "Kirby and the little one will be disappointed they were not here to see you off."

"We will see them all again soon," Rosalyn responded. "Certain, we will join you once you are able to contact Musean. After all, it is proper to have a greeting when a royal dignitary arrives."

"Farewell, then," Meta Knight said.

"Farewell, my son," the Lady said, embracing him before entering the boat.

As they sailed off, a feeling warmth and happiness filled Meta Knight. He now had further proof that he was not alone from the time before the fall.

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In one of the seedier areas of the Galaxy, there was a bar known as the Grizzo's Growl. On the level as a bar, it wouldn't have been all that popular, considering it was very expensive and didn't have very good food or drink. There was, however, something that kept the Grizzo's Growl alive and running, and that was the cage fights.

These underground fights were infamous for having no rules, and thus being very dangerous. Matches could be very lucrative, but they were also incredibly crazy to join in. Many fighters ended up maimed for life, and it wasn't unheard of for a fighter to be killed in the ring.

Those who thrived in the ring, however, could become very successful. They always got a cut in the betting profits, and there was usually no end of challengers who wanted to test their iron against such champions.

It was against one such champion that a current challenger had just lost his match to. A brawny looking bear-like creature was forced to slink from the ring with a dislocated arm as the bell rang.

"And the winner and undefeated champion, Galacta, the Warrior's Bane!" Cheers went off as the red Puffal stood tall, enjoying the adoration.

Deciding to take a break from the ring, Galacta went down to the bar area for a drink. "A whiskey, on the rocks, to celebrate," he ordered.

"That was quiet some fight." The Puffal turned in surprise, looking to see who it was that spoke to him. Sitting nearby at the bar was a humanoid creature in a suit and sunglasses.

Galacta snorted. "I know who you are. Why don't you run along and tell Nightmare I'm not interested."

"What, are your ties to the Star Warriors still too strong to consider a deal?" Honest John took a sip of his own drink. "I mean, if old loyalties-"

"I have no loyalties to that band of weaklings," the red Puffal interrupted. "I left the Star Warriors long ago, and I never regretted that decision."

"Left?" The NME middleman questioned further. "I thought you were banned on the request of Sir Meta Knight."

"I left," Galacta snarled, "though I can't say that hard-hoof didn't have any role in it. Arthur always played favorites with him. I'm surprised no one else noticed it. Then when he was permitted to keep that clone brat of his, it was just too much." The bartender here handed Galacta his drink, which he took a sip of. "The only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that they both died in the Downfall."

"What if I were to tell you that they didn't die in the Downfall?" Honest John asked with a sly grin.

The bottle in Galacta's paw shattered when he heard the question. "Tell me you're lying," the red Puffal hissed.

"I would, but then I'd be lying." Turning his own glass around in his hand, the middleman continued. "I was there myself. Meta Knight escaped the downfall by hiding on a backwater planet known as Pop Star, where he still lives. I'm not totally sure how the clone made it out, but it survived as well, and joined the original."

Turning to look at the fighter, Honest John smirked. "You okay there? You look a bit steamed."

"That glory-hogging donkey is alive?!" Galacta let out several words that would not be fit for print. He then froze and turned back to the representative. "You wouldn't have told me that unless there was something you wanted."

"As a matter of fact, there is." Honest John turned fully, gearing up to offer the deal. "We at NME have come up with a procedure that will make you stronger. The strongest of all. Now, there could be some side effects, but I'm sure that's not a issue, now is it?"

"You say it will make me strong enough to defeat Meta Knight?" Galacta now had gaining interest.

"And then some." The middleman held out his hand. "So, what do you say?"

Galacta took the hand and shook hard. "I'd say you have a deal."

A wide, snake-like grin crossed Honest John's face. "Excellent."

To be continued…


	69. Flosty/Frosty Part, Part One

It was a bustling time for Cappy Town that fall morning. The chaos that had surrounded the destruction and rebuilding of the little village had several unexpected side effects. One of the more prominent of these was that it had called more attention to the little village. Ever since news reports about their town had trickled out, there had been occasional tourists wandering here and there, curious to see what all the fuss was about.

It was a few weeks after Drawcia and Paintra's attack and the damages done to the palace had been finished, with the townsfolk crossing their fingers that this would be the last time such repairs would be needed.

Nearly as soon as the rebuilding was done, the next flock of tourists ran in. It had been about a month and a half away from the Autumn Harvest Festival, a celebration Cappy Town put on every year around the time of the Dreamlandian holiday. The travelers, who now could take time off of school and work, used the festival as an excuse for why they were flocking in, but it was pretty well known why they were really there: to get a look at some of the few remaining Star Warriors who had apparently vanquished some great horror.

Meta Knight, at first, resisted their attempt to see him and his students, but after a lot of pleading and begging, had relinquished that observation during training sessions for the older students would be permitted, on the grounds that the viewers were completely silent and there were no attempts to view the younger students.

The major influx of travelers and tourists meant big things for the businessmen of the village. Nago and Kawasaki's café, Samo's bar, Mr. Curio's shop and museum, and all the various stores and shops soon found themselves flooded with travelers coming in to pick up supplies, eat, and drink. Even villagers who usually didn't have any products to sell were able to make some money, renting out spare rooms, attics, and even some barn lofts to travelers who had "come for the festivities." Even Dedede, who usually didn't like strangers one bit, rented out some of the palace rooms, and even made a business hiring out Waddle Dees as guides and assistants.

Kirby, for his part, was thrilled with the sudden influx of all these people. After all, if there were more people around, then there were more friends to be made and good times to be had. Indeed, it was often that Kirby and his friends would be out, eagerly meeting the new kids who came around. The little pink Puffal especially received a lot of attention, since it had been he who had defeated the terror that destroyed the town, not to mention many others.

Now, not all of the visitors were very friendly. They had come to the town out of curiosity and had no interest in getting to know the area or the locals. They were often rude and tended to respond to greetings in a nasty way. Thankfully, these were few and far between, but they did come occasionally.

There was a bit of adjustment needed to get used to the much more crowded state the village was now in, but the villagers proved to be adaptable enough. As long as business was good and there wasn't too much trouble, everything went well.

Not all the residents of the little village were happy with the sudden influx of newcomers, though. "All these tourists are making my search more difficult," Marx grumbled to himself one morning. It was a morning about a two and a half weeks away from the official festivals. "As long as all these strangers are here, those kids aren't going to come any closer to unlocking the secrets of those stars, and those Erranite agents are going to be keeping an extra low profile. There's no way I'll find Stormholt like this."

"Order up for a Frosty!" Chef Kawasaki shouted out from his position at the counter. "Come and get it, Frosty!"

Marx scowled, trying to filter out all the chatter to try to find some solution to his issue. However, the response to the call caught his attention.

"It's Flosty, with an L," a seal-like creature snapped impatiently as he snatched away his order.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Kawasaki apologized. "The order card I was left said 'Frosty.'" He handed over the order card that had been left when the order had been given.

"That's an 'L,' not an 'R'," The seal snapped again. "Can't you read?!" He slammed his hand down on the counter, leaving an outline of frost as he did so.

"Alright, alright," the chef responded, raising his hands in protest. "I said I was sorry."

"Well, sorry doesn't cut it!" Flosty snapped before heading out.

This intrigued Marx. An ill-tempered stranger with an amount of power. Under the right situations, he could work this to his favor. The jester grinned. Yes, this could work. He'd just need to go out and start sowing the seeds of chaos.

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That morning, the training session for the knaves was particularly crowded. It seemed that the Star Warriors had gained enough prestige that everyone wanted to see them in action. Being mature enough to be able to perform well with an audience, and just immature enough to really care about preforming well to impress an audience, the knaves were enjoying every minute of it.

Meta Knight, however, did find that it made his instructing somewhat more difficult. "Ax, I told you to do a simple cut, not an Ax Burst," he scolded.

"But, sir," the knave tried to argue, "an Ax Burst looks better than a simple cut. Not everyone can see the effect of the cut."

"You are practicing close melee combat, not ranged." Meta Knight sighed before continuing. "If you tried a move like that at a close up opponent without knowing how to do the quicker charges, you'd be cut down before you could even finish charging the attack."

"Then let's do some of the shortcuts," Ax recommended.

Meta Knight's eyes turned pale red in frustration. "You are also practicing following orders, regardless of personal opinion. Now, perform a cut the proper way, or you will be spending training sessions doing kitchen work until after the festival."

"Yes, sir." The knave turned to go back to his training.

Meta Knight sighed as he went back to the other students. Quite frankly, he was looking forwards to the festival ending in a while. It was just something about having an audience that caused hot dogging incidents to rise up more often.

At the moment, the gathered audience was relatively small. There was a handful of gathered tourists along with a few locals who were happy enough to have an excuse to sit in on the training. Nothing truly out of the ordinary. That was until he heard the shouting starting up.

"I'm not selling any snow cones, so get the heck away from me, you stupid balls!" It was a large, seal-like tourist who was screaming at another traveler, a Gemra woman with five little ones.

"Well, I apologize that I mistook you for someone else, but you don't need to be insulting about it," the woman huffed back. "I was told by someone else that a sealite named Frosty was selling snow cones. If he was mistaken that's no big deal, but there's no reason to get nasty about it."

"My name is not Frosty, you yell-mingler!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Why don't you take your whole shriklin' family, and go back to the cess-hole you came out of!"

"Such language!" the woman gasped. "There are children present!"

It was now that Meta Knight decided that he had best step in. "Excuse me, may I ask what is going on over here?" he asked as he went up to the two.

"I had been informed by several other travelers that there was a sealite who was selling snow cones, and though that it would be this fellow, Mr. Frosty," the Gemra mother answered. "Instead of calmly stating that it was a mistake like any sane person would, he started shouting swear words at me! And in front of my children, too!"

"It's Flosty, you-!" the sealite began, but he was cut off by Meta Knight.

"Sir, I can understand your frustration, but I must ask you to restrain yourself," the knight cautioned. "She apologized for her mistake, and the mature thing to do would be to accept the apology. Furthermore, as a father myself, I understand that children should not be exposed to such expletives. If you continue to act in such a way, I am going to have to ask you to leave."

"I was just going to leave anyway," Flosty grumbled as he headed out of the audience. "Nothing's happening anyway." With that, he slunk off.

"I apologize for that, ma'am," Meta Knight said, before turning to go back to the ring. "Out of curiosity, though, who told you that fellow was selling snow cones?"

"Other travelers, mostly," the Germa answered. "They said they had been told by some sort of performer. It thought the salesman and the performer would have been from the same troop."

"I am not aware of any other troops who have arrived quite yet," Meta Knight said, his eyes turning green in thought. "Confections are not sold here in the palace, but if you would like to pick up some snacks, there are several shops in town I can recommend."

"Thank you, but I know where those are," she responded cheerfully. "Thank you for your help with the situation. C'mon kids, let's go back to our seats."

As Meta Knight went back to the training, his mind wandered. Someone passing themselves off as a performer had started talking about salesmen who were in the village. Okay, he had dealt with odder things, but this still seemed suspicious to the warrior. He would have to look into this further.

From where he hid in the shadows, Marx grinned. Everything was going perfectly according to plan.

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The crisp autumn air was one of the many environments that called out to Kirby and his band of friends to go and play outside. At the moment, he, along with his older friends, were now engaged in a game of kickball with a group of grade-schoolers who were on a field trip from Tiramisu city.

"Alright, guys," Tuff declared as he stepped up to take his turn to kick. "Keep your eye on this, 'cause it's gonna end up in space!" He took his kick, and sure enough, the ball traveled a good distance, causing the other team to have to chase furiously after the ball, ending with the Dreamlander boy making it to the second base.

His team cheered at the success, but one of them was notably more enthusiastic than the others. "Yay, yah, hoo'ay!" Elline cheered at the top of her lungs after the others had calmed down. "Yew wunnerful, Tuff!"

"It was a good kick, but it wasn't that great," Tiff said, a little confused at the younger girl's enthusiasm. "Why's she so excited?"

Ribbon, who was sitting next to Tiff, giggled. "You mean you haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?" the blonde asked.

"How ever since Tuff saved her from the witch, Elline's been hanging on his every word," the fairy explained. "How she's laughed at all of his jokes, even when they are stupid. How she's always sided with his suggestions. She's got it, hard."

Tiff frowned in frustration. "Got what?"

Ribbon giggled again. "She's in L-O-V-E!"

"What?! With Tuff?!" The Dreamlander girl jumped in surprise. "Why the heck would she be in love with him? He's such a little brother!"

"Well, he's _your_ little brother," Ribbon pointed out, "but to her, he's a strong, dreamy older man."

"Yeah," Tiff said, "but it's still weird." She glanced over at the Paintrian princess, who was enthusiastically waving at Tuff. As much as Tiff didn't like to think of it, the points did match up. Elline was younger than Tuff, and a lot of her actions did scream of crush, but it still seemed like and extremely alien concept to Tiff.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry about it," Ribbon laughed. "It's just a little crush. Besides, I don't think Tuff noticed anything. Oh, look, Kirby's up."

Sure enough, at that moment, Kirby had gone up to the plate to take his turn little Puffal looked quite small compared to the other players, but that didn't seem to effect his determination. He was going to play just as well as the older kids.

The pitcher tossed the ball and Kirby took his kick. He kicked it hard and the ball flew up. Indeed, it flew up higher and father than any of the other kickers had, and soon it had gone out of the field.

The little Puffal himself, however, hadn't really noticed. As soon as he felt his kick hit, he had taken off running. He stopped when he reached the first base, only to look around in confusion when he realized no one was trying to stop him. Wasn't it part of the game that the other team was going to try to stop him?

"Keep running, Kirby!" Tuff called out, having already reached home himself.

"Yeah! You got a home run!" Ado encouraged.

Energized by these and other such comments, the little one took off running, eager to please his friends, even though he wasn't quite sure what a home run was. Everybody seemed happy, so he concluded that it must have been something good.

"Whoa," a young visiting Cappy commented, "where'd he learn to kick like that?"

"Kaabii kick good!" the Puffal answered. "Make home wun!" He then paused for a moment. "Uh, what a home wun?"

"It's when you kick the ball so hard that it flies so far away that no one can catch it," Adeleine answered. "That's an automatic run for your team, plus how many of your teammates were already on bases."

"We winned?" Kirby asked. "Yay!"

"We haven't won yet," Tuff corrected, "but if we keep it up, it won't be too hard to get there. Now, where did the ball go?"

"Oh, I get it!" Elline called out. She had been watching nearby, but couldn't really play. Thus, she was eager to do something to help the game.

Despite her enthusiasm, it turned out that her assistance was not as needed as they might have assumed. At that moment, a sealite appeared, holding the ball in one hand. "Is this your ball?" he asked in none too friendly a voice.

Missing the hostel tone completely, Elline nodded, reaching up as she spoke. "Uh-huh. T'at t'e game ball. Kaabii kick it weally, weally ha'd, an' it flyed weally fa', so Kaabii team got wots of wuns! We have ball back now?"

Instead of handing the ball back, the sealite scowled at her and the other kids. "So you little brats are the ones responsible for this mess! I'll have you know, I was just minding my own business when this missile fell out of nowhere and landed right in front of me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tiff said, stepping in front of the shocked Elline. "Were you injured by it?"

"Well, no, it didn't actually hit anything, but it could have!" It was clear that the sealite wasn't going to take things calmly. "You stupid kids shouldn't be out doing things that could break things!"

"I'm sorry about the trouble, sir," the girl responded, hoping she might be able to work things out peacefully if she was apologetic as possible. "We will try to be more careful in the future. May we please have our ball back?"

"Don't you use sarcasm on me, missy! I'll give the ball back when I feel like it!" the sealite snapped. "I've got a good mind to call the cops on all of you!"

"Hey, that's not really fair," Tiff responded, her own patience for this all wearing incredibly thin. "I wasn't being sarcastic and we really did apologize for the trouble, twice even! Besides, we weren't doing anything illegal. Since you know who that belongs to, if you don't give it back, that's stealing, which is illegal, so if you call the police, the only one who'll get in trouble is you."

The sealite was getting angrier by the minute. "Now see here!" He made a fist at the girl. "I was almost hit by this ball, and if I want to, I can get you all arrested right now!"

"For what?" the Dreamlander questioned. "A harmless accident, which we did apologize for? Face it, guy, you're the adult who's threatening a bunch of kids."

"Do you little brats have any idea who I am?!" The sealite was now getting angry enough that frost was forming on the ball.

Nearby, Marx smiled as he watched the situation reach a fever pitch. It wouldn't be too long now.

"Oh, I know who this is!" a Cappy girl exclaimed cheerfully. "It's Mr. Frosty, the snow-cone salesman."

"Oh!" Kirby cheered. The mention of any sort of snack chase conflict away from his mind. "Kaabii wike snow cones! Kaabii have a snow cone, Mr. Fwosty?"

That seemed to be the breaking point for the sealite. "It's…Flosty!" he snapped, unleashing a burst of ice power that froze the ball solid and caused it to shatter.

That was when Marx saw his opportunity. Once Flosty had blown his top, the jester slipped ahead and slipped a monster badge into the sealite's back pocket. He has never tried one on a living creature before. It was about to time to find out how well they worked.

The kids were forced to jump back, as there was a stunning burst of icy air. When they looked up, they were shocked to see that Flosty had begun to change. He had gotten bigger, and his white fur had taken on a greenish tint. He has also grown a tail with long spines lining the top of it, and his teeth had become sharpened like fangs. However, the biggest change that had occurred was the change in the environment around him.

All around, ice and snow swirled around, spreading at a rapid rate. Soon, the whole park area was coated in snow, the likes of which Cappy Town had never seen before.

Realizing the danger that was occurring, though not quite understanding it, the kids rushed back, trying their best to get away from the spreading blizzard.

"Come on!" Tiff yelled, trying her best to be heard over the sounds of the newly summoned blizzard. "We've got to get to the palace!" The others called out their affirmations, but their shouts were drowned out by the blowing winds. All they could do was struggle in the direction of the palace and hope that once they got there, they'd be able to figure out some way to fix this mess.

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At the palace, Meta Knight had been enjoying a few moments of peace in the courtyard by the fountain. Training was finally finished for the day, and the last of the loiterers had finally left. He closed his eyes, enjoying the peace and solitude of the afternoon.

He was close to falling asleep when he felt something cold and wet land on him. Normally, he would have ignored it, but the falling was persistent and getting to be incredibly annoying. Opening his eyes, he looked up to see what was happening, and saw just about the last thing that he expected.

"Snowflakes?" he said aloud with confusion. "That's odd. There shouldn't even be a frost for a couple of weeks, none the less a snowfall."

He stood up to see what was going on, and saw that it wasn't a light snowfall. Already, accumulations of white, fluffy snow had formed on the ground, and even the Fountain of Dreams now had a thin layer of ice along the top. Furthermore, the temperature had plummeted, going from a crisp autumn coolness to a downright chill in a matter of minutes. Whatever was going on, this was not a normal phenomenon. The knight decided he should go and investigate into the matter

As he moved in, strange changes began to occur in himself as well. He suddenly began to feel much sleepier, and not in a slight, cat nap sort of way. Indeed, it felt as if he needed to lay down and go to sleep right where he was. The Puffal warrior ignored the feeling to the best of his abilities, wrapping his cape tighter around himself for warmth as he walked into the palace.

Once he was inside, thankfully, the sensation went away. The palace itself wasn't as warm as he would have liked it to be, but it wasn't nearly as cold as it was outside. As he entered, the adjustment in temperature went into effect, and he was able to loosen his hold on his cape. This seemed to help, and as soon as he was in out of the cold, the sense of drowsiness also faded.

As he moved into the palace, he could see that everything was in somewhat of an uproar. Waddle Dees were rushing around everywhere, stuffing cloths into cracks, lighting fires, bringing blankets around everywhere, and basically doing everything in their power to make the palace warmer and more winter proof.

Knowing that they wouldn't be much help to him, even if he could get one of the workaholic creatures to pause for a moment, the warrior moved on to see if he couldn't find someone who might be able to give him some help.

Thankfully, he didn't have to go all that far. Once he had moved into the kitchens, he found Bandana Dee, who was moving quickly, giving orders to the Waddle Dees. "Excuse me, my friend," Meta Knight said, walking over to the chief Dee. "What exactly is going on here?"

Bandana Dee just about jumped out of his skin when he heard Meta Knight's voice. He had no idea how the Star Warrior could move so quietly, especially when he was wearing so much armor.

Recovering from his shock, the Waddle Dee gave a polite bow as he gave his answer. "We've got to set up the palace for the storm," he said. "It just sprang up so fast that we didn't have any time to prep in advance. I'm sorry if the hurry is causing problems for you."

"Do not be sorry," the warrior answered. "You are doing your job, and doing it well, might I add. However, I must ask, do you know how this storm started up? It is not the proper season for such a blizzard."

"Your guess is as good as mine," Bandana replied. "All I know is that one minute, everything is nice and sunny, and the next these clouds roll in and start dropping snow everywhere!"

At this moment, a Waddle Dee wandered over and tapped Bandana on the shoulder. Once again, the chief Dee jumped, before realized it was one of his own workers. "If you'll excuse me," he said to Meta Knight, giving an apologetic bow, "I need to go back to the task at hand." With that, he turned to the Dee who had come to him.

Meta Knight nodded. "Very well. I will do my own investigation elsewhere."

He could not go far, however, before he heard his name called. "Sir Meta Knight! We've got a problem!"

He turned to see Sword and Mace running up to him. The two students had before been keeping an eye on the littler Puffals, but now there were none with them.

"What has happened?" he asked, growing anxious when he saw the discrepancy. "Where are the young ones?"

"That's what we wanted to talk to you about," Mace said. "We were keeping an eye on them, and everything was fine until all this snow blew in. Now, there's something wrong with them, and we can't figure out what it is!"

"Show me." There wasn't any hesitation in the warrior's voice. If something was the matter, they'd have to figure out what it was.

Inwardly, the knight was becoming more and more concerned. He could not help but suspect that all these mysterious disasters were interconnected.

To be continued…


	70. Flosty/Frosty, Part Two

By the time the children reached the palace, the snow had already become waste deep to the Dreamlanders. As they trudged through the deep drifts, the wind blew harder, and they were only just able to make it inside.

"Well," Adeleine panted, leaning against the wall, "at least the palace is kind of warmer."

"We just have to rest for a moment," Tiff said. "Then we'll find Sir Meta Knight. He'll probably have some idea of what to do."

"Hopefully," Tuff added. "That guy just totally flipped out and-hey, what the heck are you doing?" He had exclaimed this because, shortly after he had slumped to the ground, one of the Waddle Dees had wandered over and begun wiping him down with a towel.

Indeed, a whole troop of Waddle Dees had come over, looking none too happy that the new arrivals had tracked snow into the palace wall. They were all armed with towels and looked like they were prepared to use them.

Ado took one of the towels from a Waddle Dee and wrapped herself in it. "Thanks, I can do this myself." Taking her example, the others took towels of their own and dried themselves off. This seemed to placate the annoyed creatures, though they still madly went around wiping up the puddles of melted snow lying around.

For the first times, the kids noticed just how many of the little creatures were wandering around, stuffing a crack here, lighting a fire there, and so on. It seemed the sudden storm had taken everyone by surprise.

As they wandered through the hall, the kids had difficulty in finding Meta Knight. However, they did soon find Lady Like.

"Hey, Mom," Tiff called out as she went up to her mother. "Is everything alright here?"

The lady looked up, and immense relief came to her when she saw her son and daughter. "Tiff, Tuff, thank goodness you made it back!" She shook her head as she continued. "It's this awful storm that just sprang up out of nowhere. One moment, everything is so beautiful, and the next as this unseasonable snow comes down, ruining preparations for the festivities."

"It's worse than just that," Sir Ebrum added as he came over to join his wife. "All roads leading to and from Cappy Town have been closed, except in the cases of emergencies. I can't imagine what could have caused this."

"I'm afraid we know," Tiff said, and she proceeded to explain everything that had happened with Flosty. "And the weird thing is, almost as soon as this guy snapped, he just started to change. We have absolutely no idea what is going on. That's why we were coming to find Sir Meta Knight."

"Well, I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while," her father said. "He and his students just had to leave the palace to go fetch . There's been a problem with the little ones, I'm afraid, and we need some help to make sure they're alright."

"Somet'ing wong wiv Kaabii bwudders and sistah?" Kirby asked, a look of fear coming into his eyes.

Lady Like nodded. "We don't know exactly what is going on, but the little ones all fell asleep when all this strange weather rolled around, and we can't get them to wake up. You can come to see them, if you'd like. Maybe there is something you can do."

With that, she turned to lead the kids off to the small side room where the infants were being kept. Sure enough, lying in the room on several little mats that had been left out for them, were the Puffalings who were all lying, fast asleep.

There were differences between them, however. It appeared that they all were in varying levels of sleep. Kirsti, for instance, seemed to be only lightly sleeping, and was moving a lot and making several sounds in her sleep. Mikey, Marty, and Andy were in a deeper sleep, without any sounds and movements, but their breath could be seen in the movement of their bodies. Charlie and Toby were breathing so lightly that one would have to lean in closely to sense the breaths. Sammy appeared to have no breathing at all, and a faint pulse was all that signaled that life was still in him.

Kirby tried in vain to wake all his little siblings up, but nothing he attempted seemed to have any effect. Even with Kirsti, the little girl would only briefly blink awake for a moment before slumping back down to sleep.

"T'ey al'ight, Kaabii?" Elline asked, joining the little Puffal in his attempt to revive his younger kin. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if something like this happened to her big sister.

"Somet'ing wong!" Kirby exclaimed, on the verge of tears. "T'et won' wake up!" He sat down and broke down crying, intensely dismayed and at a loss for what to do.

Elline flew over and gave her friend a hug. "Don' cwy," she said in a comforting tone. "It gonna be 'kay."

"That's right," Adeleine said, coming over and joining them. "Remember, Sir Ebrum and Lady Like said that Meta Knight had already gone out to get the doctor. I'm sure he'll know what is going on."

"Well, I'm not sure I know, but a certainly have an idea." The kids all turned and saw that the doctor had already arrived with an incredibly sleepy looking Meta Knight close behind him, supported by Rick.

"What do you mean?" Tiff asked, coming over to where they were. "You haven't seen them yet."

"Yes," Yabui answered, "but I have been able to observe Meta Knight, and at the very least, I have a theory." He here turned to the warrior. "Meta Knight, I hope you don't mind me asking, but have you ever been to an area that was heavily cold and snowy, like this, before?"

The knight shook his head. "Not really. I have been to cold areas before, but nothing like this, and never without the protective suits often given for extreme temperature missions. I am quite thankful that Rick agreed to help me get back to the palace. If he had not, I fear that I wouldn't have been able to last against the weather."

The hamster waved a paw. "It's nothing. Most Dreamlandian hamsters don't have problems with snow, though this wind's been blowing a bit much, considering how far south we are. I am sorry we had to leave the others back in the village, though."

"This is all coming into place," Yabui muttered, nodding as he looked over the little ones. "This all is playing into my theory."

"Excuse me," Tuff said, somewhat annoyed with the cryptic nature of the conversation. "Do you mind telling us what that theory is?"

"Oh, yes! That's right; you're still listening." The doctor looked as if he had forgotten his audience. "What I think is going on is that there is some sort of hibernation reflex inside Puffals."

"Hibernation?" Ado asked. "You mean like what bears do during the winter?"

"Exactly," Yabui responded with a nod. "Now, we don't really know a whole lot about what life was like on Popopo before its destruction, but from what we do know, is that most of the areas that were populated by Puffals were relatively warm. The coldest inhabited areas on average record, since before the destruction, only came to light snowfall, nothing heavy. However, the planet was known to be somewhat temperamental, and an uncharacteristic weather snap was not totally out of the question. Thus, to cope with an odd snap of weather such as, say, a freak blizzard, Puffals developed the instinctual habit of falling into hibernation whenever the weather became too cold for their liking."

"This is evident both in Meta Knight's behavior as well as the babies' mysterious sleep." He gestured over to Meta. "It's likely that Meta Knight, and the little female infant, are of a sub branch of Puffal that have a certain tolerance to cold, and thus are able to stay out of all stages of hibernation but the lightest of sleeps. Perhaps they were from areas such as temperate forests, which are typically warm, but have moments of cold snaps. The other little ones, however, are much more sensitive to changes of weather, and thus slipped deeper into their hibernation. They might be from jungles, maybe deserts. In any form, none of them were able to withstand an arctic chill like the one we are experiencing."

"But then why didn't Kirby start hibernating, too?" Ribbon asked. "He's a Puffal, too, after all."

"Therein lays the rub to this theory, I'm afraid," the doctor said.

"Kirby is rather…unlike other Puffals in certain ways," Meta Knight said. "Those differences tend to make him stronger than your average Puffal, and I suspect is what is shielding him from our current struggle."

"There is still, however, the question of how this trouble all started up," Rick said with a shrug. "It's way too early in the season for a storm like this to start up, and even in the dead of winter, things have never gotten this cold before."

The warrior stood up, careful to keep his cape wrapped around himself to shield from the cold. "One has to wonder what could have caused such a freak snap," he commented in agreement.

When they heard him say this, all the kids exchanged glances, and these glances did not go unnoticed. "Children," Lady Like said. "Is there something you need to tell us?"

Tiff sighed. "Well, we do know how this all started…"

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Out in Cappy Town, things were heading for the worse. Fueled on my the monster badge and his own rage, the now monsterized Flosty was running amuck, calling the intense snowstorm down on the unfortunate villagers, who were doing their best to bar their doors against the attack.

At the moment, Pitch and Tokkori were having an especially difficult time. Since the two birds had been in the tree at the time of the attack, they had been caught completely unawares and were now struggling to find some shelter from the wind.

"What a time for Junior to have moved so far away!" Tokkori grumbled. "We could 'a gone into the little house and been safe and sound by now!"

"Come on, Uncle," Pitch said, trying to sound cheerful. "There are shops right up ahead; I'm sure someone there will let us in."

As they got closer, Pitch soon could see a flash of purple, moving a distance off. "Look over there!" the little bird called out. "I think someone's trapped in the snow! Come on, we have to help him!"

"You knock yourself out, but I'm getting inside!" Tokkori called back.

Pitch shook his head, but soldiered on to the flash of color. "Hello?" he called out. "Is anyone there? Do you need help?"

The wind was blowing so loud that Pitch wasn't heard, but he could now see who it was he had spotted. It was Marx, who was huddled against the side of a building. As the bird got closer, however, he could now see that the jester was not huddling because of the cold. Quite the opposite, since there seemed to be some sort of barrier surrounding him, shielding him from the wind and snow. No, instead Marx was hunkering down, looking over a set of blueprints.

"Everything is going perfectly according to plan!" the magician said gleefully to himself. "That sap didn't know what hit him! Soon, he'll freeze up the whole town! That will force those Ebrum brats to fuse the halves of the Flight Star. Once I get the Warp Star and the whole Flight Star, the Fortress Stormholt will be mine!" He laughed to himself. "If I'd have known it would be this easy if I just used a monster badge and some random dope, I would have done this a long time ago."

"So," Pitch mumbled to himself from where he was listening. "It was this Marx chap who was responsible for everything this whole time! I'd better find Kirby and Meta Knight and warn them." He turned and flew off towards the Palace.

Or, at least, he tried to, before being blown backwards by the wind. He was certain he was going to be smacked against a wall when he felt someone catch him.

"Ahoy, there, little fella," a female voice said. He looked up to see a hamster in a scarf and a large pink bow holding on to him. "My name's Pick. Lovely weather here, though a bit windy for my taste. Where are ya off to in such a hurry?" she asked.

"I need to get to the palace," Pitch answered. "There's some urgent news that I need to tell someone there! However, the snow is keeping me from flying there."

"Oh, the palace!" Pick exclaimed in a cheerful voice. "That's where I happen to be off to myself. I heard there are some rooms up for rent." She tucked him under her scarf. "I'll take you there. Hold on tight!" The hamster girl took off running, as if the snow didn't bother her in the least.

Pitch had to squint his eyes shut against the brutal wind, but he was not about to complain. At least he now had a way of reaching the palace and bringing warning.

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"Hmm," Meta Knight said once the kids had finished explaining their story. "I know who it is you are speaking of. I have had several encounters with the sealite as well. He was not a pleasant person, but I had no idea he could naturally do this, none the less that he would go to this measure for mild annoyances."

"He shouldn't be able to do this at all," Yabui said with an amount of concern. "I haven't dealt much with them here, since they are more common among northern coastlines, but I have heard about their abilities. They are pretty weak, and should only be able to make a block or two of ice at the most. Something strange and troubling is indeed going on."

"Hello?" A lightly accented voice asked. They group turned to see a female hamster lean in. "If you'll excuse me," she said with a smile, "I said I was going to help someone find a friend. You chaps wouldn't happen to know where a Sir Meta Knight is, would you?"

Meta Knight stood up and made a bow to the newcomer, which was a bit shakier than normal due to his incredibly drowsy state. "That would be me," he said. "What may I do to help you?"

"Oh, thank you! My name's Pick, by the way." The hamster girl came fully into the room. Undoing her scarf, she allowed Pitch to slip out. "I met this fellow on my way here. He said he had some sort of important message to bring to you."

As soon as he was on his own, Pitch fluffed up his feathers to get them back into place. "Thank you for your help," he said to Pick, before turning to Meta Knight. "She's right. I have some news, and it is of a rather dire nature, I am afraid. I know who is responsible for all of this."

"So do we," Tiff said. "It was that weird Flosty guy. He lost all control of his powers when he blew his top."

"No, I'm afraid there's more than that!" the bird said quickly. "You see, when Uncle Tokkori and I were heading into the village for shelter, I thought I saw someone against one of the buildings who was trapped outside. I decided to try to see if he needed help, so I went over to him, and boy, did I have a surprise."

"Wha' was it?" Elline asked, looking over in interest.

"Yeah!" Kirby chimed in agreement. "Wha' happened?"

"Well," Pitch went on, "I saw Marx sitting next to the building side, and he was going over some schematics that were laying on the ground. I couldn't exactly see what they were for, but I could tell one really odd thing. Wherever Marx was, there was no snow! It was like there had never been a change in the weather at all."

"This is incredibly strange," Meta Knight said, his eyes flashing green.

"Oh, but that's not the end of it," the bird went on. "I'm pretty sure he didn't hear me, but I could hear him, and he was talking to himself about what was going on. He said he was interested in the Warp and Flight Stars, and that he had used some sort of monster-making badge on a traveler. He never said anything specific by name, but I'd bet my beak it's that sealite he was referring to."

"Hmm." Meta Knight closed his eyes in thought. "I have long held suspicion that our 'friend' Marx was hiding something, but I never had enough evidence to truly look into it. Perhaps now is the time to confront him."

"First things first, however," he said, spinning around, as if on a dime. "If some sort of monster-making badge was what was used to turn the sealite into a blizzard monster, than we have a duty to try to get it off of him. Kirby, you and I will need to head out if we are to stop this problem."

"Oh, no, Meta Knight," Dr. Yabui interrupted. "You'll need to stay in here. You'd not be much help to Kirby, what with your own hibernation instinct kicking in."

"But he cannot face this threat alone!" the warrior declared. He stood tall, trying to do his best to show that he would go and help Kirby…only to slump down again, dizzy from standing up too quickly.

"You're in no shape to be going anywhere," Lady Like said, motioning the blue Puffal over to the bed. "Someone else will have to help."

"Tiff and I can go," Tuff said, standing straight. "We'll just need to get our bows and-"

"Now slow down, young man," Sir Ebrum scolded. "What makes you think you're going anywhere?"

"C'mon, Dad!" Tuff pleaded. "Someone needs to help Kirby, and quickly, before the who area turns into a popsicle!"

"He's got a point," Tiff added in. "If something happens, Kirby's going to need the backup, and there's no one else here who's got the firepower to do so."

The mother and father looked to each other desperately before sighing. "All right," Sir Ebrum said finally. "But on one condition. If you can avoid it, do not come in close. Use only arrows and the Flight Star halves."

"Yes sir!" both kids chimed as they got up and rushed out to get their bows. Kirby and the other children followed in close pursuit.

Once the kids were away, Lady Like turned to Meta Knight. "Does it ever get easier?" she asked.

The warrior's eyes took on a shade of blue flecked with silver. "Never, though you learn way of handling it." He remained silent for a moment, but then his eyes shown green. "There may be one specific proactive measure you can take…"

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The snow was falling down even harder by the time the kids went out to face their opponent. Most of the party had been left behind at the palace for practicality. Only Kirby, Tiff, and Tuff would be going to this face off.

At the moment, Kirby was clinging as hard to his Warp Star as he possibly could. This was a rather impressive feat, considering the intensity of the wind that was blowing as if to sweep him away. Tiff and Tuff, heavily bundled up in winter clothes, clung onto Rick's back as the hamster barreled through the snow, not as troubled by the intense weather as some other residents might have been.

Soon, they made it to the village square. The place still had areas that were decorated for the festival, but they were frozen in place. Other than these few fripperies, the entire area looked like a ghost town.

"We'd better see if someone knows where that Flosty guy got off to," Tiff said, going up to the door of the restaurant and attempting to get inside. Much to her dismay, however, the door knob refused to budge. "Ugh!" she groaned as her attempts failed. "It's frozen shut!"

"Maybe we can get in and ask somewhere else?" Tuff said, though there was more than a little hesitation in his voice.

The four of them attempted to find someplace where the entryway wasn't blocked up by ice and snow, but the search was mostly futile. The buildings in Cappy Town hadn't been set up to handle such harsh winter weather, and thus the frames and locks couldn't be budged.

Their examination hadn't been entirely in vein, though. As they searched through the blowing winds, Tiff soon spotted something that gave them a bit of hope. "Hey, Kirby!" she called out. "Take a look at the town hall!"

"Poyo, whe'e?" the little one asked. He looked over, following with his eyes the place that his friend was pointing to. Sure enough, at the town hall, a small attic window had been left open, probably to allow the small room to air out.

Kirby beamed when he spotted the goal. "Kaabii see it!" he chirped.

"Good," Tiff responded. "You fly up there on the Warp Star and get in. Then Tuff, Rick, and I can follow after you, if you send it back for us. That way, we can find out if there's anyone in there who needs help."

"It seems a bit too small for me to get through," Rick said, shaking his head. "You guys go ahead. I'll go on and keep my eyes open for our blustery opponent."

"'Kay!" Kirby called out, and he glided over to the window. It was easy enough for him to step off of the little star through the open window. Once he had sent the Warp Star back twice, once for each of the Ebrum siblings, they were ready to travel further into the town hall.

Unfortunately, the temperature wasn't much better inside the building than it had been outside of it. The hallways and most of the rooms had been left abandoned due to lack of adequate heating, and thus the youngsters began to worry they weren't going to be able to find anybody.

Those fears were soon proven fruitless. As soon as they found the mayor's office, they found a cluster of villagers and tourists, all huddled together near the fireplace, where a roaring fire had been set up.

"Mayor Len!" Tiff exclaimed as she rushed in, the boys following close behind. "Is everyone alright? What happened here?"

"T-t-t-Tiff! G-go-good t-to se-see y-you," the mayor responded, shivering heavily. "W-w-we had-d to g-get-t to-o sh-shelter as-as fast a-as p-p-possible, on-once this-s hori-i-ible wea-weather s-started u-up. I-it w-w-w-was-"

"We know," Tuff interrupted. "It was that weird grumpy seal guy. That's why we came; to see if there was something we could do to stop him."

"Whe'e'd he go?" Kirby asked.

Before anyone in the room could answer, there came a hard knocking at the window. A quick glance in that direction showed that it was Rick, who was tapping furiously at the windowpane. "Fellas, hurry!" he called out in a panic. "I think I found him!"

Everyone rushed over to look, and sure enough, standing outside was the monsterized sealite. He had cornered the poor hamster, and with a deep breath, blew out a long breath of frost. Before anyone could do anything, poor Rick was frozen solid.

To be continued…


	71. Flosty/Frosty, Part Three

The watchers looked on in horror, unable to do a thing to help from within their prison. Outside, the hamster remained where he had been, frozen stiff and unable to make a move.

Kirby recovered from the shock of the attack first. Rushing upstairs, the little Puffal rushed over to the upstairs window and jumped headlong out of it, not even bothering to summon the Warp Star. Now, outside, he ran over to the monster Flosty and kicked hard, knocking him away from the still frozen Rick.

"No!" the Puffal Guardian bellowed. "It…not…nice…to…hu't…peepah." The little one glared, as if challenging his opponent to make the next move.

The monster let out a roar and lunged at the little one, slashing with long, icicle like claws. The tot, however, was too fast, dodging out of the way by jumping straight into the air. Coming down, he used the opportunity to lay a series of kicks into the monster's back, knocking him flat to the ground. Taking one last kick, he flipped off, landing again behind the monster's position.

Breathing heavily, he faced the monster, which was now pushing himself up. "Do yew give up?" he asked, a spark appearing in his blue eyes.

The monster bellowed and charged again in response. Kirby scowled, but his voice was level. "'Key."

Inside the building, the watchers stood, enraptured by what was going on. Tiff snapped out of her own shock and turned to her brother. "C'mon!" she said. "We've gotta get out there to help him!"

"Right!" Tuff nodded in agreement.

The two Dreamlander siblings rushed up the same way, going up to the attic. Once there, they ran up to the window. "Alright," Tuff said, turning to his sister. "What do we do now?"

"Uh," she responded, "I'm not really sure, but there's got to be a way. Maybe…" Pulling out her little red star, she turned it over in her hand. "Both this and the bow were meant to be the tools of Sir Erran," she said, more thinking aloud to herself than speaking to her brother. "Maybe they can work together to help us." In a swift movement, she took the star and tossed it out the window. "Tuff, throw yours too."

"What are you doing, sis?" the boy asked, questioning his sister's methods, but not her logic. She always had some sort of method to her madness.

"Remember what happened when we tried to use our stars against Paintra?" she mentioned. "How they were spinning together and seemed to almost fuse? Well, how about we try for that again?"

"Got it!" Tuff responded. He pulled out his own little star and gave it as hard a toss as he could. It shot out the window and just about collided with his sister's. The two stopped and inch short of each other froze before beginning to spin in place. As the two spun, they never fully fused, but there did appear a phantom shape of a whole, about the size of the Warp Star.

When it became clear that there wasn't going to be any more of a full formation, Tiff reached out to the star. "Come on," she said, taking her brother's hand. "You gotta call it, too."

As the siblings reached out, the phantom star drifted over within reach. They each grabbed onto an arm and found, though they were not completely solid, they could be held on to enough to let they get outside. They lifted out of the attic and began drifting closer to the ground. Once their feet were safely on the ground, the phantom star faded away completely and they found themselves each holding their own tiny half.

"Alright, that wasn't exactly like what happened last time," Tiff said. "What was missing?"

"Who cares?!" Tuff stated. Pulling out his bow, he rushed around the corner. "Come on! Kirby needs us!"

"Oh, right!" Tiff said in response, taking up her own bow and following her brother. Neither of them noticed the shadowy figures watching on.

When they reached where Kirby was still having his battle, they found that while Kirby was not going to be opposed to their help, he was also not in particular need of it. It seemed that the sight of one of his friend being hurt had filled the little one with the determination to stop this foe, and he was not about to slow down for even a moment.

Unfortunately, it didn't appear that Flosty was going to slow down either. For every amount of kicks and punches Kirby got in, the sealite monster was able to counter with a slash or a bite. By the time the Dreamlander siblings arrived, Kirby had to dodge a near hit with the claw, forcing him to jump back. However, he hit a patch of deep snow, causing him to slip up. Flosty took advantage of this, jumping onto his belly and sliding into Kirby, knocking him back with a heavy blow.

While the tot was stunned, he enemy attempted another blow, but Tiff and Tuff reacted too fast. Letting off arrow bolts, they were able to deter the monster from its current target.

Running over to where Kirby lay, the two of them helped him to his feet. "Sorry we're late," Tuff said. "We had to figure out a way out of there, which wasn't easy."

"T'at 'key," Kirby responded with a smile. He then turned to the foe, his eyes shining with a battle heat. "Gotta fin' a way to make him stop bein' a monstah."

"You got that right," Tiff nodded in agreement. "Pitch mentioned some sort of monster badge that turned this guy into what he is now. Maybe if we find and destroy it, that'll turn him back."

"Good idea, but just one problem," Tuff said.

"What is it?" Tiff asked, somewhat annoyed but trying not to show it.

"How are we going to get that guy to hold still?" the boy asked, motioning over to the monster, who had already recovered from the surprise attack and was charging at them yet again.

They were forced to scatter from the oncoming charge, and even then, Tuff was only just able to dodge a sweep of the monstrous creature's tail. Thus, the boy's words rang true. As long as their foe was going to be in this crazed state, accomplishing their goal was not going to be easy.

The kids did appear to have at least one advantage, in that the creature was too crazed to focus in on more than one target at a time. He would select a single opponent and then start making wild, forceful attacks against that one, completely ignoring the others in the meantime.

Because of the boy's proximity at the moment, Tuff was currently the target. The monster let out a roar and charged, fully intent on tearing him to pieces once caught. The Dreamlander scrambled to his feet and took off running, firing back an arrow as he ran in an attempt to gain some ground.

The arrow missed, but several silver flashes shot out, forcing the monster to dodge and loose its footing. He tumbled over sideways and landed heavily on his side.

Unfortunately, that put Tiff right in his line of vision. Unleashing another bellow, it took a deep breath and breathed out a huge blast that froze the very air in front of it, sending a heavy wall of ice sliding right in the girl's direction.

Thankfully, she was conscious and aware of what was happening. She dodged aside, using her bow to shoot off several arrows at the slab. The attack shattered it into fragments. "Hey! Kirby!" she called out to the Puffal, who was not far away from the fragments, "Suck it up!"

Kirby nodded, rushing ahead to the chunks and inhaled, copying off of the pieces. In a flash, he had transformed into Ice Kirby.

Turning to his enemy, Kirby decided to fight ice with ice. Unleashing his own ice breath, he sent a wave of smaller icicles towards the brute. Flosty had by now gotten up, and had to raise his arms to his head to defend against the pelting ice bits.

The Ebrum siblings then got their opening. Rushing in, they sent off several arrow volleys, forcing the creature to get further back, leaving him over to Kirby's ice attacks.

Sensing that the duo would be a problem if left unattended, the creature turned on the siblings and let out a huge burst of ice breath. The blast shot out, and was strong enough that both siblings were tossed backwards. They landed hard against the side of a building and were frozen in place.

Before the monster could get to them, however, Kirby got there first. Dodging claws and teeth, he unleashed his own volleys of kicks and punches. Flosty was forced back a few feet, before recovering enough to grab Kirby by the foot. The monster then tossed the Puffal aside, flinging him into a nearby shed.

As she struggled against her frozen bindings, Tiff soon realized a way Kirby might have victory. "Kirby! Get him against something!" she called out on the top on her lungs. "Once he's down, freeze him there! That'll hold him down long enough to destroy the monster medallion!"

Hearing the wisdom in his friend's words, Kirby rushed ahead and began laying about the monster with a series of kicks. Flosty was prepared for that, though, and Kirby was forced to move back several paces to keep himself out of reach of the monster's teeth and claws. This dodge came just in time since, at that moment, the beast took a deep inhale and shot out a huge stream of ice, missing the little Puffal by half an inch.

Jumping back, Kirby responded by forming a barrage of icicles around himself and peppering his enemy with the projectiles. Flosty was forced back, covering his head with his claws to defend from the offending attack. This gave Kirby the opportunity to rush in and deliver a series of lightning fast punches and kicks to his enemy's relatively unprotected middle. While he did so, he kept some focus on keeping up the icicle barrage, so that the monster wouldn't be able to respond to the new attack.

That did the trick. Flosty was forced back even farther, unable to defend both against the projectile ice and the closer melee attacks. Stumbling back, the creature knocked hard against the general store. Taking the opportunity, Kirby unleashed an intense blast of ice, freezing the creature where he sat.

The burst, however, was not enough to keep the creature down. It soon began breaking through the bindings. Before he could totally get through, however, several shots of laser blasts came from out of nowhere, severing the heavy sign hanging above the monster. It fell on the creature's head, stunning him enough that he was held in place by the ice blast.

Going over to the stunned Flosty, Kirby began examining him. It took only a moment for him to find the glint of metal that signified the medallion. Taking it off the creature, Kirby tossed it in the air and, forming a series of razor sharp icicles, shot the medallion to little pieces.

As soon as the wicked device was destroyed, everything soon went back to normal. Without the monster Flosty around to keep temperatures down, everything soon thawed out, including those who had previously been encased in ice.

"Oh, whoa!" Rick cried out as he fell over, since he was no longer held in place by the ice. "I was certain I was a goner!"

"We all would have been," Tuff said as he shook off the slush that had once been his own imprisonment. "Kirby came through and kicked that guy's butt, though!"

"Hey," one of the Cappy guys said as the former prisoners emerged from their hiding places, "where is that guy anyway?"

"Oh, my head," Flosty groaned as he got up.

"You!" Chief Bookem shouted out. "You're under arrest!"

"What!" the sealite called out in shock. "On what charges?"

"On the charges of harassment, the freezing of an entire city, the freezing of individuals, and," the chief added, "of public indecency." He added this last charge, pointing out that the seat of Flosty's pants, which had been knocked aside when his tail had grown. "You're coming in with me."

While this was all going on, Tiff couldn't help but wonder at certain event. After all, where had those shots that knocked the sign down come from?

As she walked through the now thawing battlefield, she saw something glistening in the grass. Picking one of the shining sliver things up, she could now see that it was a skillfully crafted knife in the shape of a feather. There was something odd about the feel of it, though. Tucking it away in her pocket, she made a mental note to ask Meta Knight about it later.

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Back at the palace, Meta Knight had still been battling the sensation of fatigue when the major thaw had finally come. A blast of warm air seemed to penetrate the palace, and the frost and show melted off as quickly as it had formed.

This effect seemed to help the Puffalings as well. All of them seemed to be fading out of their hibernation. Those who had been in the deeper stages started to show more signs of just being asleep, where as those who had been lighter began to fade back into wakefulness.

Meta Knight's eyes glowed blue when he realized what this meant. Kirby had succeeded at his task. The village was saved, and there would be nothing to fear from a continued frost.

There was still the problem of Marx, though. The warrior decided to move on to the lower levels of the palace to see if the Ebrum parents had returned yet. He'd need to discuss this issue in more depth with them.

When he arrived, he found that they were in the main lobby, still talking with Pick the hamster. "I thank you again for your assistance," Sir Ebrum said.

The hamster girl waved her paw. "It wasn't anything. I'm from the northern coasts; snows like that doesn't bother me in the least. I'm just glad we were able to make it there in time.

"Which we wouldn't have been able to without your assistance," Lady Like pointed out.

Pick shrugged. "I guess that's true. Well, I'll be hanging around for a while for the festival. If you need any help, don't be afraid to ask."

As she went away, Meta Knight walked over to the Ebrum parents. "I presume your own personal mission was a success then?"

Sir Ebrum smiled. "Quite. They never got the idea we were there."

"This does lead in to a much more troubling question, you know," the Puffal said. "We now know for certain that Marx is the troublemaker we guessed him to be. Do you think he could be behind the recent mysteries?"

"And likely older problems," the Dreamlander man added. "We can't see to find where the rascal got off to, but considering the monster medallion we found here isn't too different from the one that Tobyo, a member of our order, found in the Raisin Ruins, there could very well be a connection."

"If that is the case," Meta Knight said, "then the hopes of both the Star Warriors and the Children of Erran are in grave danger. I have received word from my sister and mother that your messengers have arrived on the island. I will send word back that we must be prepared for anything."

"As for the children," Lady Like put in, "I'm afraid they're closer to finding out than we might have originally thought. If it gets much farther than this, they may unbar the way, for good or for bad. Perhaps we should explain everything to them before it gets that far."

Meta Knight nodded. "I have begun to wonder that myself. Now that we know that Marx is our enemy, and we suspect that he might have been behind the second genocide, we will definitely be careful with how we tread."

As they spoke, they were unaware of the eyes that were watching them. _So,_ Marx scowled to himself, _they've think they've got it all figured out, huh?_ He slunk off into the shadows. Well, his position had been lost, but the game wasn't over quite yet. Those kids had almost unbarred the way. They just needed one more push, and everything would be won for the jester.

He'd just need to provide that push.

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"As you know, this treatment will be completely permanent," Honest John said, standing nearby as several of Nightmare's lesser cronies strapped Galacta down. "Once the infusion of the serum is complete, the effects will not go away."

"It will make me stronger than Meta Knight, right?" the red Puffal asked.

"And then some." The middle man adjusted his sunglasses, as he often did when discussing details. "You will be stronger than anyone else, barring Lord Nightmare himself. The Demon Beast Serum was made from experimentation with paint magic, remnants of Dark Matter, and the powers of the great ancient himself. You will be nigh unstoppable."

"Then I don't see what the holdup is," Galacta snapped. "Look, I already signed up for this! I even said I'd be Nightmare's errand boy when I don't have my own issues! Just get with the serum!"

Honest John bowed. "As you wish." Turning to the cronies, he gave a signal. "Begin."

There was a hiss of machinery as two arms lowered down. They began administering a foul looking liquid to the red Puffal, who started crying out in pain. This went on for a few minutes, until the machine finished, and the arms were raised.

At first, there didn't appear to be any change. However, as the Puffal pushed himself up and stumbled away from the machine, the transformation became much more obvious. His red color began to lighten, changing into a magenta that, frankly, was a rather unhealthy look for a Puffal. Four growths appeared, two on his head and two on his back, that stretched and burst out, becoming a large pair of feathered wings and a huge set of horns. Rows of sharpened fangs appeared in what had once been a toothless mouth. Finally, his eyes shifted, becoming incredibly bestial. Once the changes were complete, any onlooker would have been hard pressed to call what remained a Puffal.

"Well," Honest John said, approaching the creature that had tumbled out of the machine. "It seems the experiment worked quite well. How do you feel, Galacta?"

"I feel," the creature said, and his voice was a hollow, gravelly imitation of what it had once been, "like power. This strength, its nothing that's ever been had before. Nothing that's ever even been dreamed of!" He laughed. "I have the strength to do anything I want! To take what I want. To destroy all who stand in my way! With this power, I will rule!"

"I'm glad you are pleased with the results," the middleman said, giving a sly grin. "However, if you remember, there is your end of the bargain to hold up to. After all, nothing is truly free."

The horned Puffal laughed. "And what a price it is! To destroy that wretched excuse for a warrior, Meta Knight, and the disgusting spawn he brought back. With the power I have now, wiping those two off the face of he universe will be easier than anything!"

"Ah, but there is some other things you have to do first," Honest John pointed out.

"What?" Galacta asked.

"Nothing major, and certainly nothing that is beyond your abilities." The Middleman shrugged. "It's just, Lord Nightmare had many servants, not that long ago. There was a brief hiccup in plans and, well, they deserted him. Now, Nightmare can't be expected to go out and chase down every disobedient servant he has so-"

"So you want me to go hunt them down," the newly changed creature responded.

"Just to bring them back here," Honest John finished. "They are powerful, but none of them have anything that matches up to your power; the power of a Demon Beast."

"Demon Beast," Galacta said in a low voice, savoring the word as he said it. "Yes, I am a Demon Beast." He barred his teeth in a broad grin and the blood-lust of the hunt came into his eyes. "Whoever it is, I will take them. Alive, if I can, but if they resist too much, I will kill them." He licked his fangs, as if in anticipation. "I hope they resist."

"I'm glad you are enthusiastic about your new post, Galacta. Now," Honest John said, "if you'll come with me, we'll have you fitted with your new armor and you can go after your first target. It is an ex-spy of Nightmare's by the name of Marx. Lord Nightmare has good reason to believe he is soon going to make a grab for an ancient treasure, and if he succeeds, we will take him and it. If he fails, we will just take him. Either way, he will learn the reward of the traitor."

"Very well," the Demon Beast said, "but I am no longer Galacta. That weak creature is dead now."

"Ah, is that so?" the Middleman said, as if merely responding to simple news. "Then what shall we call you now?"

"Call me," the creature said, after a moment of thought, "the Galactic Knight!"

To be continued…


	72. Reckoning, Part One

In the darkness of his lair, Marx was hard at work. He had almost made it, he was almost there. There had been much blood, but that was to be expected. After all, those Dreamlandian fools weren't about to just roll over and surrender, especially after what had happened when Marx was only an apprentice.

The jester smirked. Yes, they had resisted, and much of their blood flowed free because of that. It had been a lot of work and a lot of waiting, but the time was finally nigh. All he had to do was wait for those kids to get the fused halves if the Flight Star to meet with the Warp Star, and the way would be opened. With the near success they had with the Paintra and Flosty situations that time couldn't be far away.

Marx had waited years already. He could wait a few hours more.

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It had been a beautiful morning, but that did not make it a relaxing one. Indeed, for Meta Knight, the morning had been one of tension and anxiety. Today, when Sir Ebrum and Lady Like returned from getting into contact with their order, he and they would explain everything to the children. With what had happened only a week and a half ago, there was no more putting it off.

At the very least, the people of the village would be kept busy. Even with the recent cold snap, preparations for the Harvest Festival were in full swing. With the festival so close, there would be more newcomers, such as traveling merchants and performers who were eager to have a part in the festivities.

At the very least, that would give the adults some time to explain everything. This would not be easy, but it would be a necessity. With the discovery of Marx's treachery, and the chance he had a hand in ancient crimes, there were no risks that could be taken. If one was willing to play a role in genocide, there was no doubt they'd be willing to harm a child.

However, his plans were completely interrupted by a banging at the door. "Meta Knight!" he heard someone, likely King Dedede, shouting. "What are you still doing in there?! Get out here! We're being invaded!"

Meta Knight sighed. "You've known for a long time, sire, that those aren't invaders, those are tourists. They might be annoying, but they're harmless."

"I know what a tourist is and what an invader is," the Pengu declared, "an' that ship out there ain't belongin' to no tourist! Get out here now!"

The warrior shook his, not bothering to point out to the king that the previous statement was a double negative. "Alright, sir, I'll come, but I have rather important plans for today. I'll see whatever it is you want me to see, but then I have to return."

As soon as he opened the door, Dedede grabbed his cape. "C'mon! It's an emergency! Bandanna Dee can only keep those suckers back for so long!"

The knight sighed, not bothering to point out that if they truly were an invader, then it would be unlikely that the troop of Waddle Dees would be able to hold anything back.

As they were hurrying out, he spotted Kirby at play with some of his friends, the Ebrum siblings. "Kirby!" he called out. "I have something important to take care of with King Dedede, but when I return, there is something important that I will needed to speak of with you."

"'Key!" Kirby called back, waving with a huge smile. "Bye, Papa! Haf fun!"

Meta Knight almost laughed, intensely doubting the amount of fun he was going to have. "Goodbye, Kirby."

"Yeah, yeah, we all like having kids," Dedede said with a degree of annoyance. "Come on, y'all gotta fix my problem!" With that, he jumped onto the prepared Mrs. Mufflerkins, and the two were soon out of sight.

Now that Meta Knight and the Pengu were now gone, Kirby turned back to the game. "A'ight," he said. "It yew tu'n, Tuff."

There was a small collection of kids sitting out on the yard today. Kirby, Tuff, Elline, and Ribbon were all entrenched in a game of marbles, each with their own colors. Tiff sitting against a tree reading the newest addition to her favorite novel series.

"Alright, guys, get ready for this one!" the Dreamlander boy said, flicking a large green shooter marble. The shot made good contact, knocking three pink, two red, and three purple marbles out of the ring, along with one of his own greens. "Aw yeah!" the boy cheered as he swiped up his marbles. "Nine marbles! I'm on a roll!"

"Yay!" Elline cheered.

"No, Elline," Ribbon laughed, shaking her head as she spoke. "That wasn't good for you. You just lost three marbles."

"T'at wasn't?" the little princess asked.

"Well, it was good for me," Tuff replied with a laugh. "Remember, everyone has their own marbles at the start, but whatever marbles you know out, you get to keep." He tossed his shooter up and caught it in one hand. "You don't want me to get your marbles."

"Oh," the younger girl said, nodding. "'Key. I go now." Lifting up her own purple shooter, she flicked it out. It knocked six marbles out of the ring. "T'at goo'?" she asked, turning to Ribbon.

The older fairly laughed. "Yes, Elline, that was good for you."

"Got a nice spin on it that time," Tuff congratulated. "You're getting good at this, kid."

Elline blushed and giggled at the compliment. "T'ank yew. Oh, Kaabii, it yew tu'n!"

"Kaabii go!" the little Puffal exclaimed, sending out his own red shooter. It shot into the ring, knocking another six marbles out. "Yay, Kaabii ma'bas," the tot cheered as he gathered the colored stones together. "Kaabii win now?"

"We play until there are no more marbles in the ring," Ribbon explained as she lined up her own pink shooter. "Then we count to see who got the most."

They played the game for a little while longer. As they were playing, Ribbon turned to Tuff. "So," she called out, "have you guys figured out how your star work?"

"We've been trying," the boy said with a shrug. "We tried to get it to fuse during that whole Flosty debacle. It almost did it, too, but there was something missing." He shot off his shooter before continuing. "It's kinda weird, ya know? It almost fused perfectly that time we were facing Paintra, but when sis and I tried again, it wouldn't work. I wonder what was different. Oh, well. Your turn, Elline."

Tiff, of course, had heard all of the conversation that had been going on, but she hadn't been paying all too much attention until then. Though her interest had been peaked, she didn't really have anything to add, so she had intended to get back into her book. However, she had only read three words when the answer hit her. "Tuff, say that again!"

"Uh, 'your turn, Elline'?" the boy said, confused by his sister's excitement.

"No, no, before that!" Tiff exclaimed. "About there being something different between the two times we tried to fuse the two halves of the Flight Star."

"Of course there was something different," Tuff responded. "One time it worked, and one time it didn't."

"But there was something else!" Tiff said, moving into the small ring. "Think about it. When we were fighting Paintra, there was another element at play with the stars: Kirby's Warp Star!"

"Oh!" Kirby exclaimed. "T'at wight! Kaabii Wa'p Stah did he'p!"

"I a'membah too," Elline agreed.

"Well, if that's the case," Tiff said, "then that's why it didn't fuse when we were trying to fight Flosty; we didn't have the Warp Star with us."

"So what you're saying is," Tuff said, "if we tried to fuse it again, this time with the Warp Star, it could work!"

"At the very least," Ribbon commented, "it's worth a try. Even if you're wrong, it can't hurt."

"It's decided then," Tiff responded with a nod. "Tuff and I will get our stars. Kirby, you get the Warp Star. We'll meet out at the clearing in front of Whispy Woods to begin the tests."

There was a hustle of excitement. After all this time, they had finally figured out the way to make the Flight Star whole. However, in their enthusiasm, they were unaware they were being listened too.

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"Oh, my." Admittedly, when Dedede had come to drag him off to see the super threatening invaders, Meta Knight had not been expecting what he saw. Maybe a small group of tourists, or even one or two travelers that might look a bit frightening to the rather sheltered Pengu.

What he was not expecting, however, was that there would actually be a battleship. Sure, enough, however, there was a huge battleship, clearly coming in for a landing. It was huge; a magenta colored hulk with a vaguely bird-like head. Cannons lined all along the sides, and the fact that there hadn't been a hale made its sudden arrival somewhat unnerving.

There already were troops of spear wielding Waddle Dees standing around, waiting for the ship to come in and its occupants to exit. They didn't have to wait all that long.

Nearly as soon as the ship had touched down, a hatch opened, and out came dozens of odd looking creatures. Truth be told, creatures more resembled upside-down pots with feet than any sort of living creature Meta Knight could think of.

The warrior made a move ahead to try to communicate with the creature, but stepped on a stick as he moved. This startled one of the Waddle Dees, who rushed ahead, slamming into the pot like creature. Red liquid splattered out, and soon all the Dees and the creatures were running around in a chaotic panic.

Meta Knight became concerned as soon as he had seen the red, and did his best to stop the chaos before it became worse. This, however, proved to be a hopeless cause. A mixture of the panic running through the Dees and the incredibly timid newcomers, mixed with the encouragement that Dedede was calling out to his own troops meant that, no matter what the warrior did, he couldn't get any of the creatures to listen to him for even a moment.

Soon, the field had splatters of red all over it. And blue. And green. And yellow. And glitter. In confusion, the Puffal swooped down to land on the field and touched some of the red substance that had first spilled out. Feeling its texture and smelling it, he laughed. "Why, this isn't blood," he said, more to himself than to anyone else. "It's only paint!"

"Cotta, stop!" a commanding female voice said, all of a sudden. Everything froze for a moment as the pot creatures froze and turned to the person who had spoken.

It was a teenage girl with long blue hair. She stood, or move accurately hovered, in the entryway of the ship. "Cotta, return to the storage bay," the girl ordered.

Given the command, the pot creatures all returned back to the ship. As they did, a thin man who resembled a feather pen rushed to the girl's side. "My princess, I highly implore that you let the Cotta do their job. After all, these creatures are armed! They might be dangerous!"

The girl shook her head. "Quill, that isn't the Cotta's duty. I do have a guard, you know."

"Yes, a guard you insisted on leaving most of on Lumio Star!" the feather pen man continued. "If you get hurt-"

"I am more than capable of taking care of myself, thank you," the princess responded, somewhat shortly.

"Excuse me," Meta Knight said, stepping forwards. "May I help you?"

"Oh!" the man said, spotting the Puffal. "Yes, hopefully you can." Motioning to the girl, the man continued. "This, sir orb, is the Crown Princess, and soon to be Empress, Claycia, of the Musean Empire!"

"Thank you for the introduction," Claycia said, "bit I believe I can take it from here." She turned to Meta Knight. "Good day to you, sir. Now you know who I am, but may I ask who you are?"

The knight gave a bow. "My name is Sir Meta Knight, of the Star Warriors."

"And of Dreamland!" Dedede shouted out as he pushed his way to join the main group.

"Yes, and from Dreamland," the Puffal continued. "I have come on behalf of King Dedede of Dreamland to ask what you might be doing here."

"Oh!" Claycia said, a grin spreading across her face. "You are a Star Warrior! Good. You might be able to help me with my problem."

"You are in some sort of trouble?" Meta Knight asked.

"I'm afraid so." Claycia took off the purple beret she had been wearing. "A while ago, my little sister, the princess Elline, vanished without a trace. We've been traveling around, searching for any signs of her whereabouts. Frankly, we had begun to lose hope we might find her."

"The princess Elline, you say?" A glimpse of blue came to the knight's eyes. "I do have good news for you then. A while back, we found her here. We have been trying to contact you, but as you know, interplanetary communication can be rather difficult."

"So you know where she is?" the princess asked, hope clear in her voice.

Meta Knight nodded. "Indeed, I do. She is with my son as we speak. If you would come with me, I can bring you to her right now."

"Oh, thank you, good knight," Claycia said with a curtsy. Turning behind herself, she called. "Graphix, Leadon, please, accompany us." Two guards who somewhat resembled drawing pencils obediently came at their princess' call. Turning back to Meta Knight, she smiled. "Thank you, sir knight. The Musean Empire owes you a debt of gratitude."

Meta Knight modestly waved a hand. "It is nothing. Come, I am sure your sister is eager to see you."

As the group headed out, Meta Knight turned to Bandanna Dee. "You might want to work at cleaning up this mess," he said, motioning to the paint splattered field.

"Already on it!" the faithful creature said, relieved to have a mission that was somewhat more in his comfort zone.

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In the clearing just outside of Whispy Woods, the small group of children had already gathered together. To most, the group of two Dreamlanders, two fairies, and the little Puffal wouldn't have attracted all too much attention. Even those who had seen them traveling to their destination hadn't put too much thought as to where the children were off too. Had anyone had any idea of what was about to go down, there might have been more observers.

As it was at that noon time, only the children and an unnoticed observer stood there. "Are we all ready?" Tiff asked, bringing out her Ruby Star and balancing it in one hand.

"Weady!" Kirby cheered, waving the Warp Star in one paw.

"I'm ready, two," Tuff said, casually tossing the Topaz Star in one hand. "Shall we start?"

"We'd better go at the same time," Tiff said, moving her arm in position to throw. "That way, they'll have an easier time getting in sync."

Taking a deep breath, the two reared back and flung the little stars as hard as they could. The twin projectiles rocketed through the air, zipping out a short distance before hooking into each other and slamming together. When they were about an inch apart, they froze where they were and began to rotate rapidly in midair.

"Toss it now, Kirby!" Tiff called out.

The Puffal nodded, and with a "Poyo!" of effort, he flung the Warp Star over to join the spinning twin stars. It sailed out, joining the Ruby and Topaz Stars and began to orbit around them.

As the three spinning shapes began to move faster and faster around each other, there was an intense flash of light. The kids grabbed their ears, expecting that there would a thunderous clap to accompany the bright flash, but it was unnecessary. The flash came and went as silently as possible.

When the looked up, there were now two stars in the place of three. One was quite clearly the Warp Star, but the other was new. It was the same shining gold as the Warp Star, but the shape was different. It was more elongated and a bit bigger, with the arms a bit pulled back.

Their dance now done, the two stars drifted to the ground. "We did it," Tiff said. She moved over to the Stars. "We now have the full Flight Star, just as it was given to Sir Erran."

"Whoa, cool!" Tuff declared, rushing over. "I want to get a closer look!"

They children gathered around where the twin stars were now laying. Kirby wandered over to the Warp Star, while Tiff and Tuff stood over the Flight Star. Ribbon and Elline watched, but stood a bit further back, not feeling it to be right to come so near to such ancient relics when they were not the inheritors. It was a peaceful moment.

That peace did not remain for long. Nearly as soon as the children got in for a closer look, the two stars reacted. Rising off the ground, they zipped up and scooped up the children. The Warp Star nabbed Kirby and the two fairies, due to their proximity. Likewise, the Flight Star picked up the Ebrum siblings.

"What's going on?" Ribbon asked, clinging on to Kirby as hard are she could. "Where are you taking us?"

"Kaabii not do t'is!" the little Puffal responded, just as confused as his friends.

"We're not doing this either!" Tiff called out. She was currently doing her best to make sure she and her brother did not fall of their own star. "I think this has something to do with the stars refusing!"

There wasn't much of a chance to say anything else, since the stars picked up in speed, causing the wind to blow rapidly in the passenger's faces. They zipped right past the woods and over the fields. They passed Dynablade's mountain and the wreck of what had been the Dreamlandian Ruins. They moved over valleys and fields until they came to someplace that was familiar.

It was the cave that had once been overruled by Necrodeus. Now cleared of his evil, the whole area was beautiful, with the now shining castle standing over everything.

Soon, however, this view was lost as they dodged underground, into the sparkling cavern. They zipped up, over the waterfall that fed the pool, and into a tunnel that they hadn't been able to go through before. Rushing over a subterranean river, they were only in the underground for a few moments. Soon, they broke through to the surface.

They were now over the range of mountains that separated most of Dreamland from the coast of the Orange Ocean. This was an area that none of them had ever been too, is it would have taken hours to reach had they been traveling by anything other than flight. High above it, they could see the thin strip of coastline on one side of the mountains, with the desert on the other side.

There wasn't too much time to sight see, though. As soon as they came to the middle of the mountain range, they came to a large building that looked like a block-like palace. It stood, tall and proud, though it was so well hidden by the surrounding mountains that it would have been impossible to see from outside the mountain range.

Once they had come in front of the building, the stars slowed down and deposited their passengers on the ground. Once free of the children, the two stars rushed to the gate, entering into two slots. There was a loud click, followed by a creek and groan, and the gate opened up.

"Whoa," Ribbon said, making her way into the gate. "Where do you think we are?"

"Well, that's the Orange Ocean to the west," Tiff said, trying to calculate where they were, "but it's nothing like the part at the delta. We must be further north, maybe about six or seven hours away from Cappy Town."

As they wandered inside, a story he had been told came into Kirby's mind. As realization hit him, his eye widened. "Kaabii know whe'e we ah!"

"You know?" Tuff asked.

Kirby nodded. "Uh-huh. Papa tolded Kaabii, an' Kaabii seed a pictu'e in a book!" He stretched his paws out as wide as he could. "T'is is Sto'mholt!"

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As the group made their way back to Dedede's palace, Meta Knight and Claycia spoke of the recent happenings. "So you say the creatures that took my sister," the princess said, "were the servents of the monsters of old, the witches Drawcia and Claycia?"

Meta Knight nodded. "Indeed. I know that might be difficult to believe, but it is true. Are you aware of the tales of the Distorts and the Guardians?"

"Only as myths and fairy tales, to tell the truth," she responded with a shrug. "There was said to have once been a set of Scrybix Demi-Guardians, but their names have been lost to time and legend."

"As does often happen," Meta Knight said with a nod. "I myself would not have known what was going on had it not been for recent revelations. We are now, my lady, living in the times that shall become legends."

"But what shall those stories be like," she couldn't help but sigh aloud."

"Alright," Dedede said. There was a tone of annoyance in his voice from being ignored for so long. "There just one thing I want to know? How are you a princess? You don't look like one."

"Dedede, mind your tongue," Meta Knight growled, but Claycia lifted her hand.

"It's alright." Turning to Dedede, she smiled. "I prefer not to wear the formal regal attire if I do not have to," she responded. "It is a lot more comfortable to where casual clothing. And, if you don't mind me saying, you're not exactly what I'd expect of a king, either."

Dedede crossed his arms. "Well, I'm _not_ your average king. I made it all the way to the top on my own merit, not because of inheritance. In fact-"

"We are near our destination, Princess Claycia," Meta Knight interrupted, desperate to cut the Pengu off before he said anything that might end up in a war. "When we left, the children were playing in the palace courtyard."

"Thank you for your assistance," she responded with a smile, "and please, it's just Claycia. There is no need for formalities right now."

"Claycia, then," he responded with a smile.

His smile wilted as he entered the Palace walls, only to find those he was looking for to be gone. "They were here," he murmured, really more to himself than to anyone else. "I don't know where they could have gotten off to."

"Is something wrong?" Claycia asked, coming over to join Meta Knight.

"No, by all appearances," he said, trying to mask his nervousness. "It just appears that the children wandered off while we were out. It will probably take a while to locate them, but once we know where they went, it won't take long to get to them."

At that moment, however, there was a bright burst of light. It was far enough away that is was bearable for those standing in the courtyard, but the intensity of the light was enough to pull everyone over to it.

When Meta Knight saw the flash, he blanched. "Oh no," he said in almost a hoarse whisper.

Without waiting a moment, he spread his wings in preparation for flight. The only thing that kept him from taking off then and there was the feeling of a hand on his wing.

"Sir Meta Knight, is something wrong?" Claycia asked, fear clear in her voice. "What was that? What did that mean?"

"I'm afraid it is a long and complicated story," Meta Knight said, "and one in truth that it is not my place to tell. However, if we go to the village, we will meet with those who can tell it. What I can say now, though is that if we don't move now, all the children's lives will be in grave peril."

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"Stormholt?" Ribbon asked. "What is Stormholt?"

"T'is Sto'mholt!" Kirby repeated. "It t'e base of t'e Stahwa'ee'ahs, at t'e sta't!"

"This place is a Star Warrior base?" Tuff asked. "No way! This thing's got to be millions of years old."

"Take a look at this," Tiff said. While the others had been standing in the courtyard, she have moved ahead to the doors of the palace. She had gone because that was where the Warp and Flight Stars had landed, but once there, she looked up at them. They were huge wooden gates, and carved on both of them was the familiar symbol of the Star Warriors. "I think Kirby's right."

Kirby gave a small dance. "See, it Sto'mholt!" he said. He touched the Warp Star, allowing it to shrink down so he could carry it. He then turned to the door and shoved it open.

The older kids jumped in shock when they had seen him do this and waited for the doorway to crumble. However, the ancient structure not only stood, but opened as easily as if it had been made that very day. It was clear whoever had built this had intended the building to last.

Kirby, lacking the nervousness of his older companions, had already rushed inside, and he was amazed by what he saw. Just inside, like at Dedede's palace, there was a main hallway, but this one put Dedede's to shame in just about every way possible. It was bigger, with bright windows lining all along the walls at the upper portions of the roof. The light filtered in and shone on a variety of mosaics made out of colored glass, which almost looked like jewels in the light. The mosaics told stories of great heroes, of daring missions, and of great achievements. In the back of the room, there was a set of staircases that stretched both up and down, and in both directions, there was a myriad of doors. There were doors on the primary level, too, and it was difficult to fathom from the size of everything just how big the building actually way.

All this made for a rather awe-inspiring experience. "Wow!" Elline said, breathlessly. "It even biggah t'en t'e palace at home!"

"This is so cool!" Tuff declared in excitement. He rushed ahead. "C'mon, let's go explore!"

"Wait!" Ribbon called out. "What if it's not safe? Maybe we should wait here. Someone's bound to be looking for us."

"You're welcome to wait," the boy responded, already halfway through a doorway at the back of the room, "but I'm going to have a look around. Anyone else with me?"

Ribbon looked at the others, looking for any amount of support in her caution.

"Under most circumstances, I would have agree with you," Tiff sighed, "but I'm with Tuff on this one. This place is just way too full of history to overlook. One look around can't hurt."

As Kirby and Elline had already started following Tuff into the next room, Ribbon sighed and relented. "Alright, but I'm going to keeping a scan up. We don't want to be running into anyone who might have bad intentions."

"Got it," Tuff said with a nod. "Come on, let's go!"

As they wandered through the rooms, the usually found smaller versions of what they had found in the entrance. The rooms had been set up to be sturdy, but elegant, with light filtering in through the windows. Whoever had done the work had put their heart and soul into the work. The waves of time showed on the wall, but did nothing to wear away the sheer beauty of what had been made.

It took a good fifteen minutes to make it to the back of the building, but when they did, they came to a door that opened to the outside. There, they came upon a sight that was more beautiful to Kirby than any they had encountered yet.

"It food!" Kirby exclaimed in joy. Sure enough, outside they was an overgrown patch of land covered in a variety of fruit growing plants. Some of the plants had no fruit on them, apparently having given their harvest earlier in the year, but the majority were born down by a right variety of foods. Kirby immediately set to reliving that burden.

"This must have been some sort of garden, once upon a time," Tiff said, examining a large wild strawberry. "It probably used to be a lot more ordered, but when whoever lived here left, they just started to grow wild."

"It good!" Kirby exclaimed between mouthfuls. He was about to slip a pawful of cherries into his mouth when he spotted a fruit he thought he was never going to see again. "Pep Bewwies!" He ran up to the Pep Berry tree and began picking off the ripe fruit.

"Pep Berries?" Ribbon asked. "I've never heard of those." She picked off a yellow berry. "I've never seen them before, either."

"Fwom Popopo. T'ey good!" Kirby nodded. "Twy!"

The others looked hesitant for a moment, but deciding to trust Kirby's judgement, each picked off one of the multicolored berries. They found that he was right; the fruit varied in taste according to their color, but they all were for the most part rather sweet or tangy. There was one side effect they couldn't predict though.

"Man," Tuff murmered, "I've only eaten two, but I'm already full."

"I fulled too," Elline said.

"Kirby, you did say these were from Popopo, right?" Ribbon asked.

Kirby nodded, not understanding his friends' sudden lack of appetite.

The fairy gave a small smile. "I guess it would make sense then." She laughed. "If this fruit was meant to feed Puffals, of course it would make everything else get full fast. We just don't have the stomach power to eat more than one or two."

Thus, the small band settled down for the moment. They still weren't sure how they were going to get back, but they might as well relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery until they figured something out.

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Meta Knight found as he arrived in the village, that he had been right on time. As they made it to the Square, Sir Ebrum and Lady Like had already arrived. With them were two other people, another man and woman of the Dreamlander Race.

"Ah, Sir Meta Knight. Good to see you," Sir Ebrum began. "May I introduce you to Miss Lucy Celanious and Mr. Edwin Rhee? We were just telling them all about you."

"I wish that this had come at a better time," the knight answered. He motioned to Claycia, who had been following close behind him. "This is Princess Claycia of Musean, the sister of little Elline. I have some troubling news, and I'm afraid that it involves all of us, both sets of guests included."

He went on to explain everything that had happened. How he had been pulled aside by Dedede due to the arrival of the _Bastron,_ how upon their arrival back, the children had been gone, and the flash of light that lacked sound, which to the knight could only signify one thing.

"They re-fused the halves," he finished, "and are most likely already at Stormholt. We may already be too late."

All four of the Dreamlanders looked on in shock. "Oh, my," Lady Like said. "We must hurry then! But how are we to make it to the mountain? By foot, it would take days!"

"If I may be of assistance," Claycia said, stepping up, "we may take my ship, if that would be of any help."

"It would be of tremendous help," Sir Ebrum said.

"Along the way," the other Dreamlandian woman, Lucy, said, "we'll explain everything."

"Indeed," Edwin said with a nod. "If we do not hurry, the very fate of worlds will be at stake."

"Then it is settled," Meta Knight said, his eyes flashing silver with intensity. "We go now to the Fortress. We must make one stop along the way, though…" He detailed his plan as they made their way to the _Bastron._

Dedede made it to the square just in time for the others to have vanished. "Well," he snorted in disgust. "That figures. They left me behind. Well," he said, turning in the direction of the restaurant, "I'm sure whatever they're doing isn't interesting anyway."

To be continued...


	73. Reckoning, Part Two

"I suppose we should start at the beginning," Sir Ebrum sighed as they sat in the main area of the _Bastron_. The adults has all gathered together, and they now soared to their destination. "We have already given you the names we are commonly known by, but these are not our true names. Our true names are given in accordance with our membership to the Children of Erran."

"I have heard of the name of Erran," Claycia said, touching her chin, "but wasn't he one of the founders of the Star Warriors?"

"Yes," Meta Knight nodded. He had long knew this story, so he could help in supplementation. "What is not commonly known is that the Star Warriors were not always nomadic. At one point, they lived exclusively on Pop Star, in the Fortress Stormholt. However, over time, the descendants of Sir Metian began to become restless, and desired to begin wandering the universe."

"The descendants of Erran," Lady Like picked up, "had no such desire. Thus, the group split in half, with those who left becoming that Star Warriors that are known of today, and those who remained began to be known by another name: the Children of Erran."

"The connection was maintained, though," Lucy continued. "Each group kept one of the ancient stars belonging to the founders, the Star Warriors taking the Warp Star and the Children keeping the Flight Star. These two stars acted as the keys to Stormholt."

"For a time, all was well." Edwin closed his eyes as he spoke. "Stormholt was a place of peace and welcome. Those who came were given rest. However, there came a time when that hospitality was abused. A maniac one day came, and feigning the need for help, was taken into Stormholt. He discovered the weapons systems hidden within, along with an ancient treasure designed by Sir Metian himself. Taking control of the systems, the maniac attempted to wipe our people out."

"The only think that kept his wicked plans from coming fully to fruition," Lucy finished for him, "was a desperate act by the survivors. Realizing that as long as the villain had the Fortress within his clutches he'd be unstoppable, they fought hard to lure him out. Once they succeeded, they locked the fortress behind them, and split the Flight Star into halves. That way, the fortress would be out of the reach of the villain."

"Such victory came at a cost, however," Sir Ebrum sighed. "The fortress, which had been the home of our people for so long, was lost to us as well. Furthermore, there were so few of us left that we would have been helpless against any attack. Thus, to protect the survival of our people, we split up and mingled with the nearby Cappy people. Taking their names to hide our own, we remained that way for generations. Eventually, only we remembered our own history."

"You keep mentioning names," Claycia commented once the story was finished. "There seems to be some importance in that all. Why are names so vital?"

Lady Like smiled. "To Dreamlanders, names are important. As we have mentioned, we all have two names: the name by which we go by, and the name that marks us as a member of the Children of Erran. We receive both at birth, though we do not know the second until we have started our journey into the order, usually at young adulthood. This name is a hope of what is to come. Mine, for instance, is Memu, which means 'strength of a mother' in the ancient Dreamland tongue."

"And mine is Parm," her husband continued, "or 'sure guide.' Each of us has such a name, which both connects us to our roots and allows us to communicate with each other."

"Which leads to why Lucy and I are here," Edwin picked up. "My true name is Tobyo, and this is Sakayli. We are from the main fighting force of the Children of Erran. When we found out that you Fumu and Bun, or Tiff and Tuff as you might know them, had the halves of the Flight Star, we came as quickly as we could, hoping that we might be able to intervene before something truly terrible had occurred. Others of our order made a journey as well, hoping to gain allies to our cause."

"You think there might be someone who wants to take the stars and the fortress?" the princess asked. "If the fortress is as powerful as you say, we would have need of an army far larger than what I have brought."

Meta Knight nodded. "The killer who had initiated this damage may be long dead, but he had followers. We believe that one of them, a treacherous creature by the name of Marx, has been long spying on us, and if he is able to get ahold of Stormholt, then all will be lost. As for the army," he added, motioning out the window, "we are making a little stop before we work our way to the fortress."

Outside, they were coming up onto an island. Gathered on the islands was a group of mixed Puffals, Boxin, and Dreamlanders, with a few creatures of other varieties, and all were standing to attention. All were armed, and the intent looks on their face spoke that they knew the severity of the situation.

Meta Knight could not help but get a flash of bright blue to his eyes as he looked down upon the beginnings of the new Star Warriors. "We shall have our army," he said in a calm voice, "and by the very ruler of the stars, we shall not lose Stormholt."

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As the day wore on, the weather soon began to take a turn for the worse. The children, who had been enjoying the afternoon in the overgrown garden, initially didn't notice as the huge dark clouds began to roll in. They had to take notice, however, when large raindrops began to fall from the sky.

"Uh-oh," Elline said, glancing up at the sky, "it gonna wain."

"It think you're right," Tiff said with a nod. "We'd better get inside before anything gets worse."

They rushed inside the huge building, which supplied the much needed shelter from the rain. This stroke of luck only ran so far, though. After a few minutes, the rain grew harder and heavier, and it soon became clear they'd have another problem.

"Uh-oh," Ribbon said. "It looks like it's getting dark. Did anyone bring a flashlight?"

"I's got it!" Elline called out. She took her paintbrush form and painted a glowing yellow orb. As she transformed back, the orb rose off the ground and started floating next to the fairy girl. "Now we see," she said cheerfully.

"Well, that solves that problem," Tiff said, sitting on the ground, "but we still have the issue of how were going to get home."

"Why don't we just take the stars back?" Tuff recommended. "After all, that's how we got here in the first place."

"We might as well try." Tiff took out the Flight Star from her pocket, where she had hidden it when they had arrived. She tossed it up, hoping that might trigger the star's power and allow them to return home.

Their hopes, however, came crashing down with the little star. It appeared that their flight there and the unlocking of Stormholt had worn out the star's power, and it was barely running on fumes. Once the girl had tossed it in an attempt to make it fly, what little power it had left was used up, and it crashed the floor, where it split back into the Ruby and Topaz Stars.

"Well, that way's out, at least for now." Tuff sighed.

At that moment, there was a crash of thunder. The ancient fortress was too well built to be shaken by it, but it was startling none the less. It was startling enough that Kirby, who had remained silent up until that point, let out a cry of shock and jumped backwards. Unfortunately, his leap took him back into a door, which proved to lead to a winding staircase that went down deep into the foundation.

Immediately, his friends rushed to the doorway and looked down. The entire passageway was shrouded in shadows, and even with Elline's little glowing ball, they could only see a fraction of the way down.

"Kirby!" Ribbon called out. "Are you alright?"

"Kaabii 'kay!" he called back from the bottom of the stairwell. "Everyt'ing da'k, t'ough."

"Hold on, Kirby!" Tiff called out. "We're coming down. Don't move until we get there."

In single file, they all moved onto the stairs and inched their way into the darkness of the passageway. The ball helped a little bit, but it was still pretty hard to see.

After what felt like an eternity, they finally made it to the bottom of the stairwell. Already there, Kirby sat. However, he wasn't facing them, or even looking at them. His eyes were now glowing blue, and was facing away from them. "Wow!" he breathed out in amazement.

Since they lacked the night vision that came naturally to Kirby, the others could not see what he was marveling at.

"Kirby, we'd better be heading back upstairs," Tiff said, attempting to take the little Puffal's paw.

Kirby, however, wasn't interested in going back up. "Uh-uh," he said, struggling away. "Kaabii wanna wook a'wound mo'e!"

"Kaabii, t'ewe nuffing down hewe," Elline said.

Kirby blinked for a moment, looking in confusion at his friends. They couldn't see everything that was surrounding them? Well, that seemed odd to him, but if they needed help, he could work with that.

Without hesitating for a moment, the little Puffal rushed off into another patch of darkness and disappeared from view. The older children responded in shock and attempted to follow him, but since they could not see where he had gotten off to, the best they could do was struggle around in the darkness and hope that they could locate his whereabouts.

There was the sound of a loud click, followed by a pop, and soon all the lights came on. For a moment, the group wasn't certain what had happened, and could only wince against the sudden brightness.

Once their sight cleared, however, to became plain what had happened. Kirby was at a nearby wall, clinging onto what must have been the power switch. The older children looked at him with some amount of annoyance, but it was soon forgotten. The light had also revealed was much more amazing and awe inspiring than they could have ever imagined.

There, standing for all to see, was the largest ship they had ever seen. It was massive, dwarfing even Dedede's palace. However, despite its size, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it had been meant to fly. Its wings spread out, as if just waiting for the wind to carry it up and away. The most striking feature, though, was the bow. It was shaped so as to allow its captain, who would certainly be standing there when it was in flight, a one hundred and eighty degree view of the territory surrounding him. It was a convenient design for a ship, but it struck the children for another reason.

"That looks just like Sir Meta Knight!" Tuff declared.

"But that can't be right," Ribbon said in confusion. "This thing is way too old for it to be modeled on Sir Meta Knight's mask. What's going on here?"

Kirby grinned. Unlike the others, he was not confused in the slightest. Indeed, he was thrilled by what he saw. Racing ahead, he ran up to the ship admired it for a moment. He then spun around so that he was facing his friends, and spread his paws wide as an equally wide smile grew on his face.

"T'is," he said, proud of the memories of his lessons, "is t'e wast tweasu'e of Si' Metian. T'is is t'e battahship _Halbuhd!"_

There was a moment of stunned silence as the kids surveyed just what they were seeing. "Man," Tuff said finally. "This thing's huge! You said it's called the _Halberd,_ right?"

Kirby nodded. "Uh-huh. It was made by Sah Metian, a'fore he died. It biggest ship evah made!"

"And the strongest too," a dark, sly voice said from behind them. The children jumped, unaware they had been followed. They turned around to find, to their horror, that the person who was with them was none other than Marx.

The jester gave a cruel smirk. "I have to thank you kids," he said. "When I took those stars off of those Erranite guardians, I had no idea you needed to be an Erranite to forge the pieces back together. If it hadn't been for you, I would have never found this place."

"What are you talking about?" Tiff said, stepping in front of the younger children. She was now severely regretting the fact that she and her brother had forgotten to bring their bows. This magician was dangerous, but they might have a chance if she was able to keep him distracted. "We found those stars in their ancient hiding places."

Marx laughed. "Ancient? Where did you find those again? Oh, that's right, in the rubble of a ruined ruin, and the waters of a fountain that had been recently caught in the crossfire of a titan battle. Did it ever dawn on you that they were a bit too easy to have been found by chance?"

"Well, no," Tiff said, becoming a bit flustered.

As the Dreamlander girl carried on her diversion, Kirby began to look around. There had to be something left in the fortress that would allow him to defend his friends in some way. Moving without a sound, he slunk off into the depths of the fortress.

For his part, the jester had not noticed the sudden discrepancy. He laughed, amused by the girl's discomfort. " _I_ planted those there!" he stated in a loud tone. "They had long been protected my members of the Erranite race. It was difficult to track down just who had what, but once that job was done, it was mere child's play to slit their throats! The only problem I had was fusing the pieces back together. It didn't dawn on me until much later that the Flight Star needed to be reforged by the descendants of its original master."

"Me and my brother," Tiff said, catching on to what was said. "You needed us to put them back together."

"Exactly." There was predatory look in the villain's eyes. "I see why you're considered the smart one. However, now that you've done exactly that, and opened the way to Stormholt for me, I no longer have any need for you." A pulsating sphere of energy appeared and began to glow. "So, thank you for all the great help you've been. I bid you adieu."

He raised the sphere in preparation to attack, but then something unexpected happened. Before Marx could launch his attack, he was struck hard by a hovering board that none of them had ever seen before. The villain was knocked backwards off his feet.

The kids looked in confusion, not sure what had happened to save their lives like that. They soon got their answer, though.

"C'mon!" Kirby called, waving his arms as hard as he could. "C'mon, Kaabii finded wots and wots of stuff ta help!"

Not questioning what he was talking about, the other kids turned to follow. They could only be relieved that they had been given the opportunity to escape and find way to fight back.

As he watched them leave, Marx scowled first, then smiled when he saw what it was that hit him. A Wing Star Air-Ride Machine. They had only found the Air-Ride Machines. Well, he knew where the main defense center of the fortress was. They could only run for so long before their time came. Thinking this, he got up and made his way to the stairs. He'd just need to make it to the main defense chamber. Once he was there, the hunt would really be on.

Hearts beating fast, the children raced after Kirby. He had run into an antechamber to the main docking room. Within, there were many machines of the same nature as the one Kirby had used to stun Marx, and there were many others. Thousands of them were in the room, each on their own little shelf or docking station.

"Kirby, what are these things?" Ribbon asked as they went in.

The Puffal shrugged. "Dunno, but t'ey good ta help." He took another machine off the shelf. "We get out, an' t'en we find Papa. He help us stop bad guy!"

"You've got the right idea, Kirby," Tiff said, "but how do we get these things to start?"

"Wike t'is!" Kirby lifted a panel off of the machine he was dealing with, revealing intricate mechanical workings. With swiftly moving paws, he began rearranging the wiring and making adjustments to the internal workings. The others looked on, doubting that what he was doing was going to help. However, their doubts were proven to be in vein, since after a mere moment of this movement, the machine began to purr to life.

"T'ere," Kirby said, looking up with a bright grin. "T'at's how yew tu'n it on." Realizing he was getting blank looks, the tot looked confused. "Yew can do t'at, wight?"

All he received was head-shakes, accompanied by stunned stares. This surprised him, since he had assumed that everyone knew how to reformat a system to allow it to run without the ignition key. Maybe that was just him.

Not that this new information was about to get him down, though. "A'ight," Kirby said with a happy chirp. "Kaabii help t'en. Kaabii wike ta help." He set to rewiring a handful of other machines so that he and his friends would be able to make it out of here before that maniac came and found them.

Before long, they were rushing through the empty hallways, looking for any way out that they could take. They didn't dare go back to the main docking room. Marx would have set up some sort of trap for them there.

Instead, they rushed through the empty hallways that led away from the hover machine room. These rooms, however, were often dim, and with the threat of the sorcerer on their tail, the ancient architecture seemed forbidding rather than charming. It seemed as if every crack and crevice was hiding their enemy, and he could spring out an attack at any moment.

Which wasn't too far from wrong. By then, Marx had made it to the central control room of Stormholt, the very heart and brain of the entire fortress. From there, he could trigger any defense that the Star Warriors of antiquity had set up. For ancient tech, the wizard had to admire, it was all running very smoothly. The Prince of Mechanics, Sir Metian, knew his art well, creampuff though he was.

The kids soon learned of his skill as well. As they raced in search of an exit, a loud alarm started up. Blaring horns and flashing lights went off everywhere, disorienting the alright confused and frightened children.

"What goin' on?" Elline asked, holding tight Ribbon, who she shared a vehicle with.

"I'm not sure," Tuff answered, "but whatever it is, it can't mean anything good for us."

"Quiet right, little Erranite. None of these will be good for you." Marx's voice echoed though the halls. "But very fun for me. Run, little insects. Escape from the web…if you can." There was the sound of malicious laughter.

Without any other option, the kids moved ahead, dodging from a barrage of laser fired and projectiles. They were able to make good speed, but the farther they moved, the thicker and faster the attacks became. Soon the air was so ripe with attacks that they could hardly move. This was not helped by the fact that they soon came up on a sharp split in the road.

"Which way should we go?" Ribbon asked. She and Elline were in the tail end, with Kirby directly in front of them and the Ebrum siblings taking up the lead.

"Let's go left!" Tiff shouted out. "I think that way is clearer!"

"Weft?" Kirby asked.

"That's right!" the Dreamlandian girl called out.

There was then a blast that rang out, stirring up smoke and rubble between Kirby and the Ebrums. It only barely missed, but the siblings made it clear and rushed off into the left tunnel.

Kirby was able to avoid the shot, too, but in the confusion, he lost track of which way his older friends had gone. Without any clear indication of the path that was to be taken, he dodged into the right tunnel, with Ribbon and Elline following close behind. He could only hope he took the correct path.

"Well, isn't this an interesting turn of events," Marx's voice bounced of the ancient walls. "We now have two teams on two roads. Who will make it out? If any."

It took the Ebrum siblings a while to realize what their foe was talking about. "Wha-Kirby must have gone down the wrong hallway, and Ribbon and Elline went with him," Tiff said, attempting to pull her machine to a halt and turn around. "C'mon, we've gotta go back for them."

They attempted to go back the way they came, but before they could make it very far, a heavy metal door slammed down in front of them, making it impossible for them to proceed. "Ah, ah, ah," Marx scolded over the speaker. "I make the rules of this game, and once you've made a move, there's no turning back. You two are on your own."

"This really isn't good," the girl said in a hushed voice.

Tuff looked up at the blocked pathway. "No, but we still have a chance. We just need to make sure _we_ don't get separated." A flash of determination appeared in his face. "There's no way I'm letting that creepazoid win." He lifted his fist and faced the direction the voice had been coming from. "Ya hear that Marx? We're going to stop you! Your evil ends now!"

There was a dark chuckle. "A fine sentiment. Let's see if you have the ability to back up those words with actions." There was a hissing sound, and soon a compartment opened not far from where the barred door stood. Out of it crawled a huge metal lobster, with flashing red eyes.

"That looks like trouble," Tiff said. "We gotta get out of here now!" With that, the siblings took to their machines and fled the mechanical crustacean as fast as they could.

Meanwhile, Kirby and the two fairies weren't having that much better of a time. As they move along, the projectiles stopped, but they now faced a new set of obstacles. All around them, the very stones of the floor began to move, some living up in an attempt to squash them against the stone roof, others sliding out to drop them down a shoot. They had to use every ounce of maneuverability to make it through the veritable maze alive.

"Man, this sicko's serious, isn't he?" Ribbon said as she swerved to dodge one of the rising platforms. "How are you doing, Kirby?"

"Kaabii good," Kirby called out. He turned to give his friends a comforting wave to assure them that he was holding up well. Unfortunately, that meant that he turned his attention from the shifting jigsaw puzzle of death. As a result, he didn't notice as one of the rising platforms shot up, catching the edge of his machine. It smashed the hover craft against the roof, decimating the part that had gotten caught and damaging the part that hadn't.

Thankfully, Kirby had been seated on the part that was not caught. As a result, he was stunned and shaken by the blow, but the amount of injury done was minimal.

He was, however, too much in a state of shock to properly compensate for the blow, and he tumbled off the machine in in heap. He almost tumbled into one of the opened shoots as well, and only avoided whatever fate lay below him because of the fairies' quick reaction time.

"Got ya!" Elline called out as she caught the little Puffal by his foot, hauling him onto their machine. "Kaabii not fall."

"T'anks," Kirby replied, rubbing his head. "T'at cwose."

"You're telling me," Ribbon responded. "Hang on, we're still not out of this madman's paradise." She maneuvered the machine between the rising pillars, avoiding being hit. Thankfully, they were able to make it out of the dangers of that room. Now all they'd have to do was survive the traps that awaited them in the next corridor.

Meanwhile, Tiff and Tuff were still struggling to keep ahead of the huge lobster robot. It was faster than its huge size would suggest, and several times it shot off lasers that only just missed the siblings.

"Hey!" Tiff called out after they had run for a while. "I think we made it! I can see light!"

Sure enough, just as she had predicted, there was a doorway just up ahead. Revving their machines as fast as they could, they zipped through the opening. It was just big enough for them to make it out in single file. This had the added benefit in that it was much too small to allow the gigantic lobster robot to come out after them, and it was trapped behind the stone doorway.

"Yeah! We made it!" Tuff laughed, jumping off his hover machine now that it was safe to do so. "Take that, you big ol' lump of metal!" He then tossed a rock at the behemoth.

Their celebration turned out to be somewhat premature. While the monster itself could not get anywhere near close to getting out, it opened up its claws, and out popped two smaller beasts that looked just like miniatures of the behemoth.

Tiff and Tuff turned to run, but they couldn't get too far. Unfortunately, the path they decided to take took them to a wall that's window was much too high to reach. They clung to each other as they pressed against the wall, fearing that it was soon going to be their end.

The two robotic lobsters came up on them, but before they could attack, they were attacked. Out of nowhere, there were bright flashes of silver, which shot out and shredded one of the machines. The other was hit by several laser blasts, which stopped it in its tracks.

"Hey, what saved us?" Tuff asked as he looked up.

The siblings directed their gaze to where the saving shots had come from and couldn't believe what they saw. Standing there, in a doorway that had been camouflaged so as to be near invisible, stood their parents, of all people. Sir Ebrum had a pair of dueling pistols in his hands, one of them pointing in the direction of the blasted robots. Likewise, Lady Like had a pair of fans in her hands, and closer inspection revealed that the fans were made up of hundreds of small knives, each in the shape of a small feather.

"Mom? Dad?" Tiff asked as she and her brother stepped around the wreckage. "What's going on?"

"I know this is all confusing, children," their mother answered, "but it will all be explained in time. "

"Right now, though," their father added, "it is vitally important that you tell us what is going on. Why was that thing chasing you, and where are Kirby and the other girls?"

"It's Marx." Tiff's face grew grave as she spoke. "He's in here, too, and he's turned the fortress into a death trap, and the others are still down there!"

"I see. Then it is urgency that we make it down there very soon," Sir Ebrum said, sliding the pistols into two holsters.

"We can't go down there now!" the girl argued. "With all the weapons Marx has at his disposal, we'd need an army to have anything like a chance against him now!"

"Well," a familiar voice said as Meta Knight came in, "I do not believe we shall have all too much of a problem, then." He motioned behind himself, and the siblings leaned in to see.

And what there was to see! Behind him stood the very army their needed. It was mostly made up of Boxin, Puffals, and Dreamlanders, but there were a few scattered creatures of other varieties as well. Standing at the head of the troops were five of the commanders: Lady Rosalyn, Lady Alivea, Sargent Cosmos, Isaac of the Star Jumpers, and a young lady who appeared to be of the same race as Elline.

"I give you the collection of the Boxin Tribe, the Star Jumper Pack, the remnants of the Star Warriors, the Children of Erran, and the royal guard of the Musean Empire," Meta Knight, motioning to those who stood behind him.

"Well, Miss Tiff," Isaac said, twirling his gun on one paw as he spoke, "does this appear to be army enough for you?"

Tiff could only stare in amazement at those gather together, but Tuff was more than able to speak. "Oh, yeah!" he cheered. "Now we can show that miserable Marx what for!"

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Within the depths of the fortress, Kirby and his friends had no way of knowing just what was going down above their heads. They weaved their way through the halls and corridors, wanting only to survive at the moment. As they rushed along, they took no notice of where they were going, until they had made it into the heart of the fortress.

They came to realize, however, when they came to the final door. Through it, they could see massive computer screens, showing the various areas of Stormholt. Sitting in front of the monitors was Marx, who slowly turned around to face them.

"Well, well, well," he said with a cruel smile. "It looks like you survived all of the Star Warrior's defenses and made it here. How unfortunate for you." With that, he whipped off his hat and summoned up all the magic he could muster. "Because now you are going to be facing me, and I promise you, by the time I'm finished with you, you are going to wish you had perished in the halls along with your friends!"

Kirby and Ribbon took defensive poses Elline painted up a barrier. Standing back, they waited for him to blast at them with the gathered magic.

That blast, however, never came. Once Marx summoned up a huge gathering of magic, he swallowed it, and began to change form. A pair of wings pulled out from his back, and a set of fangs appeared in his mouth.

The children backed up in fright when they saw the transformation. Taking note of their horror, the monster laughed. "You see, I now no longer need to hide behind that pathetic form you saw before. Now you see my true identity, and tremble in terror of my power!" He let out a blood-chilling cackle. "With the power hidden within this fortress, this world and many others will belong to me, and there is nothing that anyone can do about it!"

The trio were forced to scatter, and the monster Marx had chosen then to swoop down on them in an attempt to catch them. They were able to just barely dodge away. Unfortunately, the enemy had been prepared for this, and as soon as they moved, he roared, unleashing a hoard of blue pellets. Wherever they crashed down, these pellet shatter, spreading ice all across the surface. This, unfortunately, included Ribbon's wings.

The fairy cried out in pain as she was hit, and the ice spread over her body. Seeing their friend fall, Kirby and Elline darted ahead to help. Just in time, too, a Marx had shot out a burst of attack energy at her. Elline was only just able to paint up a shelter before the attack made contact.

By then, thankfully, Kirby had made it to Ribbon's side. Pulling the fairy of to one side, he dodged behind the cover of the stone doorway. Elline followed close behind, painting up a wall as she went, enclosing the three behind a protective shelter.

"Wibbon 'kay?" Kirby asked, touching his friend's shoulder.

"I'm fine," she replied, "but I can't move my wings. They're frozen stiff."

There was several sharp thuds against the barrier. "Uh-oh," Elline said fearfully. "Bad guy coming back!"

Her words came only moments before the shelter shattered. The three now lay, completely exposed to whatever their enemy would choose to do.

Marx smiled down on them with malice. "I have you now!" he cackled. "I grow tired of this game. It is time for you to die!" With that, he opened his mouth and prepared to fire off a shot of magic more powerful than he had ever used before.

To be continued…


	74. Reckoning, Part Three

"It is time for you to die!" Marx cackled as he gathered up his power. He prepared to launch out a beam of energy at the trapped children. It seemed like it was the end.

Before the final blow could be struck, however, there came an intense Sword Beam from the side. The glowing beam struck the monster hard, knocking him away from the children. This blow was followed up just as quickly as possible by a dark blue blur. The blur silently launched itself upon Marx and began laying about the monstrosity's head.

"You do not threaten my son!" Meta Knight's distinctive voice shouted out with as much passion and fury as they had ever heard him have. The attacks he dealt were hard and fast, and his speed made him impossible to hit. None of them had ever seen him like this before.

Even Marx, who had up until then been incredibly confident, was now unsure of what to do. His plan had been fool proof! How had this happened?

He attempted to pull away from the attacks of the enraged father, and the brief glance at the monitor confirmed his fear. Somehow, the Star Warrior and the Erranites had gathered an army, and while he had been distracted with dealing with brats, they had invaded the fortress.

He didn't have much more time to take this in, as Meta Knight was not finished with his own attacks, and by now, Parm and Memu had joined him and were unleashing their own attacks as well. However, this time Marx was more prepared. Dodging out of the way of the plunging Galaxia, he rushed to the computer and deactivated every control and defense all at once, directing all the power within the fortress to himself instead. Now was not the time for games. Now was the time for war.

Seeing what the enemy was doing, Memu turned to the still hiding children. "Flee!" she shouted. "Go up to the surface! We'll try to handle this!"

"But Kaabii he'p!" Kirby called out.

"Kirby, go!" Meta Knight called. "You might be able to fight, but can Ribbon and Elline?"

Kirby glanced at his friends. Ribbon had still been disabled, and perhaps injured, but the ice now coating her wings and back, and Elline, while she was attempting to hold up, was clearly suffering from paint depletion. They wouldn't be able to hand a battle at the moment.

"Kirby, go and help your friends escape," Meta Knight called.

Realizing the severity of the situation, Kirby nodded. "'Kay!" he shouted, picking up Ribbon and taking Elline by the hand. "Go!" he shouted as he rushed off.

Unfortunately, while this had all been going on, Marx had been using the time as an opportunity to power himself up. While electricity was not the same as magical energy, it could be used as a decent substitute when the time called for it. Thus, once he had diverted all of Stormholt's power supplied to himself, he now had more power than he had ever dreamed of.

"Now, you will face a living horror!" the sorcerer cackled. "Tonight, the lines of Metian and Erran end, and all-"

Before he could finish his speech, however, Meta Knight lunged ahead. Since he, too, had wings, he was able to reach the foe first and land a blow, before the brag could be finished. As Marx hit the ground hard, Meta Knight laughed at his puzzled expression. "What?" the knight asked. "Did you really expect me to let you finish?"

In rage, Marx launched himself at Meta Knight. But the warrior was too fast. Instead, the monstrous being launched himself right into a stone wall, which left himself open to other attacks. By now, others had also arrived, along with Memu and Parm, and those who were there opened fire upon the monster.

Now under full attack, Marx found an error in his own plan. Powerful though he was, he now found that with every blow his foes were able to land on him, more and more of his power was whittled away. While each individual attack wasn't enough to destroy him completely, coming from ten, twenty, thirty foes all at once, they risked destroying him.

Not that the villain was prepared to lie down and die. If it was his fate to end his life within the walls of the fortress, he was certain to take his foes with him.

Turning to face the attackers, he launched out with the ice pellets again, this time with a fury that even in the battle with the guardian was absent. The gathered attackers were forced to fall back a distance or be nailed by the flying ice.

While they were disoriented by the attack, Marx decided to try one of his most powerful attacks. Taking a deep breath, he let out a bone rending scream, the likes of which caused the very foundation of the fortress to shake. Though attackers who were not a battle ready fell back, and a handful of them fainted.

"This is no good," Meta Knight called over to his partners. "He is too powerful at the moment! We must find some way of getting rid of the power he had stolen!"

"We are in agreement there," Parm called over, "but I doubt he's going to comply with our demands. The question is, how do we make him give it up?"

Meta Knight glanced around the room, his eyes going green with concentration. They was when he spied the control panel. "I've got an idea!" he called out. "Just keep the creature from noticing me, and I'll do the rest."

The husband and wife nodded. "Go ahead," Memu said. Turning to the armies, she raised her knife fan. "Come now, we have him on the ropes!" she called out. "Redouble your attacks! His fight might be intense, but he is burning up his own energy! If we can force him to waste it all, then the victory is within our grasps!"

Hearing the lady's words, the troops gave a hearty rallying cry and plunged harder into the battle. The creature might have been strong, but he was just that: a mere creature. He could be stopped.

Marx soon began to realize this about himself as well. Despite his power up, he could not take a whole army at once. Between the traditional attacks of the Star Warriors and the Children of Erran, the more melee based attacks of the Boxins, or the paint constructs of the Musean Guard, he was starting to be overwhelmed. As a result, he almost didn't notice Meta Knight trying to come up behind him, armed with a cable meant to siphon off his power.

Almost. At the last moment, the creature saw a flash of blue coming up from behind. Moving as fast as he could, he spun around, catching the cable in one hand and yanking hard. The pull was enough to pull the knight off of his footing and be swept into the front-lines of the defenders.

He had warded off this attack, but Marx came to the realization that he couldn't hold this position for much longer. He needed to get out of the fortress and into the open skies. Flapping his wings, he flew over the heads of the defenders, making his escape.

As he rushed out, he spotted Kirby, who was still assisting his injured friends. He was surrounded by members of the makeshift army, but anger filled the beast. He was determined that if he was to be defeated that day, he'd take at least one opponent with him. Swooping down so suddenly that it caused the surrounding crowds members to fall in shock, he caught the little Puffal up in one clawed wing and swept him up into the sky.

Kirby had been entirely unprepared for the attack. He was initially unable to move, so stunned was he by the unexpected strike. This was what Marx was hoping for. As he hauled Kirby in the air, he tossed the little Puffal up and unleashed the most power laser attack he had on the child.

The little one recovered from his shock just in time to see the attack come blowing at him. With a reflex like response, he opened up his mouth and began inhaling with every ounce of strength he had.

It worked. As he inhaled, the attack, instead of harming him, was swallowed. Marx continued unleashing as much as he had, but Kirby was more than capable of matching him. The two hovered for a moment, in contention, neither ready to surrender to the other.

Finally, the creature could take it no longer. Letting out the final bits of his power, the attack flicked off, and Kirby was able to swallow the last bits of it and copy. There was a bright flash of light, and soon, a white visor had appeared around the child's head. He had become Laser Kirby!

Taking advantage of his new power up, Kirby barreled towards Marx, unleashing laser blaster after laser blast. These attacks succeeded in crippling the monstrosity's wings, and the two began plummeting down.

They reached only once as they fell. "This isn't over," Marx sneered. "I will return, and when I do, I will kill you, and all those who dare to help you. This isn't a threat; it's a promise."

Kirby frowned, but only had one responds. "No." With that, he dealt Marx a hard kick. The two were tossed in two wildly different courses. The beast was flung off in the direction of the woods, and crash landed somewhere in the middle of the forest.

Kirby, instead, continued to descend by the fortress. Before he could hit the ground, however, a flash of blue shot out, catching the child before he could be injured. The little Puffal looked up, and smiled when saw his rescuer. "Hii, Papa!"

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At his place of crash landing, Marx struggled to get up. That last attack had taken a lot out of him, and he wasn't going to be able to attack as he wished he could again for a very long time.

Not that his own physical state was on his mind at the moment. What he was concerned about was what had happened. He had been so close to succeeding at everything he had dreamed about for years. Stormholt had been in his grasp! He had the power of the ancient stronghold, and it had been snatched away, just like that! There was no way he was going to let that go.

"I'll get my revenge," he muttered to himself. "They'll all suffer for what happened here today. Those creampuffs, the filthy Erranites, everyone! They'll all pay!"

"Is that so?" a voice said from behind Marx. "I'm afraid you will have other matter to be thinking about shortly."

Marx spun around, started by the voice. Standing there, he saw a magenta Puffal come up to him. He was an odd Puffal, with golden horns coming off of his head and a pair of feather wings on his back. He was also heavily armored, wearing a mask with a four point star cut into it, and he had a lance in one hand.

The Puffal laughed again. "After all this time, you finally had your goal succeeded, and you let it slip away."

"It's due to the likes of your kind, Star Warrior," Marx spat. "I suppose you came for Meta Knight to get me locked up, is that it?"

"Oh, you mistake my intention," the newcomer responded. "I am no Star Warrior; I am the Galactic Knight. While I do come on errand for another, it is not Meta Knight. There is another player in this game that you have forgotten about, and he is calling for retribution."

The jester froze for a moment in confusion before recognition and horror overcame him. "Nightmare!" Marx gasped. "But that can't be! He was destroyed by Kirby!"

"Not as much as you would think," the Galactic Knight responded. "He has appointed me his harbinger, his messenger, and, when need be, his errand boy. Come, slave. Your master wants a word."

"No, please no!" Marx cried out. "Don't bring me to him! I can give you anything you want!"

"There is only one thing I want," the dark messenger replied, "and Lord Nightmare has already promised it to me."

Without another word, he took ahold of Marx's foot and took off into flight. A dark portal appeared in the sky, and the two of them disappeared into it. Soon, there was no sign that either of them had ever been there.

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Within Stormholt itself, there was much rejoicing. The day had been won and the monster defeated. Furthermore, the ancient fortress had been once again opened to its rightful owners, and was once again fit to be used by its own people.

"Indeed," Claycia laughed as she spoke to Meta Knight, "this is a fine fortress, worthy of the legacy of the Star Warriors. There are many palaces I have seen that do not match it."

"And everything is safe and at peace once more," Meta Knight said, nodding in approval. As he surveyed the scene, a sense of serenity the likes of which he had not felt in ages overcame him. However, there was another feeling as well, and his eyes began to tinge purple.

Noticing the change, Kirby looked up at the warrior. "Papa 'key?" he asked.

"Yes, Kirby, I'm alright," Meta Knight responded. "But, I'm getting a feeling, like I'm being…called."

"Called?" Sir Ebrum asked. By now, the small group of the army's leaders had come together, and thus all had noticed the change. "What do you mean, called?"

Without saying a word, the Puffal withdrew Galaxia, and saw that it was shining with an intensity that it had never before had. Holding the sword aloft, he wandered, following the light where it fell. It went down into the fortress, down deeper even than the control room. It appeared that he was headed for the very heart of the planet. Despite this, he was followed close behind by Kirby, the Ebrum family, the Musean sisters, and his mother and sister.

"Meta," Alivea said, concern in her voice. "Is everything alright?"

As they came nearer to their destination, the strange intensity of their situation overcame him. It was as if memories of peace and prosperity of times gone by, long forgotten, were now reaching out to be felt once more. What's more, the nearer they got, the more the others felt it as well.

Meta Knight smiled, and the purple in his eyes grew stronger. "Yes," he said in responded. "All is well. More than well. Somehow, I feel as if we are coming home."

Their travels through the halls of Stormholt soon came to an end. They reached a small door that had now handle, but did have two key holes. Meta Knight inserted Galaxia into one of the holes, and it fit perfectly. With a sharp click, the door swung open, and what they saw inside none could have expected.

It was a room larger than anyone could have expected, considering the small size of the door. Inside, there were multiple alcoves, each holding what looked like a box. Some of the boxes were longer than the others, but all were skillfully carved and decorated with various images, and on top of every box was a weapon, finely crafted and laid in such a way so as to give honor to whoever owned it. All around the room, crystals like the ones that had been in the pool cavern lined the walls, and the light gleaming off of Galaxia was refracted in them, causing rainbows of light to appear everywhere.

"Whoa," Tiff said as they entered. "What is this place?"

"This," Meta Knight answered, "is the Tomb of the Ancient Star Warriors." He turned to a box in the center of the room. "I believe I know what I was called here." Wandering down the rows, he approached the box. It was one of the only boxes in the room that did not have a weapon lying on top of it, though there was a notch carved out for it in the top. The warrior placed Galaxia on top, and it fit like a glove. Bending down, the Puffal smiled. "My friends," he said, "we have now discovered the final resting place of Sir Metian."

"As in the founder of the Star Warriors?" Tuff asked. "Cool!" He ran up, and noticed a similar box lying nearby. It too had an empty slot on the top, though this one was shaped for a bow. "Than this one must be Sir Erran!"

As she walked up to join her son, Lady Rosalyn smiled. "Indeed, young one. So many years of history rests in this place. I never thought I would see this day."

Before anything else could be said, there came the sound of a loud scraping. All turned to see what it was, and they were rewarded by the sight of a door opening up right beneath Galaxia. "What? Did we break something?" Tiff asked, concern clear in her voice.

Kirby moved the fastest, jumping up to look into the slot. "Uh-uh," he said. "It not bwoked! Wook!" He held up a scroll, which had been lying inside. "Papah!"

Sir Ebrum took the scroll from the tot and looked closely at it. "That's more than paper, young one!" he said in amazement. "It seems that we have found another discovery, and this one may be just as momentous as Stormholt itself!"

"What is it?" Meta Knight asked, curiosity welling up inside him.

"My friend," the Dreamlandian said, "this is a history of the Star Warriors in Dreamland, written by the hand of Erran himself."

To be continued…


	75. The Hard Road to Freedom, Part One

"Meta Knight!" Dedede called out. "Hey, Meta Knight, where are ya? I need your help!" When there came no response, the Pengu grew more and more frustrated. "Hey, Bandanna Dee, where the heck did Meta Knight get to? He's been slacking off on his duties lately."

"Ever since that weird event happened a couple of days ago, Meta Knight's been awfully busy," the Waddle Dee responded. "First it was with helping Princess Claycia and Princess Elline get ready for their trip back home. Now that they are on their way, I'm not sure what he's doing, but it must be pretty important."

That wasn't good enough for Dedede. "Well, he's been a slacker, so I've got a good mind to sock 'im one!"

Bandanna shook his head. "Sire, you wouldn't even think about tripping him up, none the less punching him."

The Pengu frowned. "Well, maybe not, but that's just because of my kind, forgiving nature. I will, however, tell him what I think about him going off without so much as asking my leave." He crossed his arms, as if the statement had given him some sort of victory. "So, do you have any idea where that slack-off got to?"

"You might want to ask around in the village," the Waddle Dee suggested. "I heard him say something about showing something to Mr. Curio. Perhaps someone around there will have some idea about what's going on."

Dedede didn't particularly feel like traveling out to the village, but what he needed to be done was important. Saddling up Mrs. Mufflerkins, the Pengu rode out, determined to figure out just what was going on.

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"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much!" At that moment, Mr. Curio was just about in hog heaven, He was sitting at a table set up in one of the side rooms of Stormholt, along with Meta Knight, Kirby, and the Ebrums. He had been invited there too look over the recently discovered scrolls, and to take down the translated story that lay within. Ado and Adeleine had also tagged along, already at work recreating some of the works of art around the ancient fortress.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Lady Like said, "and for tolerating all the commotion going on. Everything's still such a bustle, what with the Star Warriors and the Children of Erran reforming and moving in."

"No problem at all," the archeologist said. He spread the first of the scrolls out over the table. "These scrolls will really put my museum on the map. Imagine it, this piece of paper is millions of years old, and tells the story of the founding of the very Star Warriors! This is just legendary!"

"Which is why we want to get them translated as soon as possible," Meta Knight commented. "There would really be no use to showing them if we had no idea what was written within."

"And I bet whatever's written is very cool!" Tuff exclaimed.

"I've got to agree with you," Tiff nodded in agreement. "All this history, hidden for so long, we can finally hear, and from a firsthand account, too!"

"Wead! Wead! Kaabii wanna hewe!" Kirby shouted with excitement.

"Alright, children, alright, settle down and I'll begin translating," Sir Ebrum laughed. "Mr. Curio, are you ready to begin?"

"I am just as eager as the kids are," the Cappy exclaimed. "Please, do begin."

Sir Ebrum looked down, and after saying something in the ancient Dreamland tongue, began to read in the common tongue. "'From the desk of Sir Erran, O.S.W. It seems like it has been many lifetimes since this story truly began…'"

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_It had been a normal work day for the people of the Woodland Village, the day the metal men descended. Erran, the eldest son of the chieftain, was hard at work in the fields. It was customary that every able bodied person be hard at work in one of the areas of community life, and there were no exceptions._

_Not that this was a problem. The work was hard, but it was very rewarding. At the moment, Erran looked over, and saw with a tone of pride as his own son, Ulias, was hard at work learning to handle the heavy stick that was used to dig the rows for seeds. It was the boy's first time, and he was struggling to keep his tool upright._

_"_ _It works better if you hold the tool closer to the ground," he said, going over and demonstrating with his own tool. "See, this way you have more control over what the digging end is doing."_

_As he was showing the boy the correct technique, he was approached by another Dreamlander. "Erran!" the newcomer called out._

_Straightening up, Erran brushed several locks of green tipped hair out of his eyes. "Ah, Turian, what can I do for you?"_

_"_ _Sir," the newcomer said, "there are strangers coming near, from the western path."_

_"_ _Cappies?" Erran shook his head. "You can leave them be. They might talk a good game, but they are ultimately harmless."_

_"_ _No, these aren't Cappies," Turian responded. "They are shorter, but they are wearing suits of metal, and they carry weapons like nothing we have ever seen before."_

_This news was troubling. "Are they friend or foe?"_

_"_ _They do not say," came the response. "They just demand to be brought in to meet with your father. However, it did not seem wise to take them into the walls."_

_"_ _You did right." Erran swept up his staff and turned to his son. "Ulias, go back to the village. Tell your mother that there might be trouble, and she should alert your grandfather. Tell her that strangers have arrived, and we are not sure of their intent."_

_"_ _But, Dad, I want to come with you," Ulias argued._

_Erran shook his head. "Not now. Right now, I need you to warn your mother, and get the people ready." He placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "These newcomers may be friends, but until that is certain, we can't risk the safety of the tribe. Please, go back and do as I have asked. By doing this, you are protecting our people far more than if you had come with me."_

_The boy looked like he was going to persist for a moment, but he let the tension go. "Alright," he said. "But one of these days, I'm going to help you in the fight."_

_"_ _Just as I did with my father," the older Dreamlander responded. "Now go."_

_As soon as he son was out of sight, Erran turned back to Turian. "Alright, show me where these strangers are, and I will speak with them._

_The strangers were not too far away. They were standing outside the largest ship-thing that Erran had ever seen, though he couldn't imagine what it was doing on land. Perhaps they had come over the Onion or Orange Oceans, but why they would have lugged their ship out of the water and put it on land was beyond him._

_That wasn't the only odd thing about the creatures. As the messenger had mentioned, they were clothed in metal. Each had a suit of armor covering its entire body, and had a helmet that encompassed the entire head. There were three eyeholes present in the mask, though the single gleaming eye peered out of only the middle one._

_Erran approached, bringing a handful of his companions from the fields with him. "Hello!" he called out in greeting. "My name is Erran, son of Iral. I welcome you to Dreamland."_

_One of the creatures marched up to him. It was impossible to read the strange creature's reaction to the greeting, due to the helmet. "You are not Chieftain Iral," the creature said. "We demanded to see chieftain Iral, not his offspring. You will bring the Bukiset to Chieftain Iral right now."_

_Erran was still in question over these creature's intents, but their response was not endearing. "I am the chieftain's eldest son," he explained. "It is the tradition of our people that any newcomers would meet with me, not with my father, until your intentions have been verified."_

_Several more of the metal clad people gathered with the one who had spoken and began chattering among themselves in a language he did not understand. Finally, the spokesman spoke again. "That tradition is illogical, and thus will be ignored. The demands of the Bukiset are superior to any superstition or tradition, and thus they will be disregarded."_

_"_ _Now, wait," Erran said, but he was cut off by the Bukiset spokesman._

_"_ _You will take us to Chieftain Iral now, whelp," he said, lifting his weapon. "If you resist, you will regret it."_

_Erran and his companions did not have all too much time to react. They attempted to lift their staves in self-defense, but since those were tools for farming, and not weapons, they were horribly outmatched. The battle was over in minutes._

_As he was bound, Erran looked over in dismay at his companions. Only a few were left. Some had been killed in the attack, and the rest, himself included, had been taken hostage, and were now bound together and were being dragged on-board the ship._

_"_ _What is to be done with the Chieftain's whelp and his companions?" one of the Bukiset asked._

_The person asked, probably the leader, glanced over at the captive Dreamlanders. "Take them back to the armada and put them on the slave block. They look strong; perhaps we can make a good amount of bit from them."_

_Erran's companions were all loaded into another cell, but he himself was locked in a solitary confinement chamber. The Dreamlander sunk to the floor in dismay. His only relief was that he had sent his son back in warning. His family and the rest of the tribe would have been able to shut the gates, and hopefully the walls would keep the foe out. His wife and children would be safe._

_His wife, Tabitha. Tears poured down his face as the thought that he was never going to see her, or Ulias, or the girls, ever again. Later, he would try to think of some way to try to escape. For the moment, though, all he could do was weep._

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"Hey! Mr. Curio! Open up!" Dedede knocked away at the museum door, which he had found to his dismay was locked tight upon his arrival. "I've got something to say to you! You'd better not be ignoring me!"

"Oh, good morning, Dedede," a cheerful voice called out.

"Huh?" The Pengu spun around, looking for whoever it was that had just addressed him.

"Up here." There, up in a nearby tree, sat Pitch. "Lovely day, isn't it?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Dedede responded in annoyance. He turned back to the museum door. "Hey, Curio! Come on out!"

"Oh, that won't do any good," Pitch said. "Mr. Curio left this morning, along with Ado and Adeleine, to go to that big palace that Meta Knight found. I think it's called Stormholt."

"What!" This was just too much for the pretender king to believe. "Meta Knight found a palace?!"

"Oh, yes," the bird responded. "Apparently, it's some sort of ancient Star Warrior palace, and there's quite a bit of historical information contained inside. Mr. Curio was invited over to document some of the artifacts, and to bring a couple back for the museum. Won't that be fascinating to see? It was very kind of the Star Warriors to make the donation."

Dedede, however, was still stewing over the surprise. "Why that no good dirty traitor! He finds a palace, and not only does he not tell me, he goes and starts setting up shop for himself. Why I ought ta…" he grumbled for a moment, unable to think of anything else to say. Finally, he turned back to Pitch. "Hey, bird! Where is that big, great palace thing?"

Pitch shrugged. "I can't say myself. Sir Meta Knight does not particularly want people just wandering around the fortress, so right now, Stormholt's location is on a need to know basis, and since I don't need to know, I don't know."

"Well, I need to be going," the little bird said as he launched himself into flight. "Have a nice day!" With that, he was off.

Dedede was far from finished. "Why that Meta Knight thinks he can one-up me? I'll show him. I'll find him, and that stupid stormy-whaty place, and tell 'im just what I think of his going off on his own."

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_It had been nearly a Star Year and a half. As could be expected, life had been incredibly hard for Erran. Once they had reached the Armada of the Bukiset, he and his companions had been sold as slaves. They were all sold apart, and he had yet to see any of them again._

_The Dreamlander, however, had not given in to the depression of his current state. From day one, he made it clear that his body might be enslave, but his spirit would not be broken. As a result, he ended up sold from master to master, since no one could figure out what to do with him. Both rewards and punishments were ineffective. His defiance just could not be crushed._

_Finally, he was sold to another Bukiset, a creature who Erran believe was named Alloymun. He was an oddball, even by Bukiset standards, keeping to himself and acting hostile to just about everyone. He was by no means kind to Erran, but the Dreamlander was given free rein to wander around his master's ship, provided work was done in the process._

_Erran took advantage of this by using this time to search out routes for escape. It was during one such scouting mission that he made an unexpected discovery._

_It had been several weeks after Erran had been brought into the household. A delivery have been made to the old house, a huge dome with some sort of cloth draped over it. The Dreamlander was certain he could hear sounds coming out of the shape, but his master was currently looking over it and ordering the robots that handled a lot of the work to take it up to the attic space on the ship, so he didn't have a chance to look at it. He doubted he'd ever get a chance when he was then given a long list of chores._

_However, when he went over what he was to do, he noticed an odd addition. At the end of the list were the works Feed the Orb. That had never been there before, but Erran couldn't help but feel that it had to have some sort of connection to the dome. Without hesitating, he worked his way through the other jobs so that he could figure out this mystery._

_When he came to that point, he retrieved a small bowl of pellets that were to go to the "orb," whatever that was. Moving up the stairs to the attic space, he braced himself for whatever the "orb" would turn out to be._

_When he made it up to the space, the room was dark, and he could hardly make it through the room without running into something. He could, however, see a pair of oblong, glowing yellow shapes. They faced him for a moment before vanishing. All the while, there was a prattling of a voice in a language he couldn't understand._

_All this stirred his curiosity even more, and the Dreamlander fumbled around in the darkness until he found a light switch. Upon discovering one, he flipped it, and the room was bathed in light._

_Now that the room was brightened, he could see what it was that he was facing. The dome itself had been a huge bird cage, and what lay within was one of the oddest creatures he had seen._

_It wasn't that Erran hadn't seen a Puffal before. Quite the contrary; the little ball-like creatures were an incredibly popular pet in the Bukiset empire, but this was the first time he had been allowed close enough to get a good look at one._

_This one was dark grey, and probably a male, considering his red cheeks. He had bright yellow eyes, which had been seen before in the darkness. He was also the source of the mumbling, as the Puffal had turned to face away from Erran and had been the one making that strange chant._

_Truth be told, the Dreamlander couldn't tell if Puffals were sapient or not, and this one's behavior wasn't helping all that much. However, he was desperate to have someone else to speak to, so he decided to take a chance._

_"_ _Uh, hi there," he called out. "Are you alright?"_

_The Puffal turned for a moment and looked at him, as if questioning whether or not to answer. Finally, he said what Erran assumed was a question. "Poyourene wahtahmi?"_

_"_ _I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," Erran said._

_The Puffal looked at him for a moment, as if trying to decide what move to make before turning away again._

_"_ _Okay, so it appears the language barrier might be a problem," the Dreamlander said, sitting down next to the cage. "Let's try this again." He pointed to himself, making large, exaggerated gestures. "I am called Erran. Erran."_

_The Puffal looked questioningly for a moment, before mimicking. "Erran?" he repeated in a heavily accented voice. "P'yahminate kayalu Erran?"_

_Erran had absolutely no idea what he was just asked, but the Puffal's gesturing didn't seem that far off from the kind common to Dreamlanders, so he decided to respond as best as he could. "Yes, that's it. My name is Erran."_

_"_ _Ahh," the Puffal responded with a nod. "Myeri poynami wahru. Poylali kayalu Metian." Here he pointed at himself. "Metian."_

_"_ _Metian," Erran repeated._

_Before anything else could be attempted, there was a loud cry. "Slave! Get down here now! The state of the brig area is unacceptable!"_

_Hearing the shout, the Dreamlander shook his head. "Well, Metian, it was nice to meet you. I wish this could be under better circumstances, but you had best get used to things. We're both going to be here for a long time."_

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Dedede snorted. His search was not going his way in the slightest. He had no idea where he might be able to find this new palace that Meta Knight had, or how he was going to get there. As such, he had decided to take a break on the looking for a while and had ran down to the restaurant to get something to eat.

Even though there were still a good amount of people around waiting for the festival to begin, the restaurant was rather empty at the moment. That suited the Pengu just fine; he wasn't in the mood to be rubbing elbows with a bunch of strangers.

"Why the long face, King Dedede?" Kawasaki asked. The chef had recently finished making the Pengu's meal, and since there really wasn't anyone else around, he took the moment to sit for a while.

"That stupid Meta Knight thinks he can go run off on his own, without trying to get my approval first. On top of it, he thinks he can get his own palace, and thinks it's better than mine, just because it's really big and old." Dedede took a sip of his root beer float. "Well, joke's on him. Nobody wants a crummy old hand me down palace anyway."

"Oh, I heard of that!" the chef exclaimed. "It's supposed to be full of all sorts of ancient artifacts and relics and stuff! Mr. Curio was going to check the place out to see what would be good to put in the museum! I can't wait to see all that stuff."

Dedede was about to grumble again, but at that moment, the phone rang. Kawasaki went over and answered. "Hello, this is Kawasaki speaking. My I take your order." He listened for a few moments. "Uh-huh, I've got all that, Mr. Mayor. I have everything cooked up and be over there in a jiffy." Taking up the order, he leaned into the kitchen. "Hey, Nago, we've got a big order from the mayor!"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," the cat responded, taking the order and setting to cooking. "Did you actually remember to ask where we'll be delivering it to this time?"

"Uhhhh," Kawasaki said in response. "He never mentioned it."

"Great," the cat could be heard groaning.

"Hey, I've never really _needed_ it before." Kawasaki crossed his arms. "I have some sort of fifth sense for these things."

"You mean sixth sense, right?" Nago asked. "You do know everyone already has five senses, right?"

"They do?" Kawasaki asked. "Huh, go figure. Well, I find them, anyway, and without too much problems."

As Dedede listened to the conversation, and idea clicked in his mind. That was right; no matter who ordered whatever, if they forgot to mention where they were, Kawasaki had some sort of knack for finding them. Maybe that power might even work if "Meta Knight" ordered something, and then he'd finally figure out where that palace was hidden.

As soon as Kawasaki went out on delivery, Dedede snuck out of the restaurant and pulled out his dPhone. He snickered at his own cleverness, certain he had figured out a foolproof plan.

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_Times got a bit better after meeting Metian. For a long time, there was a difficulty in communication, due to the fact that neither could perfectly understand the other, and what could be understood needed a heavy amount of pantomime. Eventually, however, Erran learned a certain amount of Metian's language, called Ponyan, and Metian picked up an amount of Dreamlandian, allowing them to speak a pidgin whenever they could meet._

_Not that those times were all too often, or very long when they did happen. Alloymun, their master, seemed determined to keep all his slaves running as fast as they could, almost without rest. For this reason, Erran had difficulty speaking with the other slaves, even if they were working together._

_As for Metian, their master seemed to get the idea that "Ink-Blot," as he called the unfortunate Puffal, was better off being left alone most of the time. As a result, he had even less time to communicate with anyone else._

_{"I haven't even been able to see any of my own in about three months,"} the Puffal said one day, when Erran had finally found the time to slip off. {"Especially not my wife, Celestina. I don't think I'll ever be allowed to see her, or our eggs, ever again."} Tears poured down his face, but he forced a smile as he spoke. {"They had just been laid, you know. Three of the most perfect eggs ever formed. Celli and I were so proud."}_

_{"If you don't mind me asking,"} Erran responded, {"why were you sold away?"}_

_{"My old master caught me fiddling around with small pieces of technology that I had discovered,"} the Puffal responded. {"I was trying to use it to figure out some way to escape. I just couldn't stand the idea of my Pups growing and being treated no better than animals."}_

_{"I know what you mean."} The Dreamlander man shuddered. {"It's bad enough that I was taken; I couldn't imagine what it would be like to see my son or daughters enslaved as well. I probably would have done the same."}_

_Metian gave a dry laugh. {"Yeah, look how much good that did. I got caught only a couple of days after I started. I got close, too. The electrical impulse blocker was working. If I had only had more time, we might have been able to have gotten away."}_

_This caught Erran's attention. {"Hey, do you think you could do that again?"}_

_{"Make the devices?"} Metian asked. {"Sure, if I could get my paws on the right parts. If you haven't noticed, though, I'm not exactly in the position where I'm going to be able get anything. Not at least continuously trapped in this cage."}_

_{"What if I got them for you?"} Erran asked._

_This took the Puffal by surprise. {"Do you think you could?"}_

_Erran laughed. {"You know master's temper. He's always flinging this or that around, smashing remotes, shattering the screens of computers, sending bits of metal and circuits everywhere. I have to toss out pieces of machine all the time. I'm sure I'd be able to swipe some of the less damaged pieces and get them up here every now and then."}_

_{"If you could do that, then I might be able to come up with a new impulse inhibiter, and we might have a chance at escape,"} Metian responded. {"But it would be risky."}_

_{"If it will get me the chance to see my family again, I can live with risky,"} Erran responded. {"So, what do you say?"}_

_{"I say I'm in,"} the Puffal responded. {"I'll start as soon as possible."}_

_To be continued…_


	76. The Hard Road to Freedom, Part Two

_To say things were going as planned would be a stretch, but, slowly and surely, the unexpected duo worked towards their goal of escape. As Erran had predicted, he didn't have all too hard a time getting the raw materials Metian needed, and occasionally was able to grab the odd tool to make the job easier. It was still slow going, though, so often, they two of them just had time to sit and talk._

_{"This would be so much easier if I could just copy the flame ability,"} Metian muttered one day while he was at work. {"Then I'd actually be able to do some proper welding."}_

_{"Huh? Copy?"} Erran asked. {"What do you mean?"}_

_{"Oh, I forgot,"} the grey Puffal laughed. {"I've really only talked with other Puffals, so I just assumed common knowledge. Well, I don't know if it's true or not,"} he went on, {"but there are legends that go around, and one of them is that, before the Bukiset came and took us away, us Puffals had the ability to inhale a variety of items, and when we would do that, we would gain the ability to defend ourselves with that item's defenses."}_

_The Dreamland smiled. {"Well, I'd imagine a power like that would really come in handy."}_

_{"You're telling me."} Metian laughed. {"I don't know if that was ever true, but I can say that, if it was, it makes sense that the Bukiset would do something to us to keep it away. Without that sort of ability, we really are helpless."}_

_{"I wouldn't say that,"} Erran replied with a shrug. {"After all, you really seem to have a knack with those mechanical devices. Me, I wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of them without a detailed explanation on what they do or how they work. You, however? In just the three weeks we've been working together, have been making this impulse blocker thingy, and with parts that were never even intended for that use. Furthermore, what couldn't go into that, you've utilized in other ways. You, my friend, are far from helpless."}_

_{"Maybe,"} his friend replied, {"but even if I made it out of here, I wouldn't be able to make it all that far, at least if they found out about me. I'm not much of a fighter."}_

_{"That's what I'm here for!"} Erran smirked. {"I might not have a lot of tech savvy, but I do know a thing or two about moving around unseen, and I'm not totally useless in a battle, if push comes to shove.}_

_{"I'll tell you what,"} he finished, {"I'll bet that's why we met. Individually, neither of us would really stand a chance of escaping, but together, there will be no one who could stop us."}_

_{"I sure hope you are right,"} Metian replied with a smile._

_{"Oh, I am."} Erran casually leaned back. {"Just you wait. Soon as the impulse thing is done, we'll be out of here so fast, no one will ever know what hit 'em, and we'll come back and get the others. Just you wait and see."}_

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"So, let me see if I got this right," Kawasaki said as he looked over his notepad. "You want sixteen cheeseburgers, extra mayo, ten large bottles of cola, five extra large value pizzas, and a chocolate cherry cake?"

"Yep," the voice over the phone answered. 'That is definitely what I, the really Sir Meta Knight, certainly wants."

"Well, Meta Knight, this isn't what you normally order, but alright." The chef finished up the order and handed it back to Nago.

"Yes, I'm having a big party at my new palace thing to celebrate…uh…stuff," the voice answered.

"Oh, that reminded me!" Kawasaki smiled, happy to have finally remembered to ask. "Where exactly are you? I'll need your location to make the delivery."

"Oh, where am I?" the caller repeated. "I'm…uh…I'm at…" There was a click sound, followed by beeping to signal that the caller had hung up.

"Huh, I guess he forgot," Kawasaki said with a shrug.

"Dang it, that was close," Dedede muttered. He'd almost been found out. Well, at least now he'd be able to use those weird powers Kawasaki had to figure out where Meta Knight was hiding out.

The Pengu waited a few minutes, allowing the two cooks enough time to prepare the food. When he heard doors opening and closing, he took it to mean that the food was ready and being loaded into the car, and he had better go to take his preparation.

"Well, Kawaski, ol' buddy, ol' pal," he called out. "Imagine meeting you here!"

"Uh, I work here," the chef pointed out.

"Quite right, you do," Dedede laughed. "Now, that looks like an awfully big load for you to be lugging around there. Where, may I ask, are you off to?"

"Oh, Sir Meta Knight called in and made this really big order," Kawasaki answered. "He's having a big party over at his new palace place, and he wanted me to bring in all the food."

"Huh, you don't say?" Dedede replied. "Well, isn't that a funny coinky-dink, I'm going to meet Sir Meta Knight right now! For that big party, too! Isn't that funny?" He laughed as if he had said the most hilarious thing in the world.

"Huh, yeah, I guess it is," Kawasaki responded.

"I'll tell you what," the Pengu said when he calmed down. "Since I'm going in that direction anyways, why don't I tag along and help you get all that food there?"

"I guess that would be alright," the caterer answered.

Dedede was quick to take his chance. "Alright, let's go then," he said, hopping into the car door.

As he watched the Pengu in motion, Kawasaki scratched his head. "Huh, he seems really excited. It must a really big party that's planned. Wonder why I didn't hear about it before." He shrugged. "Oh, well. Better get everything loaded and on the way."

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_As they had now been working on their plan of escape for a month now, both Metian and Erran were becoming anxious to get away. Every moment they did not finish was a moment they might get caught, and neither of them wanted to even think of that possibility. They had worked too hard to even consider giving up or giving in._

_However, the time they spent together did not go totally unnoticed. While their master, Alloymun, cared very little for what his slaves actually did, he was incredibly controlling over everything he owned. Erran was not incorrect in his belief that the destroyed machines were of little importance, but when tools started to disappear as well, and reappear within a few days, he took interest in what was going on. It didn't take long for him to catch up on a pattern._

_"_ _So, Dreamlander scum," the Bukiset murmured as he watched the security tape. "You are the reason for those disappearances and reappearances. You are up to something. But what?"_

_Pondering over his slave's odd behavior,_ __Alloymun_ flicked between camera and camera, day and day, trying to pick up on Erran's behavior._

_That was when he noticed it. Every time something was taken, and every time something was returned, there was a connection to that Puffal he had bought. In fact, even when the Dreamlander did not take something, he seemed to come in and out of the pet's cage quite often._

_Realization came to the Bukiset hard. He remembered a warning he had received when he had purchased the Puffal. That this creature was quite clever, and he been sold away by his previous master for tampering with electronic devices in an attempt to escape. That was why he had been confined to a single room, and within a cage._

_The Dreamlander, however, was stupid and primitive, which is why he had been permitted to wander the building to do the menial chores. He had assumed that even with this sort of exposure, the Dreamlander would never be anywhere near intelligent enough to concoct a plan of escape, strong though he may be._

_If he ran into the Puffal, however, that was a different matter. The Puffal was clever, which would mean it would be child's play for him to manipulate the Dreamlander into doing his bidding. Between the two of them, a breakout was a likely occurrence, and one that would have to be snuffed out without wait._

_Picking up a communicator, he pressed a button. "Hello, is Trianiden there?" When a call to the affirmative came, he gave a satisfied smirk. "Good. Tell him to send some of his Starmen over."_

_It had been early evening that day when Erran and Metian could finally meet up. They were so close to their plan coming to fruition that there was a definite air of excitement. Thus, they couldn't help but indulge in discussing the folklore of their various tribes._

_{"And it was because of her actions that my people often have yellow eyes,"} Metian finished as he set to some of the fine tuning of one the secondary devices. {"It was said that Leopas still hates the descendants of Miriella to this day, but because of what she did, there's nothing he can to us."}_

_{"That's quite the tale," Erran responded. "Reminds me of the story of Drissanne, the Warrior Princess who drove off the Dread King of-"} He cut himself off when he noticed something odd. {"Hey, can you hear that?"}_

_{"Hear what?"} Metian asked._

_{"There's some commotion going on outside."} The Dreamlander hopped up onto several boxes to reach a window in an attempt to get a look outside. {"Hey, there are several newcomers at the door."}_

_{"What do they look like?"} the Puffal asked._

_{"Weird,"} came the answer. {"They are these yellow creatures who kind of look like stars wearing capes."}_

_"_ _Poyaia kelmonsapha," Metian said in fright, slipping back into his native Ponyan._

_{"A little clarification, please,"} Erran said. {"Remember, there are a lot of words in Ponyan that I still don't quite understand."}_

_{"I'll explain later,"} the Puffal answered in a hasty manner. {"Right now, can you hear what they are talking about?"}_

_{"Let me see."} Erran leaned a little out of the window to get a listen in. {"Uh oh. That can't be good."}_

_{"What is it?"} Metian asked. {"Are they speaking about us?"}_

_{"Yeah,"} his companion responded. {"How did you guess?"}_

_{"Because those things are Starmen,"} came the quick response. {"See if you can't block the door off with something, and I'll explain."}_

_{"Alright."} Erran searched around the room for something large and heavy to block the door with. Locating a huge, heavy chest, he ran over and shoved it hard. It took several such blows, but before long he was able to knock it over onto its side, sending it sprawling across the doorway. {"There, that should keep them out for a good amount of time. Now, what's going on?"}_

_Metian sighed. {"I have never discussed this before because it is a topic that is rather shameful to us Puffals, but it seems that now I don't really have too much of a choice."} He sat down and raised his right hoof. On the bottom, there was a scar, like a brand, in the shape of a star. {"Upon our hatching, all of us Puffals are given this mark by the Starmen,"} he explained. {"It has the twofold purpose of marking us as slaves, as well as making it clear that we are powerless. However, after that marking is left, the Starmen don't really have much to do with us ever again, except in the case that a slave has been chosen to die."}_

_{"Let me guess,"} Erran said, realizing where this was going. {"Those things I saw outside were Starmen?"}_

_The grey Puffal nodded. {"Indeed, and if they were discussing us, that means that they could only be here for one reason."}_

_{"Here,"} Metian said, handing several devices to Erran through the bars. {"Take these and get as far away from here as possible. There are some escape pods outside of the ship's apartment complex; take one and get back home."}_

_{"What about you?"} Erran responded. {"From the sounds of things, you're more in danger from those things that I am."}_

_{"Perhaps, but I am still trapped in this cage."} The Puffal looked at his friend sadly. {"There's no way we both get out in time."}_

_Hearing the ergency in Metian's voice but unwilling to leave his friend behind, Erran searched for something, anything, that might be of assistance. Finding a broken hammer which had been discarded, he smirked. {"Like the pit, there is."} He grabbed it and swung hard, striking the lock on the cage._

_That did the trick. The blow was hard enough to completely demolish the lock, which fell of the cage with a clunk. Now unrestrained, the cage door creaked open._

_For a moment, Metian could only look on the door with shock. While he had been intending to escape, the sudden realization that he could now leave of his own volition was rather overwhelming. He might have just stood there for hours if it hadn't been for Erran._

_{"Come on!"} the Dreamlander shouted, taking Metian's paw and taking off running. Just in time, as well, as the moment they climbed up to the window, there was the sound of footsteps racing up to the attic._

_{"Looks like our activities have finally been noticed,"} Erran said, half guiding, half carrying the still stunned Metian up to the window. {"We'd better get out of here now."}_

_{"Oh, right!"} Metian exclaimed, finally coming too. {"Just let me grab something."} He raced back to the cage and quickly snatched up several paw-fulls of several devices he'd been working on. These he shoved into a nearby cloth and tied it around his body. {"These will come in handy."} he said as he rejoined Erran up by the window._

_By now, their enemy had reached the door and was pounding on it. "Slave!" a voice shouted out. "This is the Captain of the Starmen! Open up this door and succumb to your fate! It will be much easier on you if you do so!"_

_Erran didn't bother responding. Instead, he heaved the hammer through the window, which shattered on contact. As soon as they had a way out, the Dreamlander and Puffal leaped through._

_The sound of smashing glass seemed to get it through to their enemies that it was an escape, and not a siege, that they were dealing with. Nearly a moment after the duo had made it out of the broken window, the Starmen opened fire._

_Thankfully, by that time, the duo had already made it out and hit the ground outside the apartment. In the other Bukiset apartment, a variety of creatures gathered to see what was going on. The Bukiset raced, trying to get someone to catch the escaped slaves, while those still captive cheered, thrilled that at least two of their number had a chance at freedom._

_One again, all of this might have overwhelmed Metian if it hadn't been for Erran. "Let's go!" Erran shouted, forgetting that Metian couldn't understand strict Dreamlander. Not that it mattered, really. The message came through loud and clear as the much larger Dreamlander picked the Puffal up and ran off._

_All around them, lights and alarms blared as all the Starmen that could be called up to catch them were. {"Alright,"} Erran said, glancing up at Metian, {"where do we go to get to those escape pods you were telling me about?"}_

_{Oh, yeah!"} Metian shouted over the noise. {"Go right, then head down the first set of stairs you find. That should take us right to them!"}_

_{"Got it!"} The warrior took off as fast as he could in the way he was directed. Thankfully, it appeared that all the Starmen had been called up to the main area, so their way was mostly unbarred. However, they could not afford to take a wrong turn, since it appeared that the last step they took was soon over-flooded with their foe._

_Thankfully, they were able to make it to their destination, but there was one last obstacle in their path. {"No!"} Erran exclaimed when he saw the huge metal doors barring their way. {"We're locked out!"}_

_It was now Metian's turn to give a smug smile. {"No we're not."} He snatched one of the orbs out of his pack and, pressing a button on the top, set it down. He then grabbed Erran's hand and pulled him a distance off._

_Before Erran could ask what was going on, the orb exploded, sending heat and fragments of metal everywhere. The duo had made it far enough away that they were not hurt, but there was now a gaping hole in the door wide enough to let them pass through._

_Seeing the door open, the duo raced as fast as they could, jumping into the first available ship. {"Hold them off us, and I can get us going!"} Metian called, shoving the satchel of explosives to Erran. He then swung into the ship's controls and started up._

_Erran grinned, selecting explosive after explosive, which he flung at their enemies. Neither the Bukiset nor the Starmen expected the slaves to be armed, or have any idea about how to work a ship, so they were unaware of how to handle this course of action._

_There was one last measure they could take, though. As the ship was reaching the exiting point, they closed off both the doors to the dock and the launch pad. {"They're closing us off!"} Metian called out. {"If we can't get out, we'll be caught!"}_

_{"Not today, we won't,"} Erran responded with a grin. {"Open up the top of the ship and aim for that big window!"}_

_{"But we'll be exposed!"} Metian responded._

_{"Just trust me!"} came the response. {"I've got a plan!"}_

_Metian sighed, but took his friend's word for it. He lifted the cover and change his aim, just as directed._

_Erran, taking his role, pressed as many buttons on the explosives as he could, loaded them back into the satchel, and flung the whole thing at the window, before ducking back undercover. That did the trick; the window was shattered, and everything not behind the safety door were sucked out into the void of space._

_As they flew out in space, Metian quickly flipped on the cloaking device for the ship, making it hard for their opponents to locate them._

_{"We did it!"} the Puffal laughed. {"We made it out! We're free!"}_

_{"We sure are!"} Erran responded with a broad grin. {"Next stop, Pop Star and Dreamland!"}_

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"After that, we plan on expanding out so that we connect up with the grocery store," Kawasaki finished as he drove along. He and Dedede had been on the road now for about five hours, and the chef had been talking his head off for every single second of it.

"Yeah, yeah, that's nice," the Pengu grumbled, becoming intensely regretful of his decision now. "Are you sure we're headed in the right direction? We've been at this for a long time."

"My gut tells me this is where Meta Knight is," the chef answered. "My gut has never lied to me before, so I'm sure we're on the right track!"

"Has your gut ever told you to lay off on the lemon squares?" Dedede muttered under his breath, but his complaint went completely unnoticed.

Kawasaki started to drone on again, so the self-proclaimed king instead turned to the window and began to imagine just what sort of palace Meta Knight must have now. _Well,_ he thought to himself, _I already know it's big. It must also be ornate, and full of all sort of goodies. Why else would Meta Knight keep it all to himself?_ His mind then went to the future: seeing himself charging in, and Meta Knight getting all flustered and upset because he wanted to keep this new palace a secret. Of course, Dedede would forgive him, provided that the new place is set up to move into immediately, and that blue ball never hide such a thing again.

Dedede was still smirking over his fantasy that he almost missed it when Kawasaki called out to him. "Sire, we're here."

"Huh, what did you say?" the Pengu asked, shaking himself awake.

"I said we're here," Kawasaki responded. He was already starting to unload the van. "This is where my gut says Meta Knight is."

"We are? Alright!" Dedede shot out of the van, fully prepared to see some sort of huge mansion, with walls, and buttresses, and whatever else went on a proper palace. What he did see was not exactly what he was expecting.

"A mountain!" he exclaimed in an annoyed tone of voice. "No, I take that back! A lot of mountains and nothing but mountains! What are we doing here?"

"I told you already," the chef said calmly. "This is where Meta Knight is, so we need to be here if we're going to get him his orders."

"But these are mountains, and they go in all directions!" Dedede went on. "Where's a big palace thingy supposed to go when all you have is mountains as far as the eye can see?"

"I really don't know, to tell you the truth," Kawaski responded with a shrug, "but this is where my gut is telling me we have to be, so I suppose it's right." He pulled a cart out of the van and loaded the food onto it. "We'd better get moving if we hope to find where the door is hidden." With that, he trekked off, following his gut instinct.

Dedede glared after the chef, but not wanting to be left alone in the strange wilderness, followed him anyway. "Whatever ya found had better be worth this, Meta Knight," he grumbled under his breath.

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_The thrill of their sudden freedom energized the duo's flight from the Bukiset's primary lair. It didn't take them too long to make it away from the main fleet. They combination of the cloaking signal combined with the sheer speed and erratic flight pattern made them difficult to follow, so it wasn't too hard a feat to get away._

_Once they had reached a good distance off, they realized that they did have a problem. {"So,"} Metian said, speaking over his shoulder, {"where exactly is Pop Star?"}_

_{"It's…well…it's,"} Erran answered, trying desperately to figure out where they needed to go. {"Uh, I actually don't know. I've never left the planet before. That won't be too much of a problem, though. We'll need to land to get some supplies soon, anyways. Once we land, we'll ask around and see if anyone has any idea where we'll need to go. After all, it's rather hard to miss a planet shaped like a giant yellow star. Someone is bound to know where we need to go."}_

_{"I suppose so,"} the Puffal responded with a nod. {"Speaking of that, what do we have in the way of bartering?"}_

_{"I'll go take a look at the supplies,"} the Dreamlander replied. He slipped into the back to take a look at what was packed up. {"It looks like we'll be fine in the ways of defense. There are multiple knives back here, along with several energy spears and blasters. We should keep some of these to protect ourselves, but most of these could go in the way of food and other supplies."}_

_{"Speaking of food,"} Metian asked, {"how are we looking at that area?"}_

_{"Not as good, I'm afraid."} Erran rifled through the small satchel of food. {"The rations are mostly dry, hard travel cakes. They'll be filling, but nothing really in the way of taste. There's water, too, and enough to last for several days. We'll need to land and see where we can replenish as soon as possible. Are we too far away from anywhere like that?"}_

_{"Actually, we're pretty near one such area."} Metian pressed several buttons on the ship's panel as he directed its course. {"There's an underground trading ring located on a resort belt called Orion's Gate. We'll have to be careful, though. The areas of legitimate business won't trade with us with the items we have, and the shadier underground sections are commonly visited by the Bukiset."}_

_{"We will just have to be as stealthy as possible then."} The Dreamlander smiled. {"I'll bring along this blaster, just in case, but if we play our cards right, we should come out of this just fine."{_

_{"I'm glad you think so."} Metian logged in the destination before turning the ship to autopilot. {"We had better have some of those supplies and then try to get some rest. The ship will wake us as soon as we reach Orion's Gate."}_

_In response, Erran tossed the Puffal one of the travel cakes before selecting one for himself. {"Cheers, then," he laughed. "Tonight we feast like Bukiset troops!"} He took a bite out of his before making a face and forcing himself to swallow the bite. {"Ugh,"} he murmured. {"If this is what they eat themselves, it's no wonder they're such charming personalities."}_

_To be continued…_


	77. The Hard Road to Freedom, Part Three

_Orion's Gate was all a bustle, as it usually was. The resort city was based around an asteroid belt where a variety of hot springs had been discovered. Because it didn't belong to any planet in specific, the resorts that were located there were not bound to one season or another, and thus were free to run their business year round. As such, any race that had access to space travel often flocked to the area, either to set up their own business or to enjoy the wares from all over the universe._

_For a Dreamlander such as Erran, who was not used to seeing much that was from outside his own culture, the experience was amazing and somewhat overwhelming. To see so many people from all over the universe was unthought of. The only disappointment was that he did not see any people of his own kind._

_There weren't many people of Metian's kind, either, he noticed, though that didn't stop some of the merchants from understanding Ponyan. This was a help, as it meant that Metian was able to handle most of the bartering, as well as ask around if anyone knew where Pop Star was located. Unfortunately, it appeared that no one had any idea. Thus, they were as lost as they were before, though they at least did have better food._

_{"What did you call this again?"} Erran asked as he scooped several blue pips out of a thick skinned fruit. The pips were very sweet, and had kind of a chill to their taste._

_{"Mintelline,"} Metian answered. "It's one of the more popular fruits grown around the springs. I was able to get several crates of those. They tend to come at better prices in bulk, considering they last longer than most fruits."_

_{"These sure beat those nasty travel cakes."} Erran licked a few drops of the mintelline juice off of his fingers before taking a bite out of another dish, some sort of meat wrapped in a slightly salty bun._

_{"We got some use out of those, too."} Metian chuckled as he finished off a piece of his own fruit, a green skinned melon with a purple meat on the inside. {"Who knew Wotariam minstrels consider those to be delicacies? Remind me never to accept any offers of food from over there."}_

_{"They make good cloth, though."} Erran brushed a finger over the brown cloak he was now wearing. {"It's soft and light, but I don't think I've felt anything quite so warm before."}_

_{"We've had a good day bargaining. It's too bad we haven't found out anything about our way back home."} The Puffal leaned back against the wall. {"It would have been nice to have an idea how long this is going take."}_

_Erran smiled. {"Oh, it won't be long. Before you know it, we'll be headed back to get your family, with the rest of Dreamland behind us."}_

_Metian smiled. {"I have no doubt, my friend. Your home sounds beautiful; I cannot wait to see it for myself."}_

_Before anything else could be said, there came the sound of a commotion. There was arguing, and some sort of struggle. Whatever was going on, it was loud and happening close by._

_{"What is that?"} Erran asked. {"I thought no one was around."} He jumped up on a nearby rock and peered out. {"Uh-oh, trouble's come to call."}_

_{"What's going on?"} Metian asked, joining his friend at the look out._

_Sure enough, not more than fifty feet away, was a troop of five Bukiset and two hostage, two odd bird-like creatures that the duo had never seen before._

_One of them was a pink female bird who feathers were edged in green. She was wearing an aviator's cap that had a tuft of orange feathers coming out the front. Three of the captors were struggling with chains which were wrapped around her, trying to keep her from flying off. It was pretty clear that she wasn't going to submit to captivity without a fight._

_The other hostage, an odd penguin-like creature with a large beak, was ground bound and held captive by the remaining two guards. Despite this, he was very encouraging to his friend. "That's it, Tareeni, old girl!" he called out to her. "Give them a fight they won't forget anytime soon!"_

_"_ _I'm trying to, Bertrand!" the female, Tareeni, called back. "If you haven't noticed, it's rather difficult to fly when they keep throwing chains at my wings!"_

_Once they had seen what was going on, Metian and Erran dodged back behind the cover. {"We've got to do something,"} Erran muttered under his breath. {"We just escaped from those monsters; we can't just sit back and watch as they enslave others."}_

_{"We are in agreement there, my friend,"} Metian said in response. {"What can we do, though? There are only two of us, and there are four of them."}_

_{"Yes, that's the trouble, isn't it?"} The Dreamlander rubbed his chin as he looked down over the amount of supplies they currently had. {"Hmm. We've got several blasters and two knives each; the rest of the weapons we traded away for supplies."}_

_Metian scanned what they had, and then he smiled. {"You know what, I think I have it!"} He leaned in and whispered his plan to Erran, just in case someone was listening in. {"How does that sound?"} he asked when he had finished._

_Erran flashed a grin. {"I think it sounds like a plan. We'll have to hurry, though,"} he added, peering back at the struggle. {"It doesn't look like they have too much time."}_

_{"Then we had best not waste what little we have,"} the Puffal responded, picking up what supplies he would need._

_{"I couldn't have said it better myself."} Erran grinned, picking up his own tools and hurrying off to follow his friend's plan._

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"Kawasaki, how much longer are we going to have to walk?!" Dedede whined as he walked through the mountain pass. "It's been hours! My feet are sore, and there's heat everywhere, and who knows what's lurking out here! These conditions are unbearable!"

"But sire," Kawasaki pointed out, "it's only been about ten minutes, and we can still see the van from here." He pointed out a short distance off. Sure enough, the van was not only visible from where they were standing, but had someone tossed a rock, it could have shattered the window.

"Well, it felt like hours, what with all the rough terrain we have to transvesticate." He crossed his arms and frowned. "I demand to know why you brought us out this way."

"I already told you, Dedede," the chef responded. "This is where Meta Knight asked me to bring the order; I can just tell. I can always tell where my orders are supposed to go." He turned and began walking through some of the grass. "In fact, we're supposed to go even further into the mountains, but that was where the road ended."

"Ya mean we're going to have to climb these mountains!?" Dedede was aghast. "That's it! I'm dead! They're going to find my poor sun-bleached bones out here!"

"No one asked you to come," Kawasaki grumbled under his breath. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to figure out just where I'm going to."

"Oh, if only there was some sort of shortcut!" the Pengu declared dramatically, flopping a wing over his face and leaning against a tree. When he leaned, however, there was a loud creak as something gave way under his weight. A panel opened up in the tree, and Dedede plummeted shoulder first underground.

"Hey, good job, your highness!" Kawasaki declared as he leaned into the opening. "You found a shortcut! And one that's bound to be cooler that walking out here in the sun."

Dedede scowled as he straightened up and brushed the cobwebs off of his clothes. "Goody for me," he grumbled.

Soon, the chef had joined him down in the tunnel. "Now that we've found this passageway, I'm sure we'll be there in no time," the companion chirped.

"We had better," Dedede responded. "I'm not one for caves."

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_"_ _Go! You all need to go!" The wail went up, startling the Bukiset guards as they struggled with the prisoners. "Go! I am-we are- unclean!"_

_One of the guard, who was the commanding officer, turned to look for whoever it was that was talking. "Who's there?"_

_"_ _Oh!" the wail continued. "Go! Go, unless you want to share in my-our- fate!"_

_"_ _If you are trying to pass yourself off as a ghost, you are merely making a fool of yourself," the captain called out. "The Bukiset have long evolved past such petty superstitions. Now, show yourself, or my men will be forced to seek you out and terminate you."_

_"_ _I am-we are- no ghost! If only that were the case!" the voice cried out. "Then maybe I-we- would be at peace! But since you wish to see me-us- then I-we will come out!" Once this was said, figures emerged from the shadows. It was two creatures, and they both appeared to be covered head to toe in mud. They were heavily cloaked and moving slowly and haltingly. As they moved, they wailed, and their words mingled in a blood-chilling unison._

_"_ _Uh, what are those things?!" one of the Bukiset underlings called out._

_"They're_ _disgusting!" another yelled._

_"_ _Now you see why I was- we were- warning you!" the shorter of the two cried out. "Once I was- we were- individual people, before the blight came! Now you see what has become of me-us!" The lower head never let up its moan, and the upper one joined in before continuing. "Go! Go now, unless you wish to end up like me- us!"_

_Without hesitation, the Bukiset dropped the chains and fled as fast as their feet would take them. It wasn't too long before they were out of earshot._

_Meanwhile, however, the sudden shock of being released cause the Penguin creature to fall flat on his face. His flying ally was more fortunate in her getaway, and she wheeled around in an attempt to defend him. "Now, go away you!" she called out, swooping at the figure. "We didn't bother you, don't you be bothering us!"_

_"_ _Peace, my friend," the figure suddenly called out in a tone very different from the one he had been using. "We mean you no harm, nor will there be any problem." Then both cleaned off the mud from themselves, revealing two perfectly whole individuals._

_"_ _We'll, I'll be!" the male bird said in astonishment. "These people are perfectly fine, and one of the chaps is a Puffal! No one, excepting Mrs. Birdee, has seen one of those in ages!"_

_"_ _I'm sorry we startled you," Metian said, holding up a paw, "but we had to figure out some way to get rid of those guards. My name is Metian, and this is my companion, Erran. I'm afraid he can't speak this language, though, so I'll have to translate."_

_Hearing his name, Erran smiled and held out his hand. {"Pleased to meet you,"} he said in his and Metian's pidgin, and the Puffal translated._

_"_ _Pleased to meet you both as well," the male bird said as his female companion landed next to him. "I am Bertrand the Composer, famed Pengi writer of music, poems, and grand theatrical numbers! This is my companion, Tareeni Windwing, aerialist extraordinaire! Both of us are members of Big Birdee's Flying Performance Troop. Perhaps you have heard of us?"_

_Metian turned and translated the question to Erran, who shook his head in response. Turning back to the birds, the Puffal shrugged. "I'm afraid, not, sir, but I neither of us have had much exposure to traveling groups."_

_"_ _Don't worry about it," the Birdon, Tareeni, said with a laugh. "We're not nearly as famous or important as Bertrand makes us out to be. He's got delusions of grandeur sometimes."_

_"_ _I resent that remark!" the Pengi responded in a huff, quickly crossing his arms. "We may not have performed at as many places as larger circuses, but certainly the word of our great skill has gotten out!"_

_"_ _I really meant no offense," Metian put in. "It's just that I spent most of my life as a prisoner of the Bukiset, and this is Erran's first time off his world."_

_"_ _Wait, you were the captive of those tin heads?" Tareeni asked. "It was very brave of you to come to our rescue like that, then. I wish there was some way we could repay you."_

_Metian turned and translated what was said to Erran. {"Maybe you can,"} Erran responded. {"Do you have any idea where Pop Star is located? We've been trying to figure out a way there"}_

_When the Puffal had translated the question, Bertrand grinned. "Pop Star! Why, we were just there a couple of weeks back! Good people, the Dreamlandians! I just wish I could understand what they were saying."_

_"_ _Only Big Birdee, the head of our troop, really speaks any of the Dreamlander language," Tareeni explained. The Birdon touched a wing to her beak. "We'll have to speak with her, but I don't think it will be any problem to give you a lift."_

_"_ _You will help us? Oh, thank you!" Metian exclaimed cheerfully. He translated the answer to Erran, who also expressed his gratitude._

_"_ _Come along then," Bertrand called as he and Tareeni lead the way. "The ship is this way. We'll need to give you a formal introduction, but that won't be too much of an issue."_

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"Oh, isn't this amazing!" Kawasaki exclaimed as he and Dedede wandered down the mountainous passageway. "This place must have been here for millennia, but the whole thing has really good upkeep! I mean, look at those torches. The crystal surrounding it causes the light to be expanded and refracted! Whoever made this place up did a really good job."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Dedede grumbled. He had to acknowledge that the passageway was well designed and beautiful. Too beautiful; it made everything in his own palace look cheap. For someone who took an intense amount of pride in how lavish and grandiose his own home was, that was a hard blow. "Do you think we're almost there?"

The chef nodded. "I think so. I can kind of see a light at the end of the tunnel over there. Something tells me that's also where I'm supposed to bring all this food."

"Well come on then!" the Pengu exclaimed, picking up the pace to a speed that most would have assumed impossible. "Let's go!"

Sure enough, what had been spotted was indeed the exit to the tunnel, and as they left, they came out into a large corridor. All around, there were caves leading to tunnels such as the one they just existed, and each was facing a giant stone gateway with the images of two large stars carved into the front. The wall enclosed something even bigger, but from their vantage point, they couldn't really see what it was.

"Hey, look over there!" Kawasaki called out. "There's a little door over there. We'll probably have an easier time being heard over there." With that, he wandered over to the smaller oak door and knocked. "Hello?" he called out. "Delivery!"

As Dedede wandered over to join him, the door was opened by a reddish brown Boxin. She seemed to be on the younger side of things. "Oh, hello," the Boxin said. "I don't think we ordered any food."

"I've got an order here placed by Sir Meta Knight for some sort of party," the chef explained. "I just need to bring it in."

"I don't think they're supposed to be a party," the Boxin repeated. "Just wait here while I go get someone who will know what to do." With that, she shut the door and hurried off.

It wasn't long, though, when she returned with Sword and Blade in tow. "Here they are, Sirs," she said, motioning to the two newcomers. "They arrived here saying Sir Meta Knight ordered a load of food, and I wasn't quite sure what to do with them."

When the two knaves saw who it was, they got a good idea of what was going on. "You did right in getting us, Aruxi," Sword responded. "We can take it from here."

"Alright," the young Boxin replied. "See you later!" She then rushed off to continue her work.

Turning to the duo, Blade rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Dedede."

"Oh, he came here to attend Sir Meta Knight's castle warming party!" Kawasaki exclaimed. "That's why I brought all this food. I'm sorry this is over a half-hour late, so I guess this all is free. Where do you want me to put it?"

Sword and Blade cast glances at each other. They both knew very well that Meta Knight had not placed any such order, and they now had a good idea of who had. However, they decided it would be best to allow their master to straighten everything up.

"Here, Kawasaki," Blade responded, "You can come with me. We've got a lot of people working to restore the old place, so I'm sure the food will be well enjoyed."

"Oh, good!" the chef exclaimed. "My back was starting to kill me."

As they walked off, Dedede turned to follow. However, Sword caught him by the sleeve. "Ah-ah," the teen said, shaking his head. "You're coming to have a word with Sir Meta Knight," he said in a scolding tone of voice. "I don't know what you did, but he's going a want a full explanation."

"Can't we get some of the grub first?" he asked, recognizing to his dismay the sheer number of Puffals running around. "That stuff's going to be gone in seconds!"

"You should have thought of that before you came up with a scheme to find a private base," came the curt response. "Now come on. We had best not keep him waiting."

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_Metian and Erran followed their new friends closely, not wanting to get separated in the busy city that was Orion's Gate. Thankfully, there trip was not very long, and most of the way did not require travel through most of the bustling areas of the city. Thus, it wasn't long before they arrived at the ship of Big Birdee's Flying Performance Troop._

_The duo couldn't help but be mystified by the sheer size of the ship. It was huge and tent-like, encompassing an area large enough to house the performances. Seeing this, Erran leaned over to Metian. {"How do they fly in a monster like that?"} he asked._

_"_ _I bet you're wondering how we get around considering the size of our ship," Tareeni commented, as if she could understand the question. "The truth of the matter is that, at this size, the metal is incredibly thin. That's so when we have a performance there is room for the crowds to come in and observe. When we are packed up and ready to travel to our next destinations, the panels fold in and pull back to a more conservative size."_

_As they wandered into the tent, Metian translated this to Erran, who looked on in amazement at the mechanical creation. {"Man, there's nothing like this on Pop Star,"} he said with a laugh. {"Of course, there nothing like any of the tech I've seen out here on Pop Star."}_

_{"Maybe, but there will be freedom,"} Metian responded._

_As they stepped into the tent, they were greeted by amazing sights. All around were birds of many varieties. There were a lot of Birdon of many colors, but there were other types, too, all soaring through the sky in a variety of geometric patterns. On the ground stood a veritable orchestra of Pengi and all of them were holding instruments of some variety._

_One of the Pengi, realizing they were there, rushed over. "Mr. Bertrand, Mr. Bertrand, there you are!" he shouted out, waving his viola and bow in either wing. "We've all been waiting for you to begin practice. Where have you and Ms. Tareeni been?"_

_"_ _We ran into a bit of trouble with some mechanical chaps out in the more deserted areas," the composer responded. "Not to worry though. We made it out of everything just fine, with this assistance of these good fellows here." He motioned towards the duo of newcomers. "These are Metian the Puffal and Erran the Dreamlander. They need to have an audience with Big Birdee herself."_

_"_ _That's good," a male Birdon called out, "because she's been wanting a word with you two, what with wandering off before a major practice."_

_"_ _That wasn't our fault," Tareeni snapped. "There's only so much you can do when you're getting kidnapped!"_

_In all this, Metian and Erran could only just stand still in amazement. They had never seen or heard anything quite like this before, and they had someone of an awestruck amazement. As such, it came as a shock when they were summoned._

_"_ _Come on," Tareeni said, taking a hand each. "Big Birdee's called us in, and we don't want to keep her waiting." With that, they followed close behind her, hoping beyond hope that they troop would be able to help them get home._

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"But I don't wanna!" The reading was suddenly interrupted by the cry that came from outside the room. Everyone present looked up in surprise to see as Sword came in, practically dragging Dedede behind him.

"Too bad," the knave responded. "Stormholt's location was a secret for a reason. Since you couldn't leave well enough alone, now you'll need to discuss this all with Sir Meta Knight and Sir Ebrum."

"Wait a minute! Sir Ebrum's here too!" Dedede was shocked by this revelation. "The next thing you'll be telling me is that the Waddle Dees are moving here, too! This is an outrage you here!"

"Sword," Meta Knight asked, turning to the knave. "What is going on here?"

"This scoundrel came up with the bright idea of tricking Kawasaki into thinking you ordered food so that he could figure out where Stormholt was," the knave answered. "The odd thing is it worked. What do you want me to do with him, sirs?"

The look on all adults present was the same: utter annoyance. "Dedede," Meta Knight said, his eyes tinged with red, "why did you think it was acceptable to engage in trickery to find the location of a place that was none of your business?"

"I…uh…well…wanted to," the Pengu responded.

Sir Ebrum sighed. "Did it ever dawn on you there might be a reason you were not invited in on the secret?"

"Well, not a _good_ one," Dedede replied. "After all, this is in Dreamland, and all of Dreamland is my business."

"Is Tiramisu City?" Meta Knight asked, a sarcastic tone in his voice. "How about Raisin Ruins? I'm sure you're calling the shots in Vegetable Valley."

"Uh, yeah, about that…" Dedede began, but found he could not come up with any explanation.

"And to make matters worse, you've wasted time, energy, and money by tricking Kawasaki into coming with you," the Puffal added. "Now, to start with, you are going to go down and assist Kawasaki in doing the dishes and getting all his supplies packed and put away. Once that is done, we will discuss things further."

"You're not the boss of me," Dedede grumbled, but he quickly retracted the statement when he saw the knight's eyes glowing red. He then rushed out to do as he was told.

"Now that's done," Tuff said, "let's get back to the story."

"Actually, that is where we are going to be leaving off for now," Sir Ebrum replied, rolling the scroll back up.

There was a loud cry of protest from the younger listeners, but Meta Knight raised his hand to quiet them down. "He's right," the knight said. "It is growing late. We had best head down for supper."

Any protest was drowned out by the single piercing cry of joy. "Yay!" Kirby cheered. "Supper!"

"Indeed," Meta Knight chuckled. "We shall all have some supper, and then go to bed. We'll need to get back to work on Stormholt tomorrow if we expect to get back to the village in time for festivities."

"All just make sure these are stored in a safe area until we are ready to go back to translating them," Mr. Curio said, gathering together the scrolls that lay out on the table. "You all run ahead. I'll catch up in a while."

There was no need to prompt twice, and everyone headed down to the kitchens to see what food had been set out for dinner.

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A dark figure stood on a tree limb not too far away from Stormholt. "Just you wait, Meta Knight," the figure said darkly. "I will face you again in single combat, and this time, only one of us will come out alive."

To be continued…


	78. The Dark Wings of Revenge, Part One

The bright morning was warm and inviting, which was a strong benefit, considering that there were still work to be done around Stormholt. All around, creatures of every shape and size were running about to and fro, mopping this, painting that, spackling over here, painting over there. They were coming closer and closer to completion, but there was still a bit to be done.

As such, most of the adults were busy, but it was not the case for the little ones. The Puffalings especially were enjoying themselves, since for the first time they had playmates who were around the same age as themselves. They had bonded especially with their Boxin cousins, Marcious, Xiandra, Joailin, Sandro, and Hectoria. At that moment, the band of cousins was running up the stairs of the main wall of Stormholt.

"C'mon!" Marcious, as the eldest of the band, had taken on the self-appointed position of leader of the group. "We a'most thewe!" he called out. "Then we see alla Dweamwand!"

There was an excited number of cheers as young Puffals and Boxin raced after him. Most of them were eager for the spectacular view, and were eager to see what was up there.

Not everyone was happy though. Several steps lower, the eldest girl, Xiandra, looked on suspiciously. She wasn't that much younger than Marcious, so she was less inclined to follow his lead. "I don't think we supposed to go up thewe," she said suspiciously, catching Sammy to keep him from following the others up. "What if Mama and Papa or Uncah Medda finds out?"

"It 'kay, you just sca'ed," her brother taunted, turning to run up the stairs and reaching the ramparts. "Wook, I gonna go alla way to the top!"

"You gonna fall," the little girl warned.

"Not I not, see!" To show that his sister's fears were unfounded, the little Boxin clambered up to the main rampart and stood on the wall. "I 'kay, see?" This display excited several of the littler ones, and he was soon joined by his brother Sandro and the Puffal twins.

"See, you makin' them be bad!" Xiandra scolded. "You get down now or…" Before she could finish her sentence, she turned pale and looked much more frightened than she had before. This change effected the other little ones as well, and those too young to speak began babbling in a panic.

The littler girl, Hectoria, was able to spit out a warning. "Ge' dow' now!" she called out. "It a monstah!"

"It notta monstah," Marcius started. He was going to say something else, but he was then snatched up.

It was a mysterious winged figure, horned and wearing a mask with a four point star on it. The figure also grabbed Mikey. Without waiting another moment, the figure flew off, its captives in tow.

Unable to do anything else, the children fled down the stairs in panic to figure out what to do.

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Within the main hall of Stormholt, Meta Knight went over the list of renovations being done on the old fortress with several of the other heads. "Everything is going well, all things considered," he said. "The mason work is holding up amazingly well, considering it is millions of years old. However, we are having a bit of difficulty getting the proper minerals to replace the stained glass in the dining hall."

"It was said that those windows were fashioned from the natural crystals in this area," Lady Like commented. "They mined up most of the jewels that were present in their own time, but considering all the time that has passed since then, new ones are bound to have formed. I can get my cousin's husband to mine and prepare those. He's always been so handy with jewels."

"The restorations of those tapestries are coming along as well," Alivea said. "It's amazing they're still around at all. Finding the right threads to match the originals was incredibly difficult, and I'm starting to wonder if it's not just a good idea to replace them outright."

"That might be," Anastasia the Star Jumper nodded in agreement. "If you decide to, I can show you the weave that was used back then. It's sturdy and will hold up for a long time."

Conversation like this had gone on for a while when suddenly there came the sound of panicked voiced. In to the room came a teen-aged Dreamlander girl with brown and blue streaked hair. She had the little Boxin and Puffal cousins in tow with her.

"Jikari, what is going on?" Lady Like asked the teen.

"I don't know, ma'am," Jikari responded. "I was helping with the laundry out in the main courtyard when they all raced up, already in frenzy like this. I couldn't tell what they were saying, so I thought it best to bring them up here immediately."

"That was a wise choice," Alivea said. "I can take it from here. You may return."

The teen gave a respectful nod before heading out. Once she was gone, Alivea turned to her eldest daughter, supposing she might get the most amount of sense from her. "Alright, now, what happened."

"Ma'cious! An', an Mikey!" Xiandra was almost beside herself in panic as she spoke. "We wah goin up the wall, an' they stahted showin' off. I told them to get down, but they didn't, and then the monstah came and taked them away!"

"Monster?!" Alivea's voice became tense with panic. "What do you mean a monster?"

"It was big, and pink," her daughter answered, and the younger ones chattered in agreement. "It had weally big wings, like a bewd, and dwagon hown, but it also had a Stah Wa'io' mask!"

"A Star Warrior mask, you say?" Meta Knight asked, leaning close. "What do you mean, a Star Warrior mask?"

"It was a big, wound mask, wike yous'!" Hectoria added, and there was a chattering of poyos as several of the Puffalings tried to join in on pantomime.

"Yeah!" little Joailin added. "An' it had a big stah on it!"

Meta and Alivea both turned pale at the mention of the image. "Children," their mother asked, "do you think you could draw the symbol you saw on the monster's face?"

There was a clamoring of assurance and a set of pencils and papers were brought out to the children. They took the tools and began drawing an imitation of the symbol they saw. Both Boxin and Puffal children drew the same image: a simple, four-pointed star.

Meta looked at the symbol, and his eyes flashed red broken with white. "Hurry!" he called out. "Make certain that all the children are brought in and everyone who can fight is ready for a fight."

"What is it?" Anastasia asked, looking in confusion at the symbol.

"That is the image of a former Star Warrior, Sir Galacta Knight," Alivea answered. "He had a lot of disagreements with Sir Arthur and those who followed him, especially Meta. I'm afraid the last time we saw him, it was not on very good terms."

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_"_ _Adopt it? You speak madness," Galacta Knight had snarled upon learning of Meta Knight's plan to raise his little clone. "That thing is a monster; I say we kill it here and now and be done with the matter. I'll do the deed myself," he said, fully intending to do the deed himself._

_"_ _Make one move and it will be me you are dealing with," Meta responded, withdrawing Galaxia._

_Sir Lancelot intervened, however, coming between the two brawlers with his battle ax before the duel could begin. "Order!" he shouted out. "We shall have order! Both of you put your weapons away. We shall have no fighting among ourselves." Reluctantly, the two did as they were told, and Lancelot turned to Arthur. "Please, continue."_

_The head Warrior nodded before going on. "Thank you, Lancelot. Now, Sir Galacta, we are not going to kill the child. Regardless of how he was born, he is still an infant, and a harmless one at that. We will tolerate no talk about killing him."_

_Galacta made it clear he was not pleased with the response, but took his seat wordlessly. Once Sir Arthur had made announcement, no one ever argued against it. There was just no point._

_"_ _However, Sir Meta Knight," Arthur continued, turning to the younger knight, "I am afraid I will have to deny both the request for adoption and the request to start training him."_

_"_ _Why?" the Inhaler asked quickly. By now, the little one was already dear to him, and he had no desire to leave the child on his own. "As you said yourself, he is harmless. Why would there be anything wrong in taking him on as a student?"_

_"_ _It just would not be prudent at this time," Sir Galahad clarified. "We know nothing about how and why he was made, or why he was rejected by Nightmare. There are too many things that can and could go wrong."_

_"_ _Furthermore, no one else knows where he came from," Sir Percival sustained. "No one outside of this room is to be told about Cevio's origin, with the exception of highly trusted and full ranked Star Warriors, in the case of an emergency. Introducing him into the Star Warriors without the explanation of where he came from would just raise too many questions."_

_"_ _However, that does not mean that we are turning him out." Heavy Knight's comment was very welcome to Meta, adding a bit of good news. "He is to stay in the orphans' nursery. There we will keep an eye on the little one as he grows, and hopefully we will learn more about his true nature."_

_"_ _When more becomes clear about his origin, then we will reconsider this decision," Sir Arthur finished. It was clear from his tone that this was the final decision and that there would be no reconsidering. "Until then, he will be cared for, just as any other refugee orphan would be. Am I understood?"_

_Galacta Knight scowled. From the way he saw it, this was just another example of the little pet prodigy getting his way in everything. True, Meta would not be getting his whole way, but that didn't matter. It meant that a copy of Mr. Perfect Goody Two-Shoes was going to be running loose, and one of them was hard enough to put up with as is._

_No one asked Galacta what he thought, though. No, only Meta Knight himself was allowed to respond to the question. "Perfectly," he said respectfully, ever the Teacher's Pet. "May I request, at the least, that I be allowed to keep track of his development?"_

_"_ _Certainly," the head of the warrior responded with a nod. "Just report everything you notice about his development. Once the child is a Star Year in age, we will discuss this again._ Donec tenebras perit _."_

"Et ad lumen, nunquam evanescere."

_As they left, Galacta snarled and went directly to his apartment. Once there, he locked the door and began tossing around furniture. He couldn't stand the way that Meta Knight always was the one who was being paid attention. He was the one everyone praised when something went right; he was the one chose to take on all the really important tasks. It didn't matter that Galacta was stronger or braver. No, no matter what was going on, Sir Meta Knight was the one who got applause and attention._

_Well, not this time. Meta Knight was not going to keep that disgusting copy of himself. No, Galacta was going to do something about that stupid little brat. He didn't care if Sir Arthur was against it. He didn't care if the whole universe was against it. Galacta would side with Nightmare if that was what it took, but he was going to find some way to get rid of the brat, and pronto._

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"I hope you are all aware of how serious everything has become. This occurrence cannot mean anything good," Meta Knight said. At the moment, his teen students were gathered around him, having been called in about the emergency.

By now, they were already up to date about the emergency. "Don't worry sir." Silica gave a salute as she assured her teacher. "We'll head out and see if anyone has any idea where the kids have been taken, as well as any information about this creature is doing or how it is related to Sir Galacta Knight."

"Very well. Good luck. I will come out and join you as soon as I have finished my own search." The warrior nodded, and the teens each filed out to their assigned areas.

As for himself, Meta Knight was going down to look up anything that could cause the appearance of a creature the likes of which had been described by his nieces. When he had first seen the symbol, his mind had strayed to the idea that Galacta Knight himself had come back, but that made no sense. Galacta had been red, not pink, and he certainly didn't have wings or horns.

"Of course, there is me," Meta mumbled to himself as he wandered down into the ancient library. "But my mutation isn't that severe. I never sprouted feathers. There must be some other explanation."

Turning to the ancient books, he began flipping through the pages of tome after tome. Thankfully, most of them were written in the common tongue, so no translation was necessary. Still, that was hundred upon thousands of books. As he settled himself down, Meta Knight made a mental note to ask for some assistance next time. He was well aware that this was going to take an incredible amount of time.

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"Is it really all that big?" Kine asked in amazement. At the moment, the sunfish was sitting on a beach connected to the Orange Ocean, speaking to Tiff and Tuff, who had come to the seashore that day. Lololo and Lalala were there as well, having recently joined their adopted family at the ancient fortress.

"Even bigger!" Lalala stretched her arms out in demonstration. "It looks about twice as big as Dedede's palace, but Sir Meta Knight says there are tunnels that go all around the mountain range, so no one can really tell exactly how big it is."

"I can't believe we missed out on discovering it," her brother added with some amount of annoyance.

"Well, don't worry." Tiff patted her friend's back. "You guys had to be over at Onion Garden's to get that order in for the festival. Besides, it meant you got to miss out on being chased down by that sicko Marx."

"Yeah, I think I heard of him." Kine nodded, racking his brain for exactly what it was that he had heard. "Didn't he cause some sort of tragedy with your people?"

Tiff nodded in response. "Yep. It turned out he was the one who had been causing those murders among the Children of Erran."

"Yeah, but he didn't stand a chance against us!" Tuff jumped up on a nearby rock as if to give demonstration. "We got through those booby-trap tunnels without missing a beat, and then with that army that Mom and Dad brought in, that coward ran like nobody's business before getting his butt kicked in by Kirby once and for all."

"I'm still shocked to find this all out about Mom and Dad, though." Tiff touched her chin in thought as she spoke. "I would have never guessed they would belong to a race of warriors like the Children of Erran, none the less be the guardians of an ancient fortress. They even have different names with different meanings."

"I forgot to ask, but do you two have different names too?" Lololo asked.

"Yep, we do," Tiff answered. "Every Child of Erran has a name from the original Dreamlandian language, which is meant kind of as a hope about what the baby will be like. Mine is Fumu, and since "fu" means wise, and "mu" is the Dreamlander word for mother, Fumu means 'the wisdom of a mother.'"

"Tuff's name is-" Tiff started, but she was cut off before she could speak.

"Don't you dare!" Tuff crossed his arms and scowled. "Don't you dare ever say that name! It's almost as bad as my other name."

"What, it's really good." Tiff smiled teasingly. "It comes from the Dreamlandian word that means noble or honorable. I don't see what there is to be ashamed of."

"I don't care, I don't want that name ever said aloud!" the boy declared.

"Come on, how bad can it be?" Lalala hovered over as she asked her question.

"Yeah, it can't be that bad." Her twin came over, joining in her pleas. "Come on, you can tell us!"

Despite his protests, the questioning kept coming in strong. Finally, Tuff gave in. "Fine! It's Bun! Just stop asking!"

Before anyone else could say anything, a shadow appeared over them. "Fumu? Bun? You two are the descendants of Erran, then." The voice was cold as ice and harsh as sandpaper.

Startled, the kids turned to see who had spoken to them and saw in surprise a creature the likes of which they had never seen before. It look almost Puffal in shape, but it had a huge pair of feathery wings and a pair of horns sitting above its mask. Behind the mask red eyes glared at the children, malice glinting deep within.

The kids could only look in shock at the hovering figure, which was no doubt a monster. When he received no response, the monster spoke again. "I said, you two are the Children of Erran, are you not? Answer me, unless you wished to taste my lance."

This threat seemed to knock Tiff awake. Despite the fact that she was afraid, she put her hands on her hips and stared defiantly at the newcomers. "We're not supposed to talk to strangers," she said in a firm tone.

The creature laughed at this display of boldness. "Well, I had better introduce myself then. I am the Galactic Knight, Herald of Nightmare and Bane of the Star Warriors. Furthermore, Fumu the Erranite, I have need of your accompaniment." The creature's voice, while thick and gravelly, had a tone of refinement to it that was rather surprising. It didn't mask the tone of disdain and malice that dripped from the voice, though.

"There's no way in the universe we're going with a creep like you!" Tuff shouted, tossing a rock at the creature.

All the Galactic Knight had to do was raise his shield and the rock bounced harmlessly back. "Bun of Stormholt, what made you think you and your friends ever had a choice?" The creature then lunged at Tiff, attempting to catch her off guard. It was only by swift action that she was able to dodge the attack.

The attacker, however, wasn't quite finished yet. He circled around and lunged at Tuff and the twins, who had been watching from the shore. The trio scattered to avoid being caught, either by hand or by lance, but soon found that their pursuer was certain to catch them.

The monster was not prepared for an attack from the sea. Seeing his friends in trouble, Kine acted as fast as he could. Shooting off a stream of water, he nailed the creature hard in the back. This didn't do much to dissuade the creature, but it did give them an advantage.

As soon as the stream hit the creature's back, his wings took on water, sending him plummeting to the ground. He was left struggling on the ground for a few moments, which gave his prey a bit more time.

"He can't go in the water!" Tiff called out to her friends. "Try to get into the Ocean! He can't reach us there!"

The group tried to follow her advice, which seemed sound. However, the creature recovered from the water blast sooner than expected and flew fast after them. With a quick swoop, he lunged down and caught Lalala by her foot.

"He's got me!" she called out to the others. "Get away! Just get away from here."

Tuff, however, refused to listen. He lunged out, grabbing Lalala with the assumption that the two of them would be too heavy for the creature to carry off. He was mistaken in this notion, and as soon as he had gotten a grip, the creature hooked his other arm around him, carrying him off as well.

"Tell Meta Knight that the next attack, the last attack, will be the one that matters the most!" Once the Galactic Knight had said these words, he flew off with his hostages, far out of reach of any other projectile attacks.

"No!" Lololo called out.

"What are we going to do now?" Kine asked in dismay.

Tiff gritted her teeth. "We've got to make it back to Stormholt. That thing acted like he knew Meta Knight. Maybe he can tell us what's going on."

The other two nodded, and they made their way back to the fortress, sticking to the water when possible.

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Anxiety was clouding in on Meta Knight. He tried to study the text and manuals in the library to try to figure out what he was dealing with. Of course, that wasn't an easy task in and of itself, and the cloudy haze of memory was not making it any easier…

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_It had been a relatively peaceful day aboard the Solarian. Cevio, soon to be Kirby, had gotten a little bit older, and was now walking on his own. He typically wasn't allowed to go off on his own, but there were times when, while doing some chore with Lynette or out and about with one of Meta Knight's students, a bout of childish curiosity would overtake him and he would wander off while his caretaker wasn't paying all too close attention. Usually these little adventures ended several minutes, if not seconds, after they started. However, one day, it was going to have unexpected consequences._

_Galacta Knight had been stewing in rage ever since the original hearing about the child, and with the recent revelation that little Cevio was to be christened soon, he decided to act fast. So, the day he spotted the little one alone, he decided to make his move._

_The little one had been out with Lynette as she worked on an errand related to her pediatrics' clinic. While his mother was looking away to do paperwork, the child had noticed a flashing light out in the hallway, and his interest was taken._

_The flash had been caused by a flickering light bulb that needed to be changed soon, but as soon as he wandered out, he soon noticed something else that caught his attention, and he ran after that. This went on, so on and so forth, for a few moments. Eventually, however, he was startled out of his chase by a voice._

_"_ _My, aren't you a little bit young to be out here by yourself?" The child turned to see Galacta Knight standing there._

_"_ _Poyo…" This little one was hesitant. He knew this Puffal, but not very well. While Cevio usually trusted just about everyone, this person was the exception. He had seen his Mama and Papa fighting with this person a whole lot, and if they didn't like someone, then they probably couldn't be trusted. Thus, the little one backed away from the newcomer._

_"_ _Now, come on," the red Puffal continued, giving a false-sugary smile. "You can't be out here all on your own. Come with me."_

_The feeling of nervousness in the child's stomach grew even stronger, and it made his decision to stay away from this person all the stronger. "Poyo," he squeaked, and he did his best to get away._

_He moved just in time, too. Not willing to lose his chance while they were both alone, Galacta charged at the child with his lance, missing by mere inches._

_Anxiety now replaced by full-on fear, Cevio took to his heels and raced fast away, shouting as loud as his lungs would allow. He wanted to get to his Mama, and he wanted to get to her now!_

_Thankfully for him, Lynette had only a moment earlier noticed his disappearance and had gone looking for him. He only had to race for a short while before he found her. Crying out, he ran to her and jumped in her arms, pleading for protection from his enemy._

_"_ _Cevio, what's going-?" Lynette began, but she cut herself off when she looked up and saw Galacta Knight coming at her, lance in hand. Without hesitating a second, she transferred the child to her back and took off running herself._

_She ran, but she wasn't about to take things passively. She knew she wouldn't be able to take the rogue knight on head on, but she could interfere with his journey. As such, she did what she could, tossing chairs at her opponent and knocking displays over. "Help!" she called out. "Stop him!"_

_Galacta scowled. This was rapidly getting out of hand. By now, however, it no longer mattered to him. All that mattered was that he was almost there. He was going to kill that brat now, and he'd kill anyone who got in his way._

_To be continued…_


	79. Dark Wings of Revenge, Part Two

_As her chase wore on, Lynette soon began to tire. She was not a Star Warrior herself, and while she was not unused to physical activity, her stamina did not match up to the red warrior's. However, her determination to protect her child fueled her, and she would fight hoof and paw to keep the little boy safe._

_It soon appeared that she would have no choice. Her flight had led her into a closed office room, which had only one way in or out. Realizing her situation, the ivory Puffal made a quick decision. Stashing Cevio on top of a nearby shelf, she selected one of the heavy chairs and shoved it at her pursuer._

_Galacta was startled by this action, since he had expected the woman to give in when she was cornered. Instead, she had chosen to fight back._

_Finding a paper cutter blade, Lynette charged at the knight, determined not to allow her son to come to any harm. This attack had been especially unexpected, and the red Puffal was temporarily forced to fight back._

_Lynette was like a mad woman. The speed and ferocity behind her attacks were fueled by the ancient need of a mother to defend her little one, and this was a not a need that she was about to give up easily. Though she was unskilled, the odd adrenaline was enough that she actually succeeded at injuring her opponent, and she landed a hit on his shield arm._

_This fire, however, could not make up for a lack in skill and experience, both of which her enemy had in abundance. Though he had been forced to surrender his shield, he was still strong in his attack, and one of his blows succeeded in catching the woman by surprise._

_Knocked back by the hit, Lynette was sent flying back with an injury just below her mouth. Taking the opportunity, Galacta walked over and prepared to stab down on the stunned woman._

_Before the killing blow could be struck, however, someone else intervened. Galacta was struck to one side, and he had only a second to move out of the way of the following attack._

_Standing there between the mother and the villain stood Meta Knight. His eyes were blood red and Galaxia was in one hand._

_"_ _You want to interfere again, hard-hoof?" Galacta snarled._

_"_ _You speak big words for one who attacks woman and children." Meta's eyes glowed brighter and he held his sword out. "Let us see how you can face a real warrior in battle."_

_By now, the red Puffal was back up, and his lance was extended in one paw. "I will do so when one appears. Until then, you'll do."_

_With that, the two warriors charged each other, and their weapons clashed in a clamor of metal upon metal._

_As sword met lance, there was a clamor of metal upon metal. A dark resolve shone in the eyes of both enemies. If there was no intervention, someone was going to die._

_"_ _Get Cevio out of here!" Meta shouted back to Lynette. "I'll hold him off so you two can escape."_

_Hearing the advice, Lynette nodded. Springing up, she grabbed the pink baby and rushed off to get both protection for the boy and aid for her husband._

_"_ _Sir Arthur isn't here to protect you now," Galacta sneered at his opponent. "Nothing is going to stop me now from showing everyone that the little 'prodigy' never deserved any of the attention he got!"_

_"_ _That's what this is about?!" Meta Knight's voice was full of outrage. "You were attempting to kill a child over attention!?"_

_"_ _Everyone always looked at you and saw some sort of raw, untapped strength. I have always been the strongest of us all! I've been the one setting records! I've been the ones to take to battle the best! I should be the one who is seen as the Strongest Warrior Ever! I. Will. Prove. It. Now!" Galacta punctuated every word with a blow from his lance._

_Every strike was harder and harder, but Meta Knight matched the blows with relative ease. The two battled like this for several minutes, one unable to gain an advantage over the other. Soon, they were traveling out into the hallways, and people were forced to scatter to and fro to avoid the duelers._

_Once they were in one of the larger training halls, Meta was able to get an advantage over his enemy. Now that the room was larger, he could spread his wings out and take to an aerial positioning. Using a sword beam, he was able to attack his foe and then wheel around and fly out of reach. The wingless Galacta could only look in rage as Meta kept out of the range of his lance._

_Galacta snarled up at his winged foe. "You will now face me on the ground, but that doesn't matter! I'll kill you, and then I'll kill that brat! I'll kill everyone you care about, especially that-"_

_"_ _Just! Shut! Up!" By now, Meta Knight had been pushed to the breaking point. His eyes were now glowing a deeper shade of red than they ever had before. Meta Knight unleashed two of the largest sword beams that anyone had ever seen at his opponent. They cut hard, the first slicing through Galacta's lance, rendering it useless. The second cut through the opponent's armor. The red Puffal himself was still alive; however, there was no doubt that the battle was over._

_The emergency alarm had started ringing a while back, but it was only now that the former combatants noticed it. It was a timely noticing, however, since at that moment the hall was flooded over by warriors. They were headed by Sir Percival, who approached Meta Knight and saluted._

_"_ _We came as soon as we got word of what Galacta Knight was doing." The older warrior motioned to where the defeated opponent lay. "It appears, however, you didn't have much need of assistance."_

_He then turned to those warriors who had accompanied him. "Place Sir Galacta under court martial. I'm sure Sir Arthur is going to want a word with him."_

_"_ _I will come peacefully as well," Meta said, holding his sword with the hilt facing his superior. However, Percival waved it away._

_"_ _You were defending your wife and the child. No one can fault you for that." The teal Puffal shook his head. "One can only wonder what would drive someone to do something like this. It is truly tragedy._

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After that, Meta remembered, Galacta had been stripped of his title as Star Warrior and sent away in disgrace. It had been assumed that he had met his end on his own, since they heard nothing of him, but it appeared that something happened to prove them all wrong. Whether the thing that did the kidnapping was Galacta or something merely related to him or something unconnected completely, Meta couldn't say. However, he wasn't going to give up until he had a good idea of what he was dealing with.

Shaking his head to try to clear away the wisps of memory, the blue Puffal looked down to the book he held open. It was a book on the older side, written by one of the ancient queen of Ripple Star as a gift to the chieftain of the Star Warriors at the time. It listed the history of Ripple Star, but in particular listed the known side effects of Dark Matter possession.

Having experience enough of that topic first hand, Meta Knight was not inclined to read much father. As he moved to shove the book away, however, he noticed a few words that caught his attention. Without hesitating, he flipped back to the page he had seen it on and read it aloud to himself.

"'Despite the known effect of long-term exposure,'" he read, "'there are still some people who attempt to use abandoned Dark Matter for their own purposes. These acts are totally unlawful and take an incredible amount of dark magic to succeed at, but some have achieved what they sought.'

"'The result was terrible. Whoever would take the serum that is derived from that terrible creature is changed. The change seems tied to how much dark magic the change had used in life. Those who were unwilling were easily changed back with the help of the Star and Heart Rods. However, if someone was experienced in dark magic or had undergone the change willingly, the effects were permanent and horrifying. There have been instances of exaggeration of features like mouths, noses, tongues, and eyes. Limbs, such as wings and tails, ornamentation like fur or feathers, and horns are often sprouted also and take on twisted patterns of their own. These creatures have become as twisted on the inside as they are on the outside. What's more, they themselves revel in their new state, calling themselves Demon Beasts.'

"'Thankfully, with the defeat of Dark Matter, instances of these Demon Beasts have died down, and it doesn't appear that we will have any problems with them again.'"

Having read these words, Meta Knight slammed the book shut and hurried off upstairs. If this detailed just what was going on with this new Galacta Knight look alike, especially with the return of Dark Matter, this bore ill omen for all who were involved. He would need to council with the leaders of the tribes as soon as possible.

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"Aw, come on, Kirby. It's not all that bad." Ribbon shrugged as she and Kirby sat on one of the larger bedrooms that were available in the fortress. When word about the kidnappings had gone around, they and all the other children that could be gathered together were stashed away where, hopefully, Galacta Knight would have no access to them.

Of course, this didn't sit very well with Kirby. If there were people in danger, he wanted to be out looking for his missing friends, not hidden away like a coward. Of course, he still had to obey Meta Knight, who had warned him that he wasn't to leave the room unless it was a matter of life or death.

Stuck without any other option, Kirby sat back and crossed his arms. He didn't respond to Ribbon's statement, choosing instead to stare out the bedroom window.

"Hey, at least we were allowed to stay together." The fairy was desperate to think of something that might cheer her friend up. "Pretty soon, the others will be found too, and then we can all play a game. You know, we never did finish up that game of marbles."

The mention of a game did shake the little Puffal out of his brooding. Turning to look at her, he smiled. "Kaabii be bwoo t'is time?"

"Sure, I don't see why not." Ribbon flew over and landed by his side. "We can play as many times as you like. I'm sure by the time we're done playing, the grown-ups will have figured out what is going on and we can leave. Until then, we can make the best of what we have."

Kirby smiled and was about to say something, but he then spotted something outside his window. Without saying a word, he grabbed Ribbon and dodged behind the bed, just in time for three energy swords to crash through the window and entering the room, before exploding in a shower of sparks.

"Hear me, Guardian Kirby!" a bellowing voice shouted out. "If you want to save your friends, you will come out and face me in battle!"

Hearing this, Kirby rushed to the window and looked out. There, standing in full sight, was a strange Puffal in full armor, complete with wings and horns, standing out with his lance pointing at the child. Behind the challenger were the four missing kids, tied up back to back.

"Poyo!" the little one cried in alarm. Seeing his friends in danger, he leapt from the shattered window.

Ribbon flew over to stop him, but she was too late. He had already rushed outside and was charging the larger Puffal head on.

"Oh, dear, oh, dear, oh, dear," she muttered, feeling herself beginning to hyperventilate. "I've gotta go get someone!" With that, she flew off in order to find some help.

Kirby, meanwhile, was certain that he knew what he was doing. The challenger stood stock still, waiting for the Puffal to finish his charge. When he got close, the strange creature charged, swinging his lance at Kirby.

The child, however, was ready. Springing up, he leaped over his opponent's weapon and somersaulted over the bigger Puffal. Landing behind him, he soon found what he wanted: a large stone. Inhaling deep, he swallowed the stone and copied off of it.

In a flash of light, a purple and gold samurai's helmet with a red plume appeared on the child's head. He had become Stone Kirby!

Without hesitation, the child charged at his opponent. As soon as he had reached a decent speed, he transformed, taking the form of a giant boulder. The Kirby-boulder continued rolling at the same speed the child had been running, which hit the other Puffal at full force.

This blow knocked the stranger backwards, giving Kirby an opening to get to the prisoners. Abandoning the stone form, the child rushed to where his friends were held imprisoned. "It okay!" he shouted out comfortingly as he ran over. "Kaabii gonna get yew untied. Kaabii get yew fwee."

As soon as he made it over there, however, he found a nasty surprise waiting for him. When he touched the ropes, the "prisoners" vanished. In their place, however, appeared a mesh style cage with an opened door.

Kirby sprang back in surprise and was about to dash away when a hard kick hit him in the back, forcing him into the cage and slamming the door shut. He turned to see the stranger standing behind him. "New lesson," the Puffal said. "Never assume your foe is defeated. I assumed your master would have taught you that by now."

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"So you are quite certain it is one of these 'Demon Beasts' that we are dealing with?" Lady Rosalyn asked. She was present in the main hall, along with her son and daughter, the Ebrum parents, Kit Cosmos, and the chieftains Danlin and Nicholas. All of these people would be needed to be warned of the danger.

"Near perfectly," Meta Knight responded with a nod. "The description matches what the children saw earlier in the day, and with Zero and Dark Matter our and about again, it is quite likely that someone has come up with the Demon Beast serum."

"And Galacta Knight was rather vengeful when he was banished from the Star Warriors." Alivea touched her chin in thought. "Do you think he'd sink as low as to take the serum in an attempt to make himself stronger?"

"One who has been maddened by revenge or envy often cannot find a low they won't sink to," Danlin commented.

"Yeah." Cosmos gave a dry laugh. "I don't believe I've seen a creature madder than that youngster was when was sent off. The only question left, now that we are fairly certain we know _who_ we're dealing with, is _what_ we're going to do about him."

Before anything more could be said, the doors to the hallway slammed open and Tiff charged in. Lololo was close behind her, along with Ax and Sailor Dee.

Without waiting for announcement, the Dreamlander girl rushed to the table. "We've got bad news." She was quick with pouring out her story, from how they had been communicating with Kine at the seaside, to the uncalled for attack by the Galactic Knight, and how Tuff and Lalala had gotten themselves kidnapped.

There was a stunned silence as the girl gave her story. Sir Ebrum and Lady Like especially looked horrified as they listened.

"And what's more," Tiff said as she finished up, "he said he had a message for Meta Knight. He said that the next attack he is going to make is going to be the attack that matters the most, and that it is going to be the last one."

Hearing this, the blue Puffal sprang to his feet. "We must move fast." He motioned for the others to pick up their weapons. "We cannot allow this attack to happen, regardless of what form it is to take. Come! We must find this villain and stop him before he can strike!"

There was a loud consensus of agreement. Those around the table all cried out in agreement, arranging for those fighters gathered there to gather together to face the monster. It became so loud and chaotic that they almost missed Ribbon's arrival.

"Please, someone help!" she shouted out. "It's Kirby! He's in trouble!"

Hearing the fairy's cry, Meta Knight turned to her. "Ribbon, you say Kirby's in trouble? What's going on?"

"There was this blast, and this stranger came up and challenged Kirby to a battle." The fairy panted as she explained what had happened. "He had prisoners with him. Kirby ran out to try to free them. I tried to get him to lay low, but he wouldn't listen to me."

"When did this happen?" The warrior was becoming more and more anxious by the moment as he remembered the threat that had been previously delivered. "Where did this happen?"

"It was right outside the bedroom." Ribbon started her flight again. "Here, I show you where it happened."

She took off, flying in the direction of the bedroom. Meta Knight unsheathed his own wings and took off after here, desperate not to lose any time in catching Kirby and his attacker before it was too late. Fear fueled his wings to the point that he almost passed Ribbon up entirely, slowing down only to allow her to lead the way.

Once they arrived at the room, however, it became clear just how late they were. Through the hole ripped open by the first blast, they could see that Kirby's duel with the intruder had not gone well at all for the child. The intruder had succeeded in tossing the tot in a cage and was dragging him off at that very moment.

Meta Knight's eyes flashed red when he saw the creature. "You, stop!" he shouted out, though he knew that the odds of such a call doing any good were incredibly low.

The invader looked up when he heard the call and saw the enraged father. Raising a hand, he made a challenging gesture at the knight. He then opened up a portal and stepped through it, taking the imprisoned Kirby with him.

There was no force in the universe that would have held Meta Knight back now. As soon as he saw the gesture, his wings flared out and he took off into flight. He moved so fast there was a noticeable pop, and he reached the portal just in time fly through it after the escaping villain. He flew into it and it closed right after him, leaving no evidence that either traveler had ever been there.

After witnessing the chase, Ribbon flew over to where the portal had been and searched around the whole area, looking for anything that might allow her to follow after to help. However, there was nothing. Not even a residue was left to hint as to where the travelers had gone.

She was still there searching when the first of the warriors from Stormholt came to join her. It was Sword and Blade, who were searching for where their master had gotten off to.

"The creature came, and there was a portal, and Sir Meta Knight went after them." Ribbon could hardly believe the explanation that came out of her mouth, though it was the truth. "Do either of you have any idea how we can help them?"

The two knaves studied the area, but soon came to exactly the same conclusion the fairy had. "I'm afraid none of us has the power to summon up portals," Blade sighed. "Even if we did, we have no idea where they got to."

"It looks like Sir Meta Knight is on his own," Sword said in a grim tone of voice.

To be continued…


	80. Dark Wings of Revenge, Part Three

Meta Knight plunged headlong through the portal, not particularly caring where it was taking him. The only thought on the warrior's mind was recovering his enemy's hostages and stopping him from doing any more harm.

It was clear that the Galactic Knight was not about to allow this to be an easy task. The winged monstrosity flew through the twists and turns of the passages as if it was nothing. Inwardly the blue warrior wished that he could get in a clear shot of his opponent. If he could hit his enemy's wings with a sing Sword Beam, then he could force the fight out of the wormhole tunnel and only solid ground, where a sword to lance battle would be much simpler.

As long as the kidnapper had Kirby, however, that strategy was completely out of the question. There would be no way to make any attempt at a hit without risking hitting the child, too. As such, the chase went on.

The odd thing was that the pursued didn't seem to be in any hurry to lose the pursuer. Every now and then, the feathered creature would look back, as if making sure that he was indeed still being followed. There were also some times when Meta Knight could have sworn that the chaser was slowing down, allowing him to catch up. This troubled the blue Puffal, but he shook it off. What mattered what that he was going to find a way to stop the kidnapper, and the ulterior motives of the chase would have to come in later.

Soon, they came in the tunnel to a portal that closely resembled the one that had sent them into the wormhole in the first place. The magenta warrior initially missed it, but pulled a tight curve and dodged into it. Meta Knight was forced to pull a similar maneuver, pulling a sharp curve and gliding through the portal, just in time for it to close right behind him.

He came out into a dark and barren field. All around, there was nothing. Only cold stone and a dark sky were visible in any direction.

Meta Knight was now losing patience. "Where are you?!" His cry echoed out over the empty field. "It is clear you wish to challenge me! Then come out and fight me! I am not afraid!"

"Ah, you are still the same, Meta Knight. Still not one to back down from a challenge, I see." The voice came out of a cave on a cliff side the warrior was facing. Out of it came the magenta warrior, clad in his armor. The figure chuckled darkly. "So, 'great Star Warrior', do you remember who I am? Do you not wonder why I am attacking you in this manner?"

"I know who you are, Galacta Knight, and I know why you are doing this." The blue Puffal's eyes glowed red as he spoke. "There is no need for me to hear you attempt to cover up your cowardice with big words. You hate a man, and thus are going about attacking children in an attempt to get back at the man. You have always been a coward and a bully. That was why you went after me from the start. Back then, I was small and helpless. Now, however, we have reached the point where you will not face me because I am not as helpless as I once was."

The figure laughed. "You remember only partially correct. You are right; I have been targeting those children in an attempt to lure you out. However, they are not my primary target. You are. They are merely the prize so as to draw you out and make you accept my little challenge. Duel me here and now, and you may take them back to their homes here and now. If you refuse…" The monster laughed, drawing his lance up to point further up the cliff. "Well, I don't think it will take much to bury them in this cave, what do you think?"

Red eyed and stone faced, Meta Knight nodded to his enemy. "You want a fight? Very well. It is a fight you will have." With that, he raised Galaxia and rushed his opponent.

Seeing the knight respond like this, the monster raised his own lance and joined in the charge. The two met, and there was a clang of metal upon metal.

Within the cave, Kirby struggled hard. He and the cage had been slammed into the wall of the cave when his captor had thrown him into the prison. Nearby, could see the other hostages, tied up and currently unconscious. It seemed their captor had drugged them in some way to keep them from escaping.

He, however, had been left completely lucid. He had heard the exchange that had gone on between his father and his kidnapper, and he was now seeking some way he could go out and help Meta Knight stop this monster. First, however, he'd need to figure out some way out of his cage.

Examining the sides, he found that his harsh entrance had granted him one boon. The hard blow the cage had taken against the rock wall had caused the door to become dislodged, meaning there was now a good sized opening in the door of the trap.

Loosened though it was, however, it did not mean that Kirby was going to have a very easy time of it. The door still refused to move easily, and the small crack sat there, almost taunting him with the closeness of freedom. This wasn't about to stop the determined Puffal, though. Pulling up all the strength he could into his limbs, he charged at the opening and swiftly delivered a volley of kicks to the opening.

Though it did not open immediately or all the way, this barrage did as it was meant to. Under the force of the intense blows, the door opened just two inches more before becoming more firmly lodged than ever.

That was enough. Using the crack, Kirby was able to slip his feet through the opening. After that, getting the rest of his body out was mere child's play. Within a moment, the child had gone from imprisoned to free.

His work was not yet over. Now that he was free, he rushed over to where his friends were laying and undid the binding. "C'mon!" he practically shouted. "Papa gonna fight t'e bad guy! We gotta he'p!"

Much to his disappointment, however, his fellow captives didn't wake up. The drug they had been given to keep them from fighting against their captor was rather strong, and thus they didn't have the ability to respond to the pink Puffal's cry for justice.

Realizing this, Kirby looked up in dismay. There was a fight going on outside, and he was going to have to stop it all by himself. Taking a deep breath, he looked for something to copy and braced himself for the challenge ahead of him.

The battle outside was waging hard. Time and time again the duelers battled. Sword clashed against lance as they fought on. Since both fighters were winged, they fought both on the ground and in the air.

As they clashed, a single problem became very clear: both opponents were equally matched. Nothing they did ever allowed one to gain an advantage over the other. Blow after blow was cast, and blow after blow was blocked. It was clear that something would have to happen to throw one off to allow the other a moment of advantage.

That time did come, and to Meta Knight's disadvantage. As the two wrestled with one another he noticed an opening come up. During the fight, the magenta Puffal was not guarding his side. There was a whole area open to a blow. Seeing his opportunity, the blue warrior took his advantage and struck out with Galaxia.

The legendary sword made its cut. The blow wasn't too deep, but it was deep enough to draw blood. A trickle of red began to flow, and the strap holding his enemy's mask on was severed completely.

What Meta Knight then saw stunned him. The mask fell off, but what it revealed was not what he had expected. It was Galacta Knight, alright, but in a form that the other fighter had never thought possible. The horns were actually a part of his body, sprouting off the top of his head. Furthermore, his face had been changed completely, with bestial yellow eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth, which was split in a ghastly grin that stretched up to the top of his eyes. The blue Puffal was horror-struck.

"What have you done to yourself?" Meta Knight asked in horror.

Seeing his opponent's response, the other creature laughed. "What?" he asked in a mocking tone. "Are you not stunned by my very appearance? This was a gift given to me by the Lord Nightmare, along with the strength I need to defeat you."

"So, you make deals with Nightmare now, do you Galacta Knight?" Meta Knight spat.

"It has more perks than you would suppose." Meta's enemy shrugged. "My new looks mean nothing; not when you have tasted the power of a Distort! By the way, there is one other thing." He smirked and raised his lance. "The name is no longer Galacta Knight. Now, I am the Galactic Knight!" With that, he charged ahead and would have struck Meta Knight down with a single blow.

Something happened right then and there to stop the blow from landing. As the monster charged against his intended prey with weapon held aloft, someone else intervened. It was then and there that Kirby had made it closer to the battlefield, and in the haste of the moment, the child did the only thing he could think of. Springing ahead, he took the lance's blow and then fell to one side.

"Kirby! No!" Meta Knight sprang up when he saw the blow land. Rushing to the child's side, he scooped the tot into his arms and flew off, desperate to make to a place of safety. Spotting it, he entered into the cave where the children had been stashed and flew in.

Once there, he turned to examine Kirby's wound. The blow was deep and the child was bleeding hard. Without hesitation, the warrior took off his cape to lay the injured child on before reaching in for a first aid kit. "Please, Kirby. Hang on," he said in a hushed voice. "Please, you have to live!"

There were several sounds that echoed in the cave, but they hardly registered to Meta Knight. These sounds were the voices of the other captives as they began to wake up, asking him where they were and what was going on. Eventually, they began moving to him. It didn't matter at that moment. All that mattered was that Kirby was not responding.

One sound did break through to him. It was the wicked sound of a laugh.

"So, that little whelp of yours isn't waking up?" The Galactic Knight laughed again. "What a shame. I was looking forward to doing the task slowly, but I suppose a quick death works just as well."

Meta Knight stood stock still for a moment, then stood and turned to his opponent. His eyes were no longer visible from behind his mask. "Children," he said, his voice utterly dispassionate, "remain where you are. Do not move from this shelter."

With a quickness that was entirely unexpected compared to the odd calm in his voice, he flared his wings out and charged at his opponent. Gripping him in a death lock, the warrior started up the fight anew.

The new style he was utilizing, however, was very different from the type he usually used. Gone was the formality of a traditional sword-fight. Gone was any semblance of a gentleman's duel. Instead, the warrior fought hard, still with his sword, but also with whatever else he had close at hand. Now, it was clear that it was an all-out beat down.

Not that his enemy had any problem with this. The magenta Puffal responded in turn, beating with the lance as well and whatever else he could grab a hold of. The battle became so heated that it began to devolve into clumsy grappling. Both opponents fought like mad creatures, refusing to allow his opponent a moment's breathe.

From the cave, the children could only imagine in shock what was going on. Tuff and Lalala had refused to allow the younger children to get out to where they could see the fighting, but that didn't keep the turbulent sounds from the battle outside from drifting in. There were the sounds of shrieks and howls, of stone on metal, of expletives shouted by the fighters. This was very different from the sort of fighting they were used to, and even the usually rather excitable Tuff was unnerved by the brutality of the fight.

"Wha-what goin' on?" Kirby's voice was barely audible over the sounds of the fighting, but they could distinguish it.

The others rushed to the child's side. "Kirby! You're alive!" Tuff's exclamation was filled with a release of tension.

"Oh, we thought you were gone forever!" Lalala struggled to reach Kirby past his younger brother and cousin. "When you were bleeding that much…we thought…"

"Kaabii 'live." The little Puffal pushed himself up, and it became clear that the wound has already begun to close up, though he was still weak from pain and blood loss. "Where Papa?"

"He thought you were dead, too," Tuff explained. "He's out there, fighting that weird pink guy right now. He's acting really weird!"

Before anyone could stop him, Kirby rushed to the entrance of the cave, and sure enough he could see the battle waging. By now, the Galactic Knight had succeeded in landing multiple blows, as had Meta Knight. The brawlers were both injured, but neither was going to give up.

Reaching to get an advantage, the enemy grabbed the strap to Meta Knight's mask. With a quick jerk, he tore the strap completely, expecting that the lack of his mask would hinder him, due to his blindness. However, what was revealed once the mask came off was something no observer had expected.

The mask fell, but the expression on the Puffal's face betrayed no emotion. His expression was totally blank, without any twinge or wrinkle to give away any emotion. The one exception, as usually, was his eyes.

From the moment the battle began, the warrior's eyes had been unviewable. It now became clear why: when the battle had started, they had turned pitch black.

"Kirby," Lalala asked, turning to the little Puffal with a quiet voice, "what does black mean?"

In response, the child shook his head. His own voice betrayed fear, as he had never seen his father like this before. "Don' know."

Without gaining any other expression, Meta Knight charged his enemy, not even bothering with Galaxia this time. Instead, he fought with punches and kicks, striking out with the claws on his wings, and attempting to slam his opponent to the ground.

This suited Galacta Knight just fine. He, too, came to ignore his lance and began to fight in a much more animalistic manner. He had waited too long for this match; he was determined to make the kill.

It soon became clear that this was not a normal dual. This was a fight that, left to run its own course, would have only one end. The opponents were too evenly matched to gain an advantage over the other and too maddened for one to give up and surrender. This was a match that would end up in a mutual kill.

"No!" Kirby cried out when he realized this. He rushed out of the cave, desperate to stop the unstoppable fight.

Or it would have been unstoppable, had circumstanced not intervened. In the sky over where they two brawlers were fighting, a portal opened up and a long tendril of dark energy reached out. Grabbing the Galactic Knight, it pulled him back into the portal and closed up, officially separating the two fighters.

Meta Knight prepared to take to the air to follow his enemy, but was stopped when he felt small arms gripping him. "No, Papa!" Kirby called out, desperately attempting to hold his father back. "Don' go! Stay wiv Kaabii!"

For the first time since the start of the battle, Meta Knight began to sense the outside realm. He could hear and feel Kirby, as well as the other children, calling out for him to calm down. He also began to feel the injuries he sustained through the battle. Weariness began to weigh heavily on him as the rage and adrenaline that had fueled him faded away.

Soon, it was gone completely, and he faded off into blissful oblivion. It was just in time to hear the sounds of a portal opening up.

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"Is it working? Is he waking up?"

"He will soon. Just be patient."

Meta Knight could vaguely here the voices as he started to wake up. He couldn't see anything clearly; only figures made out of light and dark flickered over his vision. That made sense, at the least. It just meant that he currently didn't have his mask. However, he could hear everything clear enough.

"What-what is going on?" He tried to sit up and feel around for his mask, but a sudden and violent burst of pain hit him, sending him falling back into a lying position. He did his best not to move again, and the burst did not repeat itself, though a steady throbbing had taken its place.

"Please, Sir, don't sit up." That was Illandria, one of the Dreamlander doctors. "You are severely hurt from your dual, and any attempt at movement will be detrimental. You should lie still, at least for the next few days."

"You gave us quite the scare." This voice was Rosalyn. "We were worried that we were never going to see you again after you went through the portal."

Meta Knight obeyed the doctor's order not to move, but there were still questions that rang through his head. "Th-the children. Kirby! Where are the children? Did they make it back?"

"They did, and they're all here, thanks to you." This voice was Alivea, who took her brother's paw as she spoke. "Even Kirby. He's hurt, but he'll live. He's already further along in his recovery than we had expected."

"We owe you an immense debt," Turio added. "If you hadn't gotten our son and the others back from that creature, I don't know what we would have done."

"He had my sons too. You owe me nothing." His eyes turned a speckled blue with sadness as he spoke. "In fact, I have much to be ashamed of." He sighed. "When I was facing that creature, I lost my composure, and my head. Had the fight not been interrupted, I might have-"

"You don't need to go on." Lady Rosalyn's voice was firm but gentle. "Tuff already explained what happened. If you hadn't faced Galacta Knight like that, he would have killed you all. You didn't have any choice."

"But the way I went about it was wrong." Meta closed his eyes for a moment; he was thinking of the right was to put his thoughts into words. "Had it just been the fight itself, I would not have this problem. But the way it hit me…the emotions I allowed to take control of me…I wanted to kill him. When I saw Kirby hit and I thought he was dead, it was like a part of me I had never experienced before had taken over."

"It seems, Meta," Rosalyn put in when she heard his explanation, "you had an experience with the Bloodwrath."

"Bloodwrath?" Alivea turned to her mother. "That sounds familiar."

"It should." The older Boxin lady nodded. "It is an affliction that has been known to effect great warriors. It is simply when an animal rage takes over the afflicted, and once it takes over, very little of him is actually left. He will fight and kill, and there is very little that can stop the afflicted, excepting only an end to the fight or his death."

"It was like nothing I have ever experience before, or ever wish to experience again." Meta gave a small laugh. "Well, at least I have a reasonable explanation for why I'm feeling this way right now.

"There is one thing that I must add." Meta's eyes glowed green in contemplation as he spoke. "I'm afraid I have grim news. The creature that I faced, while he had been Galacta Knight once upon a time, is not the old Puffal he used to be."

"We know that." Alivea patted her brother's should as she spoke. "When he attacked Kirby and Lynette, he changed completely and could no longer be called a Star Warrior."

"It's worse than that, I'm afraid," the blue Puffal responded. "He has changed himself completely. Not only has he allowed his quest for revenge to utterly rot him, he has now also made agreements with Nightmare that have changed him physically as well. He no longer goes by his former name, and I hesitate to even call him a Puffal anymore."

There was a moment of silence as those he was speaking to took these words in. Finally, Alivea spoke. "What do you mean, Meta? Why wouldn't he be a Puffal any longer?"

The warrior closed his eyes and took a breath before continuing. "In all your studies of history, have any of you ever heard of a creature known as a Demon Beast?"

No one answered. Though they had not ever heard that name before, there was no questioning the evil that such a name contained.

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"Let me out! Let me out of here!" The Galactic Knight struggled hard against the healing chamber he had been locked up in. "I demand an explanation for why I am being detained!"

"Easy, my friend," Honest John replied, raising his hands. "All will become clear in good time. Just be patient-"

"I'm tired of being patient!" the Demon Beast snarled. "I've waited centuries to kill that cursed Meta Knight! Why was my opportunity snatched away?! I demand an answer!"

The middleman was about to respond when another voice cut him off. "Honest John, you may leave." The dark voice could be heard even before Nightmare came into view. "I will explain everything myself."

"Yes, my lord." Honest John bowed and then turned away.

"Now," the warlock started, turning back to his servant, "you are wondering why I did not allow your dual with Meta Knight to finish, is that correct?"

"It is." The magenta Puffal frowned. "I was promised the death of my enemy in return for my service, and I find that it is snatched away from me!"

"Not exactly." Nightmare's voice was uncommonly low, with almost a purr-like quality to it. "This test of your strength proved you are powerful enough to slay the hated Star Warrior, but he would have met his end far to swiftly if I hadn't intervened."

The Galactic Knight stood back, not quite understanding what he was being told. "What do you mean, my lord?"

"What I mean is that killing Meta Knight now would give him far too swift an end." A cruel grin spread across the warlock's face. "If you had killed him now, he would be dead, but there would be many to remember him honorably. He would have died in the defense of his children, and many would laud his death as an act of heroism. Now, where is the satisfaction of destroying his body if his mind, heart, and spirit remain unscathed?"

"Now," the villain continued, "say you were to break him down first. Shatter his heart. Rot his spirit. Drive him to insanity, to the point where no one will mourn his passing. You wait until that happens, and then you destroy his body. Does that not seem more enticing?"

The Demon Beast stood back for a moment and thought. "That does sound appealing."

"Good!" Nightmare turned to leave, but continued to speak as he left. "Rest up for your next match. Until then, I will set to destroying the enemy's aspects. Starting with the heart!"

To be continued…


	81. Abscense Makes..., Part One

The night wind blew through the small encampments surrounding the little village of Cappy Town. This unusual gathering had encamped in the areas surrounding the little borough in order to be close in order for the Autumn Harvest Festival. In reality, people had been there for weeks, out of curiosity for the village's odder inhabitants, but now that the festival itself was now on the horizon, there were more travelers than ever.

There were even some of the Star Warriors who were staying in and around the town instead of their newly discovered abode, the Fortress Stormholt. Those who has lived in and around the palace returned to their former places of residence for the short time, and those who had been far away took rooms for rent or camped out.

Most of those camping, however, were performers who had come to show off their skill at the festival. One such individual, a heavyset male Bonkers, was at that moment practicing on his drums. He had come to the festival the day before, with the rest of his band-mates, but he hadn't been able to fit in what he considered to be a good amount of rehearsal time. Thus, at the moment, he had gone away a distance to practice on his own.

While he was doing so, a dark figure fluttered off over him. The Bonkers looked up, confused by what he heard, but he could see nothing. Not even the vaguest outline for a creature was apparent, even though he could have sworn he heard a loud flapping, even above his drumming.

Supposing that sleep deprivation was getting to him, the Bonkers put away his drum set for the night. Muttering to himself, he headed back to his campsite.

A distance off from where he had once sat, a large black bat-like creature lay in wait. If the Bonkers had gotten too curious, it would have done the duty its master had given it and slain the musician. Thankfully, he had lost interest in the sound, allowing the bat to go on its way without causing any problems.

This suited the monster just fine. It needed to report back to its master as soon as possible, and an unneeded fight would have just slowed it down.

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The day had finally come! The first day of the Fall Harvest Festival was at hand, and everyone who had come to attend was vastly excited. There so much to do, and everyone was welcome.

In the little square that marked out the Town Center, there were mostly food and game stands. Not only was Nago and Kawasaki selling their own food at discount prices, there were also snack stands run by people from miles around, handing out fresh baked goods, fluffy cotton candy, rich and gooey caramel apples, steaming hot dogs, delicious hamburgers, pizza with extra cheese, funnel cakes covered in powder sugar, and the like. Games had also been set up; ring toss, goldfish catching, and bottle tossing had been set up. Someone had even convinced Chief Bookem and Mayor Len to take turns on the dunking booth, which proved to be a popular stop.

In other areas surrounding the village there were similar stands, but other amusements were set up as well. Tumblers and acrobats spun, flipped, jumped, and flew to the amazement of their viewers. Several slight-of-hand magicians did tricks in the streets. Petting zoos and animal shows showed off the various fauna that Dreamland had to offer. Several Star Warriors, though they had not intended to preform, ended up doing sword dances and sharp shooting contests, amazing tourists and citizens alike with their amazing skills. All through the streets, music filtered everywhere from the various live acts who were preforming in honor of the festival. There were even a few rides set at the edge of town.

Everyone was enjoying themselves with the festivities, but no one could be more enthusiastic than little Kirby. A stick of cotton candy in one paw and a hot dog in the other while dancing to live music seemed to be sheer paradise to the little one.

"Are you enjoying yourself, Kirby?" Ribbon asked as she fluttered down to join him.

Kirby beamed and nodded but didn't say anything. His mouth was too busy enjoying the delectable the festival had to offer. As soon as the hotdog had vanished, the cotton candy went right in his mouth and he was already in the line to get an ice cream sundae.

Ribbon caught the little Puffal's paw when she saw this. "Come on, Kirby. You don't want to spend the whole festival eating, do you?"

Kirby paused for a moment to think. "Kaabii wike eating."

"I know you do, but there's so much other stuff to do." She motioned in a direction opposite of the ice cream cart. "Let's go on the roller coaster, and then I'll buy you the biggest ice cream sundae ever."

"Yay!" The little tot was more jubilant than before and rushed off in the direction on the ride.

Kirby wasn't the only person who was thrilled about the festival. For once, Dedede was massively enjoying himself. Since he had funded a good portion of the festival and had his Waddle Dees working it, there were three things that were music to the Pengu's ears. One, he got to have as much free food as he wanted. Two, he got to do whatever he wanted for a change, without any nagging or reminding of responsibility. Three, whatever funds didn't go to the local businesses or performers went right into his treasury.

"Ya know, 'Dana Dee, I don't know why we don't do this more often." The "king" paused for a moment to take a bite out of his funnel cake before continuing. "This is a blast! Shame it can't go on all year."

"If that happened, then you'd have a Farris wheel in your courtyard year round," the Waddle Dee pointed out.

"Yeah, but if that isn't a picturiffic sight, I don't know what is!" Dedede grinned and motioned to the sight.

He wasn't wrong. The huge ride did make a pleasant centerpiece for the festival, and the way it seemed to frame the Fountain of Dreams was incredibly picturesque. Many of the travelers would stop in front of the scene to get their picture taken.

"Welp, I'm off to go play some of those games!" The pengu turned, clearly excited. "You can make sure everything's gonna go alright for the concert tonight, right?"

"Oh, uh, right, your Highness." Bandanna Dee saluted. "The band is supposed to send their representative soon. I'll talk everything over with then when they arrive."

"Good. I want everything to be perfect." With that, the Pengu turned on his heels and strutted off.

Since the representative wasn't there quite yet, Bandanna decided it was a good moment to get a bit of a break. He leaned against the wall of the palace and rested his eyes for a moment.

His rest didn't last long, though. After what felt like only a minute or two, he was shaken awake as a female voice spoke to him. "Hello? You wouldn't happen to know where a Bandanna Dee is, do you?"

"That would be me." The Waddle Dee said. He continued as he turn, but was stunned by what he saw. "What can I do…uhh…for…"

Standing in front of him was the prettiest Waddle Dee girl he had ever seen. She was a noticeably richer shade of orange than he was, marking her as from a southern Waddle, and she was wearing an upside down sunflower as a sunhat. The fact that she was talking only startled him all the more.

"Oh, good, I found you then." The female Dee smiled in the way that only their race can. "My name is Sunflower Dee. I'm a member of the band the Spectraphones. I was told that I was supposed to talk to you about setting up for our performance tonight before the fireworks. Is that correct?"

Bandanna's brain raced hard as he tried to think of something to say that would be both informative and clever. "Uh, uh-huh, that's right," was all he could get out.

She nodded. "Alright then, so where should we go?"

"Go?" He jumped at the suggestion. "You want to go somewhere? I mean, I know lots of places, but since we just met and all…"

"I mean my band." Sunflower gave him a quizzical look. "Where should my band set up?"

Bandanna could practically feel his face turn bright red. "Oh, yeah, the place you're going to be preforming. That's right. That's what I meant." He pushed himself up and hoped she hadn't noticed his change in color. "Right this way."

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Still feeling somewhat weak from his dual with the Galactic Knight, Meta Knight had opted to move alone through the crowds at the festival. He wasn't feeling up to any rides or games, but still enjoyed the festive atmosphere. Thus, he had tucked one of the volumes from the Stormholt Library under his cape, picked up several treats to snack on, and selected a shady spot to read in. As he read, he couldn't help but overhear the conversation several band members were having nearby.

"...it was the weirdest thing I'd ever felt," a Bonkers drummer was saying to his companions, a redheaded Dreamlander girl and two Cappies. "It was like I was being watched, but there wasn't anything there. Then there was a sound like fluttering."

One of the Cappies shrugged as he adjusted his base. "You were probably just sleep deprived."

The Bonkers scratched his head with his drumstick. "That's what I thought, too. But then, this morning, I went over to the tree I was playing by, and there were these weird claw markings on it. It was like some animal scratched it all up."

"Well, we are nearby a wood," the Dreamlander pointed out. "Maybe a Grizzo came along and scratched it up to sharpen its claws or something."

"If it was a Grizzo, it was the best climbing Grizzo I've ever seen." The Bonkers frowned. "The marks were way high up. Like, higher than even I could reach, and they were big. Whatever made those marks could not be normal."

Before the conversation could go on any longer, a female Waddle Dee, along with Bandanna, called the band over to them, so Meta Knight did not hear any more. That didn't matter all that much. He now had something more important that he'd need to focus on.

Tucking the book back into his cape, he headed into the denser part of the festival. If these words held value to them, then he was going to need some help.

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"Wheee! Poyoeee!" Kirby shouted as loud as his lungs would carry as he rode on the swing ride in the center of town. This was the first year he was big enough to ride on a lot of the rides and he had decided to take advantage of this to his heart's content.

True to her word, once they had gone on the roller coaster, Ribbon had gotten a sundae for Kirby. However, once he had experience one ride, he wanted to experience them all. Thus, he had now set to trying each and every ride at least once, pausing after each one for a quick snack break.

This swing ride in particular was one of the larger rides. As it loomed up, he was sure he could see almost all of Dreamland on it. The view was singularly thrilling to the little Guardian.

As he was riding, there was a brief moment he thought he spotted something in the woods. It was an ivory color and moving fast. He could only catch a glimpse of it before it disappeared. For some reason, seeing it gave the little one a nostalgic feeling of longing, though he couldn't tell why. However, since he had only just saw a little bit of whatever it was, he soon went back to enjoying the ride.

Not everyone who had gotten on was enjoying themselves, though. In particular, a young Cappy sitting several seats away from Kirby began crying when he saw how high up they were going and burst into tears. He continued crying the whole ride, too. It was pretty clear he wasn't enjoying himself.

Kirby wouldn't have minded that much, if it wasn't for what happened afterwards. As everyone was getting off the ride, a Cappy woman, the little Cappy's mother, raced ahead. "It's okay, Tombo," she said, picking up her son and hugging him. "Mommy's here."

A part of the little one felt a bit jealous when he saw this, but he tried to shake it off. Something about seeing that, especially after seeing the ivory thing, got under his skin. However, he wasn't going to focus on that. Today was a day for fun, not to be distracted by others.

Even if that distraction was a reminder that he didn't have a mother anymore.

"Hey! Kirby! Over here!" He turned to the caller and saw that it was Ado and Adeliene who were now with Ribbon and waving to him.

"Kirby, we're going to go get some pizza and try to win some prizes," Ado called out. "Wanna come?"

"Poyo yeah!" Thoroughly distracted by the promise of food, the little Puffal rushed off after them.

As it turned out, however, there wasn't a lot he could do to shake that particular problem from his mind. As he went through his day, it seemed to him that situations involving mothers and their children just appeared everywhere, and it bothered him. He tried not to let it, but he couldn't help it.

He tried playing games, but then he'd see a little Waddle Doo showing her mother the prize she had just won. He'd go on more rides, but it seemed that he'd always end up behind the Waddle Dee with three kittens. Even snacks didn't hold his attention as well, as he'd end up hearing a Dreamlander baby crying as his mother rocked him.

As he was trying to figure out what was going on, the realization hit him. It was that ivory thing in the woods. He still didn't know what it was, but he did know why it was affecting him. He then broke down and started to cry, though he tried to hide it.

He was not successful. "Kirby?" Adeliene scooted closer and patted his back. "Kirby what's wrong?"

Kirby turned and tried to avoid talking about it. However, his friends could tell there was something severely wrong and continued, trying to find out if there was anything they could do to help.

Unable to either calm himself down or get the others to drop the subject, the little one looked up and confessed, tearing up as he said it. "I miss my Mama."

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"Are you sure there's something out here?" Ax asked as he and several other knaves trailed after Meta Knight through the woods. "I mean, this place can get pretty creepy when you are all alone at night. Maybe that guy you heard really was hearing things and there's nothing to worry about."

"Perhaps," the elder warrior said, "or perhaps there is something out here. I would rather be wrong and have wasted my time than be right but have risked lives."

"I suppose that's right." Ax sighed. He wasn't about to say it aloud, but he was kind of upset that they had to leave the festival so soon. He was horrible at hiding this, though.

Seeing his face, his sister laughed. "Look at it this way. If Sir Meta Knight's right, then we'll definitely be having some action." Mace spun her flail around, letting it smash into a log.

"Hush." Meta Knight turned, his eyes tinged red with annoyance. "If we are facing an enemy out here, we do not want to alert them to our presence."

The knaves nodded, following wordlessly through the forest. As they went through the woods, it appeared that nothing was going wrong. All around, the plants and animals were at peace. There didn't seem to be all that much of an issue.

That, is, until they came to the center of the forest.

"I'm don't think there's anything out here." Sword sheathed his Zweihander. "It's all been rather-whoa!" He had shouted out because, at that very moment, a large tree limb had fallen down. He would have wound up crushed underneath it had he not dodged out of the way just in time.

The others gathered around, taking not of his near disaster. "Wow, lucky break," Silica commented. "That thing would have smeared you for sure."

"Huh, it's like the woods were trying to kill you or something," Knuckle Joe commented.

Meta Knight narrowed his eyes. "I do believe someone tried to kill him, though I doubt it is the woods." His eyes glowed green as he spoke, and he leaned in to study the limb.

"What do you mean?" Blade asked. "This forest is old. Dead branches fall down all the time."

"Yes, but this branch was not dead." The elder warrior pointed out the end that had been attached to the tree. "Look at the sap that is dripping out. The wood, too. If this branch had been dead, the wood would have been brown or grey, the end would be splintered, and there would be no sap. However, here the wood has tinges of green and there is sap. The cuts are messy, but they were done so purposefully. I've seen these marks before. They were made by a sword or an ax."

"You mean there is someone in here?" Sword asked. He looked unnerved. "That they tried dropping that on me?"

"There is no certainty," Meta Knight responded as he straightened out. "However, there is a high likelihood. Come. I know where we need to head to next. Hurry!" With that, he took off at a speed his apprentices had a hard time matching.

"Wait, sir!" Silica panted, attempting to keep up with the blue Puffal. "Where are we off to now?"

"There is only one person who knows everything about this forest. If something rotten is going on in Whispy Woods, he is the person you go to for information." The warrior didn't even bother to turn as he spoke. "We are going to have a word with Whipsy, the king of Whispy Woods!"

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"Kirby, it's alright." Ribbon patted the little Puffal's back as she tried to comfort him. "We're still here for you."

Adeleine nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We'll always be here for you, no matter what."

"Besides," Ado added, "if your Mom were still around, I sure she wouldn't want you to sit here all sad. She'd want you to be out there enjoying yourself."

Kirby wiped at his tears. Truth be told, these were things he had already told himself, but he couldn't let his friends down. Calming down, he gave a faint grin. "'Kaabii bettah now."

"You sure?" Ribbon asked.

The little one nodded. "Uh-huh. Just tiyud. Gonna go to Kaabii pawace home and nap."

"Do you want us to come with you?" There was a lot of concern in Ado's voice as she spoke.

"Uh-uh. Kaabii can go home." With that, the child pushed himself up and headed out.

As he walked, he couldn't help but feel a bit bad about not telling his friends the whole truth. After all, they were trying to help him, and they couldn't help if he didn't let them.

Still, this was an issue he really didn't want help with. He could hardly remember his mother, so he wasn't certain why it was bothering him all that much. That ivory thing had triggered it, but he wasn't sure why.

When he got closer to his house, he looked out and saw the woods looming a distance off. Whatever it was that he had seen, it had been out there. Maybe if he went out and tried to discover just what it was that he had seen, then he'd have some idea of why it was making him feeling the way he was.

That was it. He had to go out there and find out just what that thing was, and then maybe he could get some peace of mind about that whatever it was.

He quickened his pace and rushed back to his house. Once within, he grabbed a blanket and spread it out. Kirby then began piling everything he might need for the trip: a flashlight, some snacks, a pillow, a compass, some snacks, a map, a small phone he had been given, and a few more snacks. Tying up the little bundle, he tossed it into a basket backpack and hurried out.

Outside, the woods seemed to beckon. Without a second thought, he hurried off, eager to find out just what it was that he had glimpsed out there.

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Finding Whispy proved to be a more difficult feat that they had previously assumed. The ruler of the forest had the ability to appear wherever he so pleased within his domain, so even though he tended to stay towards the heart of the wood, if he had taken to wandering around, it could take hours to figure out where he was.

Indeed, it took hours. After the first thirty minutes, Meta Knight slowed down to allow his knaves a rest and allowing a slower pace. However, after three hours and four more such rests, the knight was becoming concerned that this was not the most efficient form of searching.

He raised his hand, calling for another halt. "Wait here. I'm going to take flight and see if I can't find him from the air." With that, he spread his wings and took to the sky.

"How long do you think we've been out here?" Blade asked as he slumped against a tree.

Silica glanced up into the sky. "Well, from the sun, it's late afternoon, almost evening." She sighed. "It's like ol' Whispy doesn't want to be found."

"Maybe, but Meta Knight's right," Joe said, plucking a long stem of grass and chewing on it. "If anyone's going to have an idea about what's going on here, it's Whispy."

"Still, I wish we didn't have to trek all this way to figure that out." Ax took off his sabatons as he sat on a rock. "My feet are killing me."

As he spoke, a figure materialized behind him. It was a bulky hulk of a figure, with a huge sword pulled up. It held the weapon menacingly over its target.

"Ax, watch out!" Sword shouted. Springing to his feet, the knave rushed forward and pushed his team mate aside. He was just in time, too, as right at that moment, a huge scimitar blade smashed down on the stone, shattering it to pieces.

It's position now revealed, the monster revealed itself. It was a huge creature, covered head to toe in armor with an enormous scimitar in one hand. Furthermore, it stood, hunched over and with huge tusks coming out of the visor of its helmet.

"What the heck is that thing?" Mace asked, looking in shock at the hulking brute.

Her brother, who had already gotten to his feet, took her hand and started running. "I don't know, but I don't think he likes us very much."

"Let's get out of here!" Silica raised her gun as she shouted out, providing cover fire as the creature trundled after them.

The teens fled as fast as their feet would take them, and they were soon able to get ahead of their pursuer. It seemed that they were home free.

Then they ran into a cliff wall.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have to fight." Blade took out his broadsword and turned to face their enemy.

"How hard can it be?" Joe laughed, trying to sound confident. "After all, it's six on one."

Sword shook his head. "Make that four on one." Pointing out, he motioned to the three other creatures that had joined the first. These were also big, and had huge leathery wings and horns, and each was wielding a giant sword.

"Well, guys," Ax sighed. "It looks like we're doomed."

To be continued…


	82. Abscense Makes..., Part Two

After Meta Knight took to the air, it became easier for him to seek out his target. Whispy had a tendency to expand whatever tree it was what he was currently using, and thus all the Puffal had to do was locate where the largest tree in the forest was.

It didn't take him long to find his quarry. There, towards the back edge of the forest, stood a huge tree that seemed to quiver in the wind. Flapping his wings to get a jolt of speed, he dodged down and headed to where the huge tree was in wait.

"Greetings, Whispy Woods," he started as he descended. "I was hoping to-" Before he could finish his sentence, however, he was ensnared in multiple thick vines. They wrapped around him, constricting his paws and wings, and more came out binding his hooves.

Now completely trapped, he was hauled to face Whispy Woods himself. The huge, ancient tree did not look happy. "You've fooled me for the last time, monster!" the tree bellowed. "I will show you what happens when you and your ilk come to destroy my forest!" The roots began tightening and covering over Meta Knight, threatening to bury the Puffal alive.

"Whispy! Wait!" The warrior struggled to cry out. "It's me! Meta Knight!"

Hearing his voice, Whispy seemed to calm down. Loosening his hold, he uncovered the captive, taking off the mask so that he could get a good look at the Puffal's face. "Oh! It is you, Sir Meta Knight. Sorry about that." He then set the knight down, returning the mask. "I thought you were someone else."

"Whatever it was must have been something serious." Meta Knight rubbed the life back into his paws, which were still tingling from the experience. "You would not have such a severe reaction unless something bad was going on."

"Something bad is the understatement of a lifetime." The wood's ruler frowned. "It only happened just recently. Six creatures appeared in my woods. All but one was covered up in armor, and all but one looked like they were Puffals of some sort. I assumed they were some of your Star Warriors, so I allowed them to move through my forest unhindered."

The blue Puffal closed his eyes in thought. "My guess is that didn't turn out well."

Whispy shook his boughs. "No. They went around, destroying my trees, murdering my animals. I've had to hide all of my inhabitants to keep them away from these creatures."

"I seem to be on the right trail then." Meta Knight opened his eyes once more and turned to Whispy. "I had heard rumors from some of the travelers who were staying near the woods of large flying creatures that seemed to be causing havoc in the woods. I and my students came here to find out if the rumors were true. Along the way, a living tree limb fell, almost striking one of my apprentices. It seemed to me that we caught onto someone's plan, and they were trying to stop me.

"Now, if I am to find and stop these creatures, I will need help." Meta Knight's eyes flashed with determination. "Will you help me in my quest?"

"Just tell me what to do," Whispy responded. "The sooner I'm rid of these parasites the better."

"Thank you, my friend." Meta Knight bowed before taking to the air once more. "I will search from the sky, and you can search from the trees. If you find any trouble that might lead me to the creatures, send a signal. I will alert my apprentices to the situation, and they will come as well." With that, he took to the air.

Once there, Meta Knight began scanning for anything resembling his students or the creatures. His search was not in vain; nearly as soon as he reached the sky, he spotted a huge shadow moving over the woods in direction of the field. However, what he saw was too large to be even one of the creatures. It looked more like a vehicle.

Meta Knight soon realized what it was, and a great relief came to him. It seemed they would have help after all.

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"And one! Two! Three!" The leader of the Spectraphones, the Dreamlander Larah Ynx, called out as the band began their practice. The band had set up in front of the huge Farris wheel and were now practicing for the concert tonight.

In front, a small group had gathered to watch the practice, but few were paying close attention. One of the few who were was Bandanna Dee, who, indeed, seemed unable to tear his eyes away from the stage. He seemed mesmerized by the performance.

One person's performance, at least. He hadn't looked away from Sunflower the moment she had stepped up to take her place at the keyboard. Bandanna had never heard of a Waddle Dee who had joined a band before, and it was somewhat amazing to him to see her so confident in her performance. He sometimes wished he could be that confident.

He almost didn't notice when a voice called over to him. "Hey! Bandanna Dee! Get here right now! You got to fix this problem for me!"

"Yeah, she is amazing, isn't she," the Waddle Dee mumbled back. "I could just watch all day…"

"Well, you'd better not, or else you'll be searching for a new job tomorrow!" the voice said, clearly annoyed with his distraction.

This startled the Waddle Dee out of his mesmerized state, and he turned to see and irritated looking Dedede glowering. "Oh! Your highness! I didn't notice you there!" Bandanna swiftly pulled his spear up into a salute. "Uh, how long have you been standing there."

"Long enough to realize that you care more about making goo-goo eyes at some singer than do your job," the Pengu scowled. "I thought you were never going to respond!"

"I'm up and ready now, sir," Bandanna said, dropping the spear. "What can I do for you."

"That's more like it." Dedede turned, motioning for the Waddle Dee to follow him. "Something's wrong with Mrs. Mufflerkins. She's freaking out, and I can't figure out what's wrong with her."

The dutiful Dee followed. "I'll take a look, sire, but I'm not much of a vet. We might need to call in someone from one of the villages in the area."

"Nonsense," the Pengu said with a snort. "She's not sick, she's just freaked out. Besides, a vet would expect me to pay them."

"Yes, sire." Bandanna shook his head, making a mental note to call the vet himself once Dedede wasn't paying attention.

Once they got down to the stable, however, it became clear that Dedede was right on at least one account. Physically, there wasn't anything wrong with the big Wheelie. She was moving around just as she was supposed to, but there was something in her demeanor that just wasn't right. It was like something or someone had spooked her.

The Waddle Dee stepped into the stable, doing his best to attempt to calm her down. "Hey, girl. It's alright, girl. You know me, right?"

The Wheelie paused for a moment and looked down at Bandanna. For a moment, she seemed to calm down. Then, a look came into the animal's eyes of some sort of panic, and she started up her rush anew. Bandanna could only just get out in time to avoid getting run over.

"Well?" Dedede asked once Bandanna came out. "What's going on? Why's she acting like this?"

"Frankly, I don't know." The guard adjusted his headgear as he answered. "It's kind of like she's been frightened by something, but I can't tell what."

"Can you get her to stop?" Dedede asked, losing what little patience he usually had.

Bandanna shook his head. "I'm afraid not, sire. All we can do is wait, hope she'll calm down on her own, and hope whatever it was that spooked her isn't too serious."

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As Kirby continued on his own quest through the forest, he couldn't help but go over in his head the odds of what was going to happen. He didn't dare hold onto the hope that whatever it was that he saw was his mother. She'd been dead ever since the last time he'd seen her. His eyes misted up at the thought of it.

That said, a part of him still had to know. Even if all he found was an abandoned balloon, the journey would be worth it. At the very least, it would give him something to do to get his mind off of his recently resurfaced problems.

As he walked along, he decided that, at the very least, he could amuse himself with at song. Tapping out the beat with his hooves, he struck into a cheery little march that he hoped would raise his spirits.

This attempt worked. Thoroughly cheered by his song, the little one began skipping as he moved through the woods, certain that whatever he would run into, he could deal with it.

His song was about to hit its high note when suddenly a cry rang out, mingling with his own voice. Hearing this, Kirby froze, unnerved by the shrill cry. However, he was determined not to let it stop him. Thus, he looked around, seeking something to copy.

Unable to find anything that really seemed useful, but unwilling to leave the area unprotected, he inhaled several of the surrounding leaves. In a flash, he turned into Leaf Kirby.

Hiding his pack under a nearby stump, the little Puffal crept closer to where he had heard the cry emanating from. There, he found to his shock and horror that Meta Knight's older students were there. They had been cornered by four huge armor-clad monsters wielding sword. What's more, while the students outnumbered the monsters, they appeared to be less skilled and thus at a disadvantage.

Kirby thought quickly. Using his leaf ability, he summoned up a huge whirlwind of leaves and sent it into the fray. That seemed do they trick; the monsters, already somewhat constricted in the way of vision by their masks, were unable to locate their prey through the blinding leaves. Furthermore, Kirby was able to limit the flurry so that it only effected the creatures, leaving his allies in the clear.

"C'mon!" He waved his arms to get the teens' attention. "Come wiv Kaabii!"

They looked surprised to see who their rescuer was, but not unwilling to accept his help. Taking to their heels, they fled from the flurry, working to get as far away from the creatures as possible.

Their trail, however, was made more difficult as soon as they began running. Kirby was unable to keep up the smokescreen of leaves while moving away from the area where it had been started, and as a result, the monsters were soon able to take up the chase.

The children kept up their pace as best they could. However, the teens were already worn out from their previous confrontation with the creatures and the wounds inflicted in the battle were starting to make themselves more apparent.

To make matters worse, the creatures didn't seem to be having any of the effects in the least. The only thing that seemed to be handicapping any of them was the fact that the armor they wore weighed them down. The non-Puffal like creature especially suffered from this, considering its lack of wings. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be effecting them as badly as sheer exhaustion was effecting their prey.

Eventually, the pursuit came to a halt as they reached a thicket of trees too dense to push through. To make matters worse, Blade and Ax were far to injured to take part in the inevitable battle, and Silica could only participate because of her gun.

It was at this moment that the creatures caught up to their cornered prey. They came in slowly, wielding their weapons high in the anticipation of a kill.

Realizing the situation they were in, Kirby tried to push ahead. Summoning up as many leaves as he could, he began charging his attack to unleash at his foes.

His charge never came. As he prepared to charge at his enemies, two other attack shot out of nowhere. A ginormous Sword Beam sliced through the tree line, cutting a deep ditch between the monsters and their targets. Following this, three large stars smashed into the creatures, pushing them back and tossing up dirt and dust in a blinding spree.

Turning around to look up, the kids saw who it was that saved them. Meta Knight swooped down, depositing Sir Daroach on the ground before joining them.

"You need to hurry out of this place," the Puffal said, not even bothering to look at his students. "At the edge of the forest, the _Zephyr II_ is waiting. Go now; we will join you soon." There was a clamor of assent and the kids took off running as fast as they could.

The mouse twirled his staff as he faced the enemy. "Well, well, it appears we've found those creature that Whispy Woods told you about, my friend." He gave a devil-may-care smirk. What do you say we show them was happens when you threaten such a fine ecosystem."

"Gladly," Meta responded. His eyes flashed green as the sense of nostalgia rose in him. "After you."

"Quite good of you," Daroach responded before rushing off to meet the enemy head on. Meta Knight followed close after him, and the clash of metal on metal rang throughout the trees.

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At the festival, the party was waging on. As the afternoon drew to the evening, the party goers mostly gathered to the large stage that had been set up for the Spectraphone's concert. There were still a few people who were wandering around at the rides and attraction, but most everyone had gathered to watch the performance.

What a performance it was! As soon as the band started up, everyone either stood still listening or got up and danced. Indeed, it was a performance unlike any other.

Finally having the option to get away, Bandanna Dee stood near the stage. He had gotten a perfect view of the stage, and he was thoroughly enjoying himself. Even the crowd, which usually would have been overwhelming, hardly phased him.

"Alright, everyone!" Larah called out as the band switched to a new song. "Now we're going to play "The One." This next number's a real crowd pleaser, but we're going to need all your help! Sunflower and I are going to be trading off on the verses, but one the chorus, we're going to need you to help us belt it out. Can you guys do that?"

There was a loud cry as the audience called out in affirmation. However, the Dreamlander girl shrugged, tossing several locks of brown hair over her shoulder. "I don't think they can handle it. What do you think, Crash?"

The Bonkers drummer shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe if you give 'em another chance?" He raised his arms to the crowd, who let out a roar of applause in response.

Larah pumped a fist in the air. "Well, if you're all ready to go, then let's go!" With that, she started into a rock song about two sisters seeking the right ones for their lives, to no avail. Between Larah's portrayal of the tomboyish alto sister and Sunflower's girly-girl soprano sister, the crowd half sang, half shouted out the qualification in the chorus.

As the song drew near the end, it came to a point where the girls found the one right for them, and they would select two guys from the crowd (who were, according to the song, brothers). Bandanna's heart just about stopped when he realized that Sunflower was beckoning him on. As he moved onto the stage, he could almost feel every eye land on him.

Terror briefly gripped him and every muscle tensed up…until Sunflower took his paw and sang her part of the bridge, looking directly at him. In that moment, he wasn't up on a stage with all of Cappy Town staring at him. It was just him and her in that moment. He hardly even noticed the band or the Dreamlander warrior who had come up with him.

He had to notice, however, when the monsters landed on the stage.

They struck down like a lightning bolt, scattering everyone on the stage and shattering the wood. In that brief moment following the strike, there was silence. No one could move for the shock. They could only stay and stare at the creatures that had caused the interruption.

There, in the middle of the stage, were two huge monsters, one a blueish male and the other an ivory female. In basic shape, they were like Puffals, but the resemblance ended there. Both had a huge pair of bat-like wing that ended in a claw.

The male was heavily armored, which made it impossible to tell what he truly looked like. His armor was vaguely familiar, though, and he wielded a large battle ax.

The female lacked the armor, which made it easier to see her. This did not help much, though, considering the fact that her facial features were frighteningly distorted. She had her lips drawn back in a snarl, which revealed a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

Unlike their victims, these creatures were not suffering from any shock. Thus, they had no trouble in initiating an attack. The male dodged off in the direction of the crowd only to be interrupted by the Dreamlander from earlier. The female, however, turned to the band.

Mouth open, she prepared to pounce on the female Cappy. The victim cowered down, not sure what to do, but was saved when her attacker was hit in the face by a swung lighting fixture.

"Hey!" Sunflower shouted out. She had the wire of a downed lamp in one paw, and was prepared to swing again. "Why don't you try me on for size?!"

The female monster let out a guttural snarl and lunged at the Dee. Without hesitation, Sunflower swung the lamp again. Unfortunately, this time the monster was ready. Catching the weapon in one claw, she smashed it to pieces. With the other claw, she attack Sunflower, tearing the girl's headgear off and cutting her right down the side.

Sunflower hadn't been hurt severely by the attack, but she was stunned and loosing blood. Seeing this, the monster charged at her, but once again was cut off, this time when she was hit with the butt of a spear.

Bandanna Dee wasn't entirely sure what he was doing. All he knew was that he saw Sunflower trying to stand up for her friends and being attacked for it. Without a thought, he snatched up his spear and charged in.

His blow made contact and hit harder than any he had ever delivered before. The monster was not only hit, but was thrown back several feet. All the Waddle Dee could do was glance down at his spear in shock. He hadn't been aware he could do that.

There wasn't much time for him to process that though. Nearly as soon as she had been knocked back, the monster got back up. She let out a guttural shriek and charged at him. It was too late to run. All he could do was brace himself and hope he was up to the task of defending himself.

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"Man, these guys are better than we supposed," Daroach commented as he and Meta Knight battled against the four armored monsters. "Where do you think they came from?"

"I can't be certain," the Puffal answered, dealing a hard kick to the green armored one with wings, "but I found several passages in the archives about creatures called Demon Beasts."

"I think I remember you mentioning something about them." Daroach shot out a freeze beam, hitting a monster with a red fringe. The hit froze the monster's wings and sent him crashing into his wingless companion. "Those were the creature affected by Demon Beast Serum. You said the Galacta Knight turned into one of those creatures."

"That's right, but there's something wrong here," Meta Knight responded.

"Wrong?" Daroach turned so that he and his companion were back to back. "More wrong than a bunch of deformed monsters popping out of nowhere, attacking the forest, and attempting to kill your students? That seems pretty much in the profile of a Demon Beast to me."

"Yes, but these creatures aren't behaving like Galacta Knight was." The knight paused as he dealt a kick to one of the monsters' face before going on. "When I faced him, he was totally in his own mind. He could speak and he knew who he was dealing with. These creatures don't seem to have any amount of self-awareness."

"Perhaps these are automatons? Or some witless animal that was corrupted?" the mouse suggested.

"Perhaps," Meta Knight said with a nod. "But we cannot tell for sure."

"I have a way of telling." The mouse wrapped his cape around himself, briefly disappearing and reappearing on the shoulders of the wingless monster. With a swift movement, he jammed the handle of the Triple Star at the base of the creature's helmet and gave a hard push.

This did the trick, as the helmet came off. Once the creature was vulnerable, Daroach swung hard, striking the creature's bared head, stunning it and sending it toppling over.

Meta Knight froze when he saw the creatures face. The monster was twisted and deformed, but through it all, he realized he knew who it was. "F-father?" the blue Puffal said slowly, he eyes flashing red broken by white.

Sure enough, the huge creature had clearly once been the Boxin Heavy Knight. He had been forced to grow through whatever evil serum he had been given, and he now had heavy tusks jutting out from his jaw, but the resemblance was unmistakable.

The pause that the blue Puffal had was the enterance that their foes were waiting for. Taking advantage of the opening, the remaining three creatures lunged for the Puffal. Only a barrage of charged stars from Daroach stopped them from reaching their prey.

This attack only gave the startling revelation more fuel. The blasts had knocked off the weakened masks, revealing the twisted faces of the other creatures. "By Nova!" Daroach cried out. "It's Sir Galahad! Sir Arthur and Sir Percival, too!"

Sure enough, now unmasked, it could be seen that the Puffal like creatures _were_ the Star Warriors. However, they were heavily twisted and it was clear they could not remember the younger warriors. Daroach and Meta Knight could only stand still in shock.

Their foe were not hobbled by such emotions. By now, even the creature that had been Heavy Knight had recovered from the stunning blow. They had recovered their weapons and were prepared to attack their horrified opponents.

This would have ended in disaster for the defenders, if it hadn't been for the sudden sound the broke through the forest. An ear rending shriek cut through the peace of the forest air. Hearing it, the creatures paused for a moment before letting out shouts of their own. Once finished, the winged creatures took to the air and Heavy Knight took off running. In a moment, the peace had returned to the forest.

"No." That was all Daroach could find within himself to say. "No, it couldn't be. Our old masters…are the ones corrupted by that terrible formula?"

"I don't want to believe it either," Meta Knight responded, shaking himself, "but we can't stay here and idle. We had best get to the _Zephyr II_. From there we can get to Stormholt and pick up backup. Something tells me the battle to come will not be easy."

"Agreed," Daroach said, and they turned to head to the ship. Though their own hearts were heavy from the shock, they knew they had no choice. If they did not find a way to stop their corrupted mentors, many innocents would die.

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At the Festival, things were going bad. The monsters were still running amuck. Thankfully, the handful of Star Warriors who had decided to attend the festival were able to fight back against the creatures.

The battle was still hard. The majority of the warriors worked on handling the male creature, since he was heavily armored and armed. With their hands full, that meant that there were only two who could attempt to assist Bandanna with the female.

Letting out another shriek, she charged at Bandanna again, swiping with the claws on one wing. She barely missed as he dodged back, giving an opening for the Boxin fighter and the Star Jumper Puffal to leap in.

As the two trained warriors dealt directly with the female, the Waddle Dee looked around to try to figure out some way to stop the monster's rampage. He soon spotted it in the form of a thick tarp that was lying nearby. The tarp had been left near in case the weather changed, so that the stands could be covered over to protect them from the rain. They were thick; thick enough, perhaps, to hold the female prisoner without her clawing her way free.

Snatching up the tarp, he dashed ahead. "Hey, watch out!" he called out to the two warriors. "I've got an idea!"

The Boxin and the Puffal stepped back, confused by his charge but responding in time to it. Taking the opportunity, Bandanna flung the heavy tarp over the creature, trapping her underneath.

"I see what you're doing!" The Boxin declared. He turned to the Puffal. "C'mon, let's help!" The duo rushed over, grabbing the edges of the tarp and tying them shut.

Once that work was done, the female creature was trapped within. She was still thrashing and gnawing, but she couldn't escape the thick trap.

Nearby, those who had been fighting the male had a similar tactic. They had focused on the fact that the male creature was wearing heavy armor and took this to their advantage by moving as fast as possible to tire him out. Once the creature was sufficiently exhausted, they were able to catch him in some of the steel cables used for holding the rides up. Both creatures were securely caught.

"Alright, guys, good job." Bandanna panted as he walked alongside the Boxin and the Puffal. "So, what do we do now? How do we kill those things?"

"Kill them? Are you bloodthirsty?" The Puffal GSA member looked in shock.

"Relax, Phillip." Another Puffal, this one a female, said as she walked over to them. "He was never there. He doesn't know who they are."

"Who they are?" Bandanna gave a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

"These creatures," the girl answered, "are Dr. Lynettenaito and Sir Lancelot, two members of the GSA. We could tell who Mrs. Naito was immediately, but we figured out who Sir Lancelot was quickly too." She glanced over to where the creatures were being pulled. "We have no idea why they were acting the way they were, but if we can help them, we have to find a way."

"Hey! Eyes forward!" The Dreamlander warrior from before whistled to catch everyone's attention. "Fight's not over quite yet!" He pointed out, and sure enough, charging over the edge the woods came four more of those creatures. The light of battle flashed in their eyes, and the defenders had only moments to prepared themselves.

To be continued…


	83. Abscense Makes..., Part Three

A loud cry rang out when the defenders spotted the new coming creatures. Nearby, those not so battle ready turned to flee. "Jillian!" the male Star Jumper called out to the female. "Join up with Alexara and try to get the civilians inside the palace. They should be safe there."

"Got it!" Jillian nodded before motioning to the frightened crowd. "Alright, everyone who can't fight, come with me." She herded the people in the direction of the file, joining up with a Boxin fighter who was doing the same.

The male Star Jumper turned to Bandanna Dee, who had turned to help the injured Sunflower to her feet. "You two had better go join them. They'll have medical supplies available, and it will get you away from the immediate danger."

"We can help!" Sunflower argued as she was helped to her feet.

"He's right," Bandanna said, supporting her as they turned. "We'd be better help at the palace. There's a supply of spears there; once you've got that cut bandaged up, we can get something that will do a lot more damage than a lamp." She conceded to the point and the two of them headed in the direction of the palace.

Now that the evacuation of the civilians was underway, the warriors turned to see just what sort of creatures they were going to be facing. They recognized the faces of their long missing leaders near immediately. The question was not who they were facing. No, now they had to figure out if there was a way to stop them without injuring them that would minimize casualties.

It was clear that wasn't going to be easy. The creatures looked out over the fairground, their weapons gleaming in the fading light. In response, the warriors gathered together and prepared for the fight of their lives.

The monsters let out a roar and prepared to charge. However, before their charge could go underway, long tendril like roots shot out, entwining the creatures where they stood. At the edge of the forest, the face of Whispy Woods soon materialized. "Hurry, friends of Sir Meta Knight!" the ancient tree called out. "I can only hold these creatures back for so long before they break loose!"

That seemed to shake the same fighting force out of their shock. The officers there turned, sending out orders to their underlings to try to figure out some way to disarm the creatures. After all, without their weaponry, these monsters shouldn't be harder to take down than a common NME made monsters.

Unfortunately, this was a feat easier said than done. Even though the beasts were put at a disadvantage by the roots, they were still huge and crazy as all else. It was clear that a struggle was going to come, whether those who were going to participate liked it or not.

To make matters even worse, Whispy soon began to lose his grasp. The ancient tree was strong, but even he didn't have the pure power to hold them back indefinitely. As the warriors fought to try to disarm their allies turned enemies, the straining of the roots were becoming more and more obvious.

The failure of the system became clear when the first of several large cracking sounds came, signaling that the monsters were coming free. In the end, the pain of the breaking roots became too great for Whispy, and he was forced to let go of his grip and retreat back into his domain.

This attempt, while it had been unsuccessful, had been beneficial in that it had bought the warriors enough time to get all the civilians away. When the creatures broke free, there were no one around who would not be able to defend themselves from the monstrosities.

Unfortunately, since those warriors who were there were already suffering from the effects of exhaustion, this was a cold comfort. They were determined to put up a fight against the creatures, but their strength was already beginning to fail. All they could hope was that they could hold the creatures who had once been their friends back long enough for help to arrive.

As soon as the monsters broke free from their root imprisonment, they charged ahead at the warriors. Even though they had been fighting as well, they did not appear to be suffering from the same negative effects their opponents were. It looked like a slaughter was imminent.

Indeed, it looked bad at the start, with the monsters' charge injuring several of the warriors. In particular, Before things became utterly bleak, however, hope arrived. A Sword Beam came crashing to the ground, startling all into looking up. There, against the horizon, came the _Zephyr II,_ followed closely by three other ships, carrying troops from the Star Warrior collection. Meta Knight was flying ahead, sword in one paw.

Swooping down, the Knight lead the charge on the creatures, intending to catch them there to stop the rampage. Unfortunately, the creatures caught wind of what was going to happen. As if sensing that the moment the ships touch the ground, the creature who had once been Sir Arthur raised his sword and cut down, causing a dark rift to open in the very air. The Star Warriors attempted to stop them, but their try was in vain. Before they could land a meaningful attack, the creatures entered into the rift that after they went in vanished, leaving no clue as to how they escaped.

The ships had also opened fire on the creatures in an attempt to keep them from escaping. However, their attempts were also all for naught. Without any other options, the ships landed and the captains of the four ships gathered together.

"They've escaped!" Isaac the Star Jumper called out in dismay as he exited his ship. He turned to Meta Knight. "Do you have any idea where they could have gotten away too?"

"I have no idea." The Puffal's eyes turned a pale red in frustration. "When I faced this sort of creature before, he had the ability to escape into a portal, though I do not know if that place is even in the same dimension as this world."

"It is of no matter." Lady Alivea took off her helmet so as to speak with more ease to those around her. "Either they will return or we will seek them out. Either way, this is far from over. We must recover our friends."

"Agreed," Sir Ebrum said as he joined them, "but first we must attend to the situation at hand and find out what had happened here in out absence."

It was at that moment that a Star Jumper ran up, throwing a salute as he did so. "My lords and lady!" he called out. "I've come to report! We have some rather unsettling news about those creatures."

"Thank you, Corporal Lionel," Meta Knight responded, returning the salute. "I am aware about what sort of enemy you were facing. We had fought them ourselves within the woods."

"We know their identities as well," Daroach added in. "Unfortunately, it seems something has come over the council members we thought dead, and there are at least two more. I suppose Sir Lancelot is one of them, though I'm hard pressed to guess who the other is."

"I'm afraid that's the bad news," Lionel put in. "We were attacked by the other two not ten minutes before your arrival. One of them was Sir Lancelot. The other, Sir Meta Knight, was your wife."

"What!" This revelation hit the blue Puffal hard. From Kirby's description of the event, he had assumed Lynette was dead. "That can't be! She was on board the _Solarian_ when it collapsed!"

The corporal shook his head. "I don't know how any of them survived their deaths, sir, but it's them alright. We have the duo right over there." He motioned over to where the two creatures had been imprisoned.

At that moment, however, there was nothing to be seen. The cables used to bind Lancelot were cut and left in pieces, and the tarp was shredded with holes. "What! They were there a moment ago!" Lionel looked around in panic for the escapees.

"They must have escaped in the chaos with the others," Alivea said as she bent over to examine the destroyed prisons. "We'll find them when we find the other four. There's no way they are getting away that easy."

Standing straight, she then turned to Isaac and Daroach. "See if you can't get the wounded to your ships. They'll need to get to the infirmary at Stormholt pronto."

"Of course, my lady," Daroach said with a bow.

"Right on it!" The yellow Puffal threw a salute before running off.

Before going to do the same herself, Alivea turned to Meta, who had been standing still and silent since the identity of the last two creatures had been revealed. "Do you wish to return to Stormholt? I know Mama took it hard to find out Papa was one of the things."

Meta Knight blinked back tears and shook his head. "No. It pains me to learn of Lynette's fate, but there has to be something that can be done to fix this, and I have to work to get there."

"You said Demon Beasts were made using Dark Matter, right?" his sister asked after a moment's thought.

The knight nodded in response. "Yes. The Demon Beast serum is made using what is left from dead Dark Matter. I believe it was for this purpose that Nightmare revived Zero."

"Well, didn't you say the Fairy Kingdom on Ripple Star had a weapon that could separate a person from the Dark Matter possessing them?" She gestured to where the Fountain of Dreams stood, several yards away. "Might it not be in our interests to see if it will work here?"

Realization dawned on Meta Knight, and he nodded. "Quite right! There is a great chance that the Heart Rod could work to separate out the Demon Beast serum just as it does living Dark Matter. If that were the case, we would have a chance of curing our friends of this illness."

Springing up, he spread his wings. "I must seek out Miss Ribbon. She is the ambassador here, so she will be able to help. I will reunite with you at Stormholt as soon as possible." With that, he took off to the skies, determination filling his heart.

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In the dark gloom that perpetually overcast the kingdom of Nightmare, the dark warlock himself was busy overlooking the next steps of his plans. "All has gone well, for the most part," he said to Honest John, who was standing close at hand. "The Demon Beasts have unleashed their chaos, destroying a good portion of that wretched village. Furthermore, the warriors know who their opponents are. What could be more demoralizing than having to face your own friends, your own family, in battle?" The dark being let out a cackle. "All is going according to plan."

"Of course, my lord," the crony said, bowing. "They have returned only a few minutes ago and are resting up. However, there is one problem with the creatures?"

"Which is?" Nightmare asked, though his voice did not betray surprise.

"Because the test subjects used for this batch of Demon Beast serum were not willing, they are reduced in intellect to ravenous beasts, unlike the Galactic Knight." John pressed several buttons on a nearby screen, causing the figures he was speaking about to come onscreen.

"I was aware of this," the warlock responded almost dismissively. "The red Puffal was ideal for the serum; the hatred already flowing through his veins made him receptive to the charms of the serum. This allowed for his intelligence to remain, despite the effect of the potions. Not all victims can be that ideal, and I am willing to use dumb brutes as well as clever servants."

"I am aware of that, my master, but a new complication has come up," the middleman continued. "You see, it appears that if the subject does not want the transformation, the effects are temporary."

"What!?" Nightmare spun around and for a moment looked as if he was about to strike down his servant. However, he restrained himself and pulled back. "What do you mean? All the previous tests proved that the change was permanent."

Honest John straightened up. The sudden burst of temper had clearly caught him off guard, and it took him a second to recover. "Well, sir, all the previous tests had been done on the Galactic Knight or on the other victims shortly after their infusion. However, after their last mission, it is becoming clear that the serum is quickly fading away. The Boxin and the purple Puffal started changing back especially fast, and as their intelligence returned, they began muttering about their sons."

"There must be some effect that seeing their loved ones has on the intellect buried beneath the beast." Nightmare closed his eyes, trying to think of a solution. "It is a shame that Zero has escaped; it would have been useful to get more of the Dark Matter to experiment with. We shall have to look into this side effect closer with the remaining serum. However, that can wait until after we have brought the Star Warriors to their knees."

Once he had mused to himself, he turned once more to his servant. "Put the Demon Beasts under another dose of the serum, a heavier dose this time, and then send them back to the battle field."

"But sir, we only have so much of the serum," Honest John pointed out. "We already know that the effect is not permanent on those subjects, so why are we attempting to use them again?"

"The serum may not be permanent, but it works." Nightmare turned, not bothering to look back as he spoke. "Once they are transformed, there is nothing they can do to stop themselves. We don't need them to stay monsters, only to stay monsters long enough to deal the crippling blow to their allies. I have a plan that they can perform to lead the warriors into a potions ready for their deaths, which is why there must be excess serum on them. Once they have done so, they will have permission to die. Now, do as you are ordered."

The middleman was still hesitant about that course of action, but he knew better than to argue. "As you wish, my lord," he said, giving a low bow.

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Within the palace, peace seemed to have finally come over the inhabitants. The wounded had been tended too and the monsters were gone, so those who had been moving for cover were able to relax once more.

Thus, Meta Knight did not have too much difficulty in moving through the crowds. What he did have problems with was finding Ribbon.

As he searched for her, it turned out someone else was searching for him. "Meta Knight!" Dedede's voice could have shattered glass. "There you are, ya worthless lay about!"

Meta Knight groaned when he heard the voice. This was the last thing he needed to deal with at the moments. "Sire, I am rather busy at the moment. If you could just speak to me at another time…"

"You'd better make time, ya hear!" The Pengu was clearly not in the mood to be brushed off. "I plan all this maglificent festival this year and out of nowhere this place is attacked! I want to hear those things are dead and I want to hear it now!"

The warrior sighed and shook his head. "I am sorry to disappoint you, sire, but the beings who attacked the festival escaped. We care working on a way to stop them, but to do that I really need to-"

"What! You let them get away!?" Dedede was now enraged. "What the flippin' reason am I paying you for, Zoi! Useless &%$# & Puffal, Zoi!"

"Dedede! Language! There are children present!" Meta Knight scolded in a harsher tone than usual, his eyes turning red as he spoke. He really did not have time for this and he was **not** going to take verbal abuse. "As I said," he continued, his voice steadily growing in volume as he went on, "we are working on a way to stop them. However, I need to find Ribbon if we are going to be capable of doing so. Your immature attitude is doing nothing to help, and is in fact getting in the way! Now you can either help me to find her so we can fix this problem that your so upset over or you can go dunk your head in an ice tub to cool it down. If you attempt to bother me with individual issues that are effecting you and you alone or you attempt to use such language on anyone again, I will personally make sure you spend the rest of the evening measuring the third story windows from a harness hanging from the palace ramparts! Do I make myself clear!?"

Dedede stood stock still, his previous anger now forgotten. He nodded his head. "Yes, sir. I understand, sir."

"Good." Meta Knight spun around, not even bothering to look at the cowering Pengu. "Now, I need to find Miss Ribbon. Do you have any idea where she is?"

"Uh, she and some of those other kids went down to the lower levels of the palace," Dedede said quickly, not wanting to evoke another burst of temper. "I can go get them, if ya want."

"No, that will be alright." By now, the warrior had calmed down, so his voice was at its usual level. "I can do this myself. You may go back to whatever it was you were doing."

Dedede didn't bother to say anything as he rushed off as fast as his feet would take him. "Stupid Meta Knight," he grumbled under his breath once he was certain the Puffal was far enough away. "Thinks he can tell me what I can and can't do. I'll show him one day." He smiled. "Yeah. Once of these days, I'll show him just why I'm the king."

"Not right now, though," he added in a slightly louder voice. "Right now, I need a snack to settle my nerves." With that, he headed off in the direction of the kitchens.

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Within the halls of Stormholt, Kirby paced with a high amount of tension. He had no idea what was going on, and that made him anxious. After the battle with the creatures in the woods, the older Star Warriors had been quick to shuffle the youngsters back to the fortress, where the injured could be tended to and the weary given rest.

After that, they had gathered up as many able bodied fighters as they could and headed off to the village to see what the problem was. Kirby had wanted to tag along to fight, but he been denied.

"No, Kirby," he could remember Meta Knight saying. "I'll need you to stay here and protect those who are injured."

The little one, however, was not entirely convinced that he should stay back. "Kaabii can help!" he had insisted. "Kaabii fight weally ha'd, and not sca'd at all!"

Meta Knight just had patted his head. "I know you are not afraid, but you need to obey me. Stay behind on this one."

Kirby had not liked this order, but he was willing to obey. "A'ight," he eventually said in surrender. "Kaabii stay. But Kaabii not sca'd!"

"I know, my son," Meta Knight had responded before going off.

Thus, the little Guardian had waited back in the safety of the fort. He tried to amuse himself to keep his mind off of the recent troubles, but over time, each successive attempt proved less and less effective. Eventually, the walls of his room became rather constrictive and the youngster went out to roam among the halls.

There wasn't really much to do out there, either. With the disaster having occurred, most of the younger members of the fortress were being kept in their rooms. Kirby could have gone to join some in there, which would have a least meant he would have the benefit of a playmate or two, but would still have the stifling feeling of wait and helplessness. Thus, he decided to wander on until he found something to occupy his mind from the recent distress.

It soon came in a very unexpected way. As he was passing by the doorway to one of the chambers close to his room, he could hear the voices of several women talking.

"Are you doing alright?" one of them, who Kirby could distinguish as Lady Like, asked.

There was the sound of several deep breaths, followed by words. "Yes," he heard his grandmother, the Lady Rosalyn say in response. "I believe I have composed myself. I apologize for the scene I made back there."

"No one can blame you for anything, ma'am," an unfamiliar voice said. "I couldn't imagine what it was like to receive the news. But don't you worry yourself. Your Heavy's going to be just fine."

Hearing what was spoken, Kirby decided to poke his head in and see what was going in. In the room, his grandmother sat in a armchair, slumped over and her paws folded on her lap. It appeared she had been crying for some time. There were several other women around her, including Lady Like, the two girl members of Meta Knight's students, and several Boxin women who the little one did not recognize.

As he leaned in, he soon realized that he had been seen. "Uh, hi! Can Kaabii come in?"

"Oh, Kirby! Of course you can come in." Rosalyn seemed to brighten up upon seeing her grandson. "I haven't seen you in a little while, now, have I? How have you been?"

"Kaabii good," the little one replied, though there was concern in his voice. He toddled over to stand in front of her. "Gwandma okay?"

In response, the Boxin Lady smiled and patted him on the head. "Yes, Kirby, I'm alright. I'm in a little bit of shock, but I'll be fine very soon."

This surprised the little one. "Oh, did yew touch one of t'e wight sockets?" he asked. "Kaabii touched one once, and it s'ocked Kaabii weally, weally bad." He frowned at the memory. "Now Kaabii not touch wight sockets no mo'e."

Rosalyn chuckled at the child's words. "Well, that is good advice, but that's not quite what I was talking about." She closed her eyes for a moment and her smile became very bittersweet. "It's just that I found out that someone very special to me is in a lot of trouble, and I'm not sure there is going to be anything that I can do to help them."

"Oh, t'at why Gwandma sad?" Kirby nodded. "T'at make Kaabii sad to. But when t'at happen, Kaabii go to he'p fwiend, and then evewyt'ing all good again." He smiled. "T'en Kaabii get snack!"

"You, know what, Kirby?" the Boxin lady said upon hearing his words. "I think I could go get a snack myself right now. I'm sure the kitchens will have something prepared right now. Would you like to accompany me?"

"Yeah!" The little Puffal sprang to his feet, energized as always by the mention of food. "Wet's go! Wet's go!" With that, he rushed out the door.

"Thank you, my friends, for trying to comfort me," Rosalyn said as she turned to follow. "I'm sure everything will turn out alright, very soon."

After she had left, the women who still remained in the room looked sadly at one another. "I do hope she'll be alright, poor dear," Lady Like said eventually. "I couldn't imagine having your husband turned into a monster like that! It's no wonder she was heartbroken."

"I'm sure it will be okay," one of the Boxin woman said. "After all, the chieftains are looking into things. They'll be able to find a happy solution to this whole mess."

"I hope you are right," the Dreamlander lady commented, "and wish them and us good luck. We're all going to need it."

To be continued…


	84. Abscense Makes..., Part Four

Once he had dealt with Dedede, Meta Knight was not bothered again as he went about his search for Ribbon. Thankfully, there had been an effort to keep the younger members of the refugees together, meaning that once he could find someone who was actually willing to be helpful, it did not take him long to locate the little fairy. She was uninjured and waiting in one of the lower level rooms to be told what to do.

"Oh, Sir Meta Knight!" she exclaimed when she saw him enter. "It's a good thing you got here! These strange creatures attacked at the festival today! The Star Warriors there did a good job at stopping them from destroying too much, but it was a really tough battle."

"I am aware," the knight responded. "We were able to drive the creatures away, but unfortunately, they escaped capture."

Ribbon became dismayed by this revelation. "Oh dear! You don't think they'll come back, do you?"

The warrior nodded in response. "I am almost certain of it. That is why I have come to ask for your help."

"My help?" The fairy was baffled by this statement. "I'm not a warrior. What could I do to help?"

"I have reason to believe that these creatures were effected by Dark Matter, or a serum derived from it, like the one that turned the Galactic Knight into a Demon Beast," he answered, and his eyes turned bright green as he spoke. "If that is the case, there might be something we can do to take away the serum, as well as the control that Nightmare holds over them."

Realization hit the girl hard when she heard this. "So you want to get the Heart Rod! That's great! I can definitely help with that!" She jolted into flight, but after a moment, a question hit her. "Wait, 'Nightmare's hold over them'? What do you mean by that? I thought Demon Beasts were in control of their own actions."

"The Galactic Knight was, but I suspect that might not be the case here." Meta Knight motioned for her to follow him and continued to explain as they went. "With the last time, the Demon Beast was capable of his own thoughts and actions. He spoke and acted like one in control, and though his actions were evil, they were not without reason, albeit a twisted reason. Here, the creatures are merely acting like animals, never speaking or giving any sort of sign that they know what they are doing."

"Add onto the fact that, unlike Galacta Knight, these individuals have been identified as people who would have no reason to attack us or side with Nightmare." He frowned as he thought of his wife and father in their current state. "These are not proofs, but they seem to be close signs that they did not will this transformation."

"And you're hoping that the Heart Rod can change them back, just like it did when you were under the control of that Dark Matter." Ribbon smiled as she caught onto the logic. "Well, it's definitely worth a try."

"That is what I need your help with," Meta Knight said as he approached the fountain. "For some reason, the Heart Rod responds best when used by fairy, and with the creature no doubt getting ready for another attack, we will need all the assistance we can come up with."

She nodded as she listened to him. "We had better hurry then." She flew over and activated the Star Rod, opening up the portal to its sister fountain. "Let's go!" With that, they both rushed into the portal.

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"Oh, Meta Knight, you simple-minded fool!" Nightmare laughed as he watched the warrior's departure through his crystal ball. "Do you really think it's going to be that easy to defeat me?" He gave a wicked chuckle. "I do hope I am able to see the look on your face as you die."

"There's still one piece missing though." Raising a hand, he changed the picture in the ball. The image blurred before coming clear again, this time with Kirby in center stage. "It would be a shame to put all this effort into the downfall of the Guardian's family without he himself being there. Let's mend that issue, shall we?"

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At that moment, Kirby was sitting outside on the lawn of Stormholt, enjoying the piece of cake his grandmother had given him for a snack. He was on his own, for the most part, because she had gone back to her room to lie down for a little while, but he was feeling considerably happier. There was a lovely sunset, and it appeared that piece had settled in once more.

Not too far away, several smaller vehicles of flight had been brought out for examination and minor repairs. It appeared to be pretty routine work, but the little one liked machines, so he watched in fascination as the ships were worked on.

Trouble arrived, however, when one of the radios was turned on to test how it was working. As soon as the switch was thrown, the panicked voice of Meta Knight came out. "Is anyone there?!" he called out. "Please, someone respond!"

The chief mechanic, an older Dreamlander man, snatched up the radio. "We're here, Sir Meta Knight," he said. "What's wrong? What's going on over there?"

"We're under attack," the Puffal's voice responded. "There were more creatures here than we expected. Please, you need to send help, and you need to send Kirby!"

"Kirby, sir?" The man was confused by this request. "You had ordered us not to let him leave the fortress."

"I know what I said, but this is what I'm saying now!" Meta Knight snapped. "We need Kirby right here, right now! If he doesn't arrive soon, many lives will be lost!"

Kirby had already heard what Meta Knight had detailed from where he was sitting a short distance away. Without hesitating, he raised his paws to his mouth. "Wa'p Stah!" he shouted out at the top of his lungs. In response to his cry, the Warp Star shot out, zipping in front of the little Puffal and allowed him to climb on.

Once his star arrived, the little one rushed off in the direction of the village. After flying a short distance, he could already see the glow of a rift open up. He flew as fast as he dared, desperately hoping he wouldn't be too late.

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What he couldn't sense was the look of malicious delight as his foe watched him soar. "That's it, little Guardian," Nightmare said with a smirk. "Run to your Papa's aid. You will both meet your end very soon."

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Gaining the Heart Rod would not be the difficult part. This was something that Meta Knight knew. Once he and Ribbon had explained the peril their world was in, and the nature of that peril, Queen Soleena had been very sympathetic.

She had also caught onto the nature of what the difficult part was going to be. "Sir Meta," she said as she accompanied them to the Fountain of Dreams, "are you sure you are going to be alright?"

"I am afraid, but I do not fear this battle," he responded. "I have been trained in the art of defense and protection since I was very small. It would not be befitting of a knight to be controlled by the threat of his own death."

"Yet it is not your death you fear, is it?" The queen's words struck him hard.

He closed his eyes before responding. "No. I have reason to believe that the threat in situation are people who I care about, and I fear that I cannot protect them and the innocent at the same time. It is my one hope that the Heart Rod will be able to severe the marionette strings that control them. If it cannot…"

"Do not fear," Soleena said in a soothing tone of voice. "You know these people very well. I'm sure if you think this is the way to save them, it will work."

"I do hope you are right." He turned to face the fountain. "We must hurry, Lady Ribbon. I fear time is already short."

"Oh, right!" Ribbon flew over, activating the fountain and opening up the portal. "We'll be there very soon!" She adjusted the strap that held the Heart Rod on her back. "I will return the Heart Rod as soon as possible, your highness," she said with an aerial bow before darting into the portal.

"Thank you once more for your assistance," Meta Knight said, bowing before taking a few steps into the water. "I apologize for the nature of this visit. I hope we can meet in more favorable circumstances next time." With that, he spread out his wings and darted into the portal as well.

"I hope so, too, my friend," the queen responded out loud, though no one was around to hear her speak. "I wish you fortune in your fight, and a brighter path into your future with resolution to your past."

As they rushed through the portal, the queen's words, just barely heard, echoed through his mind. The path he had walked had not been an easy one, but it was not one he regretted. Wherever they would come to, he would arrive there with the knowledge that they will have fought for the best.

When they first arrived at the fountain in Dreamland, everything seemed all calm. In fact, it was a disconcerting calm. Things were too empty, almost lifeless.

"Where did everyone go?" Ribbon asked aloud as they stepped onto the courtyard.

"I do not know, but this does not bode well." Meta Knight's eyes flashed, going from green to red and back before settling down again. "Keep behind me, and keep the Heart Rod at your hand. I don't think we're going to be able to fight on our own, but we'll need to scout out the terrain before we make a final decision."

"Alright." The fairy did as she was told, withdrawing the ancient weapon and holding it at eye level. "Is everything going to be alright?"

"I do not know," came the response. "It is not over yet, but we must be on our guard. I doubt our foe will be very forgiving."

They moved through the halls of the palace, and soon they came upon figures that were holding still. The figures were coated in black and felt lifelike, though they made no movement, not even of breath. They were few, and scattered, but they all were recognizable.

"These are Waddle Dees!" Ribbon exclaimed in shock. "What happened to them? Are they dead?"

"I cannot say for certain," Meta Knight responded as he examined one of the figures, "but I don't think so. They don't have breath, but their bodies are replenishing heat. I suspect whoever turned them like this is related to our recent monster issue."

"But what-?" the fairy girl began to ask, but she was cut off when sounds started to come from the nearby rooms.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Meta Knight flew up, catching Ribbon and pulling her with him into the rafters of the roof. There, he covered her with one of his wings, which disguised her in the darkness. "Do not make a sound," he cautioned. "I doubt these newcomers will be our friends."

Sure enough, only a moment or two after he pulled them into their hiding place, four of the creatures appeared. They were clearly the same as from before, but this time, the mutation had gone even farther, extending wings and horns, causing grotesque tusks, and they were dripping with a strange black ooze. The sight was repulsive, and Ribbon was barely able to mask a squeak of horror.

Thankfully, the monsters didn't linger for too long. They looked around the room, as if searching for the hidden rescuers, but gave up not too shortly after stalking though. Once they were content that there was nothing left to seek in this room, they turned and stalked out, leaving only a trail of the weird black gunk behind them.

Meta Knight still waited for a brief moment before he could judge that they were safe to come out, he descended to the floor. "This isn't good," he said. "Those things have gotten stronger."

"Sir, what's going on?" Ribbon asked, though she had a feeling she didn't want to know.

"It's that goo they are leaking," the warrior replied. "It's sapping the strength of their victims to fuel the monsters. If we don't find a way to cleanse the victims from their imprisonment, they will not make it."

"Maybe I can help." Ribbon fluttered down, unstrapping the Heart Rod from her back as she did so, and approached one of the fallen figures of the Waddle Dees. She waved the wand over the stiff figure, and a soft golden light emanated from the tool.

The moment the light touched the black goop, the film melted away and the creature woke up. As it began to move, the remainder of the glop sloughed off, freeing the imprisoned creature from his previous state.

"Well done," Meta Knight said with a nod as she repeated the process with the other creatures. "We will need to cleanse the victims as we go, and something tells me facing those creature will not be that easy. We will need some help." He made a sharp turn. "Come. I do believe I know where we can get such help."

Hurrying behind him, the little fairy couldn't help but wonder what he meant. "Where are we going?" she asked. "This looks like it's the way to the kitchens. I don't think there will be anything that can help us there."

"No, but the kitchens are not the only place this hall leads to," the Puffal answered. He paused in front of a huge tapestry, examining the large gold rope handing in front of it. "They never thought to hide it better," he said with a laugh as he seized the rope and gave a tug.

Once he pulled, there was a loud scraping sound as the wall swung open. A huge, dark passageway loomed within, and Ribbon couldn't help but be unnerved by what she saw. "What is this place?" she asked as she flew behind him. "Is this one of your secret passageways?"

"It's a secret passageway," Meta Knight replied, "but not mine. It was made to hide some rather poorly-kept secrets. Now, stay behind me."

Ribbon thought better of asking anymore, but stayed near as she was told to do. As they went down to the passageway, the hall became steadily lighter, as a source of the light got closer. They soon came out of the passage into what looked like a large laboratory of some sort, with half devoted to magical practices and the other to sciences of the mechanical and chemical variety.

No soon had they stepped into the lab, however, than they were attacked. A bright blue beam, not unlike the one Daroach utilized shot out at them. Meta Knight was only just able to sweep his cape around Ribbon and teleport them both away, keeping them from the freezing beam.

The reappeared a short distance off, and the warrior turned in the direction of the beam, which was some sort of sloppy blockade that had been set up at the far corner of the room. "Do not fire! We are trying to figure out how to help you and you nearly hit us!"

"Well, what do you think we're going to do?" The speaker, a purple snail, said as he emerged from hiding. "With those creepers roaming around up there, you can't be too careful."

"Yeah!" a white clad creature added as he also came out of hiding. "We were only just able to get the passageway shut down before those gunky creature were able to break in."

"Uh, who are you two?" Ribbon asked, completely confused and rather unsettled by the newcomers' appearance.

"These would be Escargoon and Magolor, servants of King Dedede," Meta Knight explained. "They are supposed to be a secret, due to the actions of their past, but they are not one that is kept very well. Kirby and I have already had several unpleasant run ins with them."

"Gee, you turn a guy into a dolphin once and you're branded for life," Magolor grumbled as he came out of hiding. "Besides, we weren't responsible for Kirby's change, Marx was, and we all know how much of a prince he turned out to be."

"That is of no matter," the knight said, a tone of impatience in his voice. "What matters now is that we are going to stop those creatures' advancement as well as heal the damage already done."

"And how do you expect to do that?" Escargoon asked with a tone of irritation and mockery. "Magic everyone back to life using the power of love or of heart or something like that."

"As a matter of fact, yes," Ribbon responded, pulling the Heart Rod out as she spoke. "I've already used this to heal several of the monsters' victims. It will work, and hopefully will help us to stop the monsters."

Once she had withdrawn the Heart Rod, a clear change came over Magolor. "Is that what I think it is?" He hurried over to Ribbon's side and began examining the object in her hands. "It is! It's a weapon forged by a Guardian! Where in this great, wide Galaxy did you find one of those!?"

"It is a treasure of my people, forged by the Queen Stellara," she answered, feeling rather uncomfortable. "Why are you asking?"

"It's just that there are so few around, and I've only gotten the chance to see one in the Star Rod and once back on Halcandra." His eyes were still shining from the very thought of the treasure. "Why don't you let me hold onto it for a while?"

"I would recommend you cease speaking the way you are," Meta Knight warned, "considering the reason for your banishment from Halcandra."

"Alright, alright, geez," the alien groaned, taking the warning seriously. "I was just curious. I never said I wanted to take it."

"Whether you said it or not is irrelevant," the knight growled back. "Now, as to the problem we have at hand-wait, where did you get that?" He pointed to the golden object that the snail had clutched in one hand.

"This?" Escargoon lifted it up, and it was now clear to see that it was the Triple Star. "One of the guys who got slimed by those creatures had it when he was hit. I supposed he wasn't going to be using it anymore, so I grabbed it right before we went down here."

Without saying a word, Meta Knight snatched the Triple Star away from the snail, and the force used was enough that it seemed like he was going to club the unfortunate scientist over the head with it. "This is a Star Warrior's personal weapon!" he snapped. "You do not take a weapon away from its owner unless you have no other choice, which is certainly not the case here!" He emphasized the final words by sweeping an arm over the nearby wall, which was lined with a variety of recently designed weapons.

The moment the warrior had snatched away the golden weapon, Escargoon had tossed his arms over his head, and was still in that position what it became clear that no blows were forthcoming. "Yeah, but this one tends not to blow up as much," he responded when he was finally certain that he wasn't going to be attacked.

"Sir," Ribbon interjected before a major argument could break out. "you said we were going to get help to fight against those creatures. You didn't mean them, did you?"

In response, the knight sighed. "Sadly, that is exactly what I meant. I know they are not ideal, but we don't have time to attempt to call in recruits from Stormholt, none the less for them to make it over here. We have to stop those creatures before their victims perish."

The sudden realization what they were being asked to do hit the duo hard. Though they were both upset about the statement, their reasons and responses differed.

"What do you mean, 'not ideal'?" Magolor asked with a tone of indignation. "I'll have you know that we Halcandrians have a long and proud history of warriors, not to mention a Guardianess of our own, the Warrior-Empress Tchicalda! I happen to be one of her descendants! So there!"

"Wait, you mean go up there? And fight against those monstrosities?" Escargoon turned pale at the prospect. "Uh-uh, no way you're getting me up there! I'm not headed up there to get slimed or ripped to pieces by those creatures. Good luck on fighting your own fights, just count me out!"

Meta Knight sighed again. "We have no choice at the moment. I will need both of you to assist me in distracting the creatures long enough for Ribbon to use the Heart Rod. Hopefully, that will purify away what has been done to them and allow us to undo the damage."

"And if it doesn't work?" the snail asked.

"Then, regrettably, we will die." The warrior turned to face his audience. "That is a risk that we face, no doubt. However, it is better than the alternative if we do not attempt to stop them."

"Any alternative where we live is a better alternative form me," Escargoon snapped.

"But that is not the alternative," Meta Knight responded. "The alternative is staying down here until we eventually die from starvation or lack of water, or until the creatures locate us and have much more of a chance of killing us due to restricted space."

That seemed to change the snail's mind, if not his attitude by all that much. "Alright," he grumbled. "I guess we can help."

"Good." Meta Knight nodded. "Now, take up what weapons and armor that you can. We will be acting as the distractions to give Ribbon a chance to come in." He then turned, motioning to the others to follow. "Come. We do not have much time."

Despite the knight's insistence that speed was of the essence, they were not ready to go for fifteen minutes. After that span of time, he was forced to pretty much drag his assistants out after him, with Ribbon coming up in the rear.

"Alright," he said in a hushed voice as they moved along the corridor, "we are coming up to where the creatures have made their nest. Ribbon, you will need to keep to the shadows as much as possible. Keep to the heights, and always have the Heart Rod at the ready. Use it if you happen to find any of the "

"Right!" the fairy affirmed before rushing off to take her station.

"Now, as for you two, you should stay by me." He motioned to the wider area of the room. "We will be out there, doing out best to keep everything clear for Ribbon to make her move. Understand, if she isn't able to move in with her attacks, our situation is hopeless. Before we begin, do you have any questions."

"Just one," Escargoon said, holding up the lightning based blaster he was holding. "How many of these things are we facing?"

"Six," came the answer, "and five of them are trained warriors. Do not allow your guard to fall."

The snail was about to say something else, but was cut off by the warrior. "Hush. I hear something."

Sure enough, just around the corner of the entryway, they could see one of the monsters coming it. It was the creature who had once been Sir Arthur, dragging two glop-covered victims behind him. He was accompanied by several others of the creatures as well.

"Now is our time!" Meta Knight called out, brandishing Galaxia high. "We must attack now! Donec Tinebras Perit!"

"For the glory of Halcandia!" Magalor shouted out as he rushed the monsters, throwing several balls containing chemical potions.

"Not the face! Not the face!" Escargoon shouted out, firing his blaster at random and hoping it hit something.

This attack pattern seemed to work. The sudden force of the unexpected attack was enough to make it so that their opponents were at a disadvantage. At first, they were able to rush into the heat of battle to distract the monsters, which was plenty of time for Ribbon to get to and release several captives. All they had to do was get the creatures into a position where she could aim a hit with the Heart Rod.

All went well, but then something happened. In the heat of the fight, Meta Knight felt something claw at his back. He spun around, delivering a kick to his assailant that sent them flying he was about to call out to the fairy that he had an open shot, but what he saw caused the words to catch in his throat.

The monster who had attacked him was Lynette.

To be continued…


	85. Abscense Makes..., Part Five

Meta Knight froze. He knew what he had to do, but somehow, the shock of seeing his loved one in the state she was in was rather overpowering. It was hard for him to breath, none the less to call out to Ribbon.

This gave the creature who had been Lynette time to recover. Getting up from where she had been tossed back, she opened her mouth and let out a snarl before charging at Meta Knight. She got pretty close, as well, before she was hit by a projectile and knocked backwards.

This shock shook the warrior from his stupefied state. Looking back, he saw that it was Ribbon who had responded. Seeing the trouble he was in, she had unleashed a bolt from the Heart Rod which had struck the creature in the center.

However, the effect seemed minimal. Even though fairy's aim had been true, there was little sign that the hit had any effect. A lot of the goop sloughed off, but she was still under the control of the serum.

Furthermore, Meta Knight did not have the time to really take notice of this effect. As he was watching on in a shocked horror, the creature who had been Sir Lancelot struck, and he was forced to turn his attention back to the battle at hand.

Nearby, his companions weren't having all that good a time. Now, they actually were doing a somewhat impressive job, considering they were both primarily civilians without any military training. However, they were still only getting by on the skin of their teeth.

For his part, Magolor was doing better between the two of them. Like all Halcandrians, he had a small amount of portal abilities and control over magic, and what he lacked in actual skill and experience, he made up for in sheer gung-ho enthusiasm. His fighting method was incredibly erratic, teleporting all around the room and dropping his potions wherever he went.

Escargoon, on the other hand, was struggling hard. He had taken cover in an niche and had begun firing erratically with his lightning gun in the hopes that would keep him safe from the attacks of the monsters. For the most part, this pretty much worked, as nothing and no one was able to approach the area.

Not personally, that is. Soon, the creature that had been Sir Arthur figured out the flaw in this system. Scooping up a large pawful of the serum they were oozing, he flung it towards where the snail was imprisoned. The projectile, struck home as its target was unable to move out of the way in time. He was soon coated in the substance and frozen, just as the other victims had been.

Ribbon was the first to notice this. Responding in turn, she rushed over, holding the Heart Rod high in the attempt to unfreeze the unfortunate snail. She had almost reach him, too, except that her path of flight had ended up in the direction of one of Magolor's teleportation paths. He ended up crashing into her, and the two of them ended up tumbling through a portal.

"Hey!" the fairy exclaimed. "What did you do that for?!"

"I can't always predict where I'm going to port," he responded with annoyance. "I can't give warning if-watch out!" He grabbed Ribbon and teleported again, just in time to keep the two of them from getting struck down by the creature who had been Heavy Knight. His sword came slamming down, and a portion of the stone was completely shattered.

Seeing the attack the duo had just escaped from, Meta Knight lunged at the creature, but unfortunately the foe was ready. He spun around and attempted to smack the Puffal in midair. The warrior was able to dodge the attack, and sword collided with sword.

The blue Puffal was much smaller than his opponent, which was both a blessing and a curse at the moment. He could not take a lot of hard hits from his enemy, so he'd have to be able to keep out of reach. Thankfully, that was not too difficult to do.

What was difficult to do was to figure out a way to wound his enemy. Since the mutated Boxin was a lot bigger and heavier than the Puffal was, he was also more resistant to attacks. The creature did seem to have an adverse reaction to Galaxia's touch, but not enough for Meta Knight to gain any sort of substantial advantage. Adding this problem onto the fact that he had no desire to injure his father meant that the warrior was in an incredibly difficult position.

This position was made even more difficult as he attempted to gain and air advantage. He withdrew his cape to allow his wings to stretch out, but unfortunately this move was anticipated. As soon as his wings were in full view, the creature lunged ahead and stomped down hard on one of them.

The wing had not been broken. By some twist of fate, the way the creature had stood on the wing was in such a way that there was no severe damage done to the appendage. However, it was bruised, and he was now trapped under the creature's full strength.

In a move of desperation, he attempted to stab out into his captor's side with Galaxia, but the ancient weapon was met by his enemy's much larger blade, and with a simple twist, the golden blade was sent flying in the other direction. Meta Knight was now helpless.

From the position where she had been left, Ribbon saw the battle turn south in a moment. Without any hesitation, she knew what she had to do. Wielding the Heart Rod high, she unleashed two hard bolts from the weapon. Her aim was true, and the attacks struck the creature hard. The first one knocked him back, allowing Meta Knight to retract his bruised wing back into the safety of his cape. The second hit the already weakened monster hard, sending him toppling over and catching the creature who had been Galahad underneath him.

"Quick!" Meta Knight called up to Ribbon. "Do not stop now! They are weakened and you can cure them now!"

Ribbon didn't bother to respond. Instead, she moved as fast as she possibly could, swinging the rod to unleash the curing bolts from the Heart Rod. The strokes landed true, and the creatures hit by them began to shrink, reverting to their true shape. Soon, the due shifted back into the forms of a grey Boxin and a purple Star Jumper Puffal.

Seeing that the two had returned to their proper forms, Meta Knight wanted to approach them. However, no matter how strong that desire was, it was an impossibility. There were still four creatures left, and Magolor wouldn't be able to handle them on his own.

Instead, why the warrior and the wizard were busy with holding the remaining creatures at bay, Ribbon fluttered down to approach them and cure Escargoon. "Alright, now your turn," she said, shining the light of the weapon over in the direction of the snail.

He had not been under the influence of the slime for too long, which meant that it wasn't too difficult for her to purge it from him. Unfortunately, he was still firing his weapon when he had been hit, so he was still firing when he came too. "Ahhh! Get back! Get back!" he shouted as he sent lightning bolts off at random.

The fairy was forced to dodge for cover from the random attacks and only barely got away unscathed. "Hey! I'm on your side!" she called out.

He froze for a moment when he realized who it was. "Oh, it's only you. I knew that."

"Yeah, right," she responded with annoyance. "I'm sure you also meant to almost fry me like that, too."

"I can't be held responsible if you can't figure out a way to let a guy know what you are doing," he snapped back. "You were holding that weapon up to my face. For all I knew, you were trying to cut my head off."

"Oh, my. What's going on?" The two arguers turned to see that Sir Heavy Knight was now coming too. The thick layer of slime that had previously mutated him seemed to be evaporating, leaving him and Sir Galahad on bare stone floor.

Ribbon immediately flew next to him. "You are in the palace of King Dedede, in Dreamland, sir," she answered. "I'm afraid you and some others had recently been turned into monsters. We were just able to cure you from the serum."

"Monsters?" The older Boxin looked confused, and he racked his mind to try to make sense of everything. "The last thing I remember…the Nightmare Empire…that strange substance…Oh no!" He jolted up. "My companions! Where are my companions?!"

"I, for one, and right down here." It was Galahad who had spoken, and there was a level of frustration in his voice. "I would appreciate it if you would please get up off of me."

"Oh, sorry about that," Heavy Knight responded, getting up to allow the purple Puffal to straighten himself out.

"As for the others, I'm afraid the story isn't that good," Ribbon said, motioning to where Meta Knight and Magolor were still fighting hard. She twirled around the Heart Rod. "They're putting up a hard fight, but if we have any chance of getting everyone out of here alive, I've got to go joint them." She then took flight, wielding the legendary weapon high as she joined in the battle.

In the thick of things, the battle was still pressing hard. The monsters refused to tire, and as valiantly as Meta Knight and Magolor were fighting, they did not have the same unnatural energy as their foes. Factor in the problem that they were still outnumbered two to one, and things were seeming even more hopeless.

At the point where Ribbon rejoined the battle, things had become even bleaker. Meta Knight had been cornered by the creatures that had been Sir Arthur and Sir Percival, while Lancelot and Lynette were honing in on Magolor. It seemed like nothing would come to the aid of the defenders.

When all seemed hopeless, however, hope struck hard. Just as the monsters were moving in for the kill, a bright flash of light zipped into that palace and landed hard, causing a huge burst of light to erupt. This light blinded the creatures and forced them back, and even those fighting against them were temporarily disabled by the intensity. When the flash cleared, they could soon see who was the harbinger of aid.

"Kirby?" Meta Knight said, a tone of confusion in his voice.

Hearing the call, the little Puffal turned. He was sitting on the Warp Star, and a look of relief came to the child's face. "Hii, Papa!" he shouted out. "Kaabii he'p!"

Meta Knight was going to argue that the little one shouldn't have even been there, but before he could speak, the battle started anew. The creatures had recovered from the shock of the blast and begun the charge again.

With the arrival of the newcomers, however, things were a little bit more even. Still utilizing the Warp Star, Kirby challenged the creature who was Sir Arthur, taking things to the air and away from the other battlers. At the same time, Magolor and Escargoon was able to attempt to face off again Lancelot and Percival, with the now sufficiently recovered Heavy Knight and Galahad joining them.

That meant that Meta Knight was left to face off against the creature that had been Lynette. It seemed to him that there had never been a harder task for him to face. He did his best to fight against her without injuring her, but for once he felt it difficult to raise his blade. Fighting as hard as he could, he did his face to face her, but eventually she was able to get in an opportunity to knock him back and leave him weaponless.

Once she had gained the opportunity, however, a change overcame her as well. She had an opening to strike, but despite what the serum had done to her, it didn't appear that she could move. She stood, as if at war within herself, unable to make a move to either attack or aid him.

This gave Ribbon the opportunity she needed. With the fighters in movement, she had a difficulty aiming at her target. When one was holding still, there was no way she could miss. Taking the opening, the fairy swung the weapon twice, unleashing two bolts, which hit the white Puffal hard.

In response, just as before, Lynette slumped down unconscious, with the Demon Beast Serum sloughing off of her. Before long, all of the wicked substance had been purified, and she was now her own proper shape once more.

Meta Knight only just had time to mover her to safety when the heat of the battle returned to the blue Puffal. He was able to make certain that his unconscious wife was hidden safely away before he could join his son once more at the fight.

In the meanwhile, the fight had started to shift. When Kirby had first challenged the creature that had been Arthur, the other two creatures had turned to attempt to aid the third. However, Magolor had responded first, launching a freezing potion which caught Lancelot in the wings. This sent the creature hurtling to the ground, not too far away from where Escargoon was still ducking for cover.

In almost an instinctual move, the snail fired his gun at the creature…and missed by a mile, leaving him defenseless in front of the creature as his gun recharged. The now angered creature let out a snarl, and prepared to move in on its petrified victim.

The shot, however, had not been totally ineffective. By chance, the shot had reflected off of a mirror that was usually used to reflect light down into the hall. This deflected shot then struck the creature who had been Percival. This sent the second creature spiraling down, and he ended up clipping Lancelot as he crash landed.

Seeing their chance, Heavy Knight and Galahad moved in to help. Rushing to where the two creatures had fallen, they gripped on in an attempt to hold them still.

"Hey, Pixie girl! Over here!" Escargoon called out. "Why don't you make yourself useful and use that Heart thingy over here!"

Hearing the call, Ribbon turned to where the creatures were being held down. It was clear that they weren't going to be held for much longer, so she swung as quickly as she could, caring only that she got off enough hits to cure them.

Her efforts were not in vain. Though the heart bolts peppered the area, they hit their marks enough times to cure them. Soon enough, the serum had been purged out of Lancelot and Percival as well, leaving them unconscious and in their natural shapes.

That left only one. At the moment, Kirby and the creature who had been Arthur were still at battle in the air. Meta Knight would have liked to have joined them in their aerial battle, but though his wing wasn't broken, it was still too injured to support flight. Thus, as much as he loathed the fact, he was restricted to providing as much help as he could from the ground.

For his part, however, Kirby was doing just fine. He was faster on his star than the creature was using his wings, so the child was able to avoid getting hit without too much difficulty.

The problem with the battle came in the fact that there wasn't anything for him to fight back with. In hid haste to come to his family and friends' aid, he had not bothered to copy something on his way to the palace. Added in was the fact that the creature was too fast for him to pause to inhale something at the moment, so all he could do was attempt to ram the creature using the start when he got the opportunity.

As the fight waged on, Ribbon flew over to Meta Knight's side, doing her best to attempt a hit with the rod as she did so. "Sir, most of the creatures have been cured," she said, updating him to the other areas of the battle.

"Very good," the blue Puffal said in response, "but that leaves us with a single problem. You can't hit him while he's flying around, can you?"

The fairy shook her head in response. "No, he has to be holding still. He's too fast."

Meta Knight scanned around the area trying to figure out something that would give Kirby the upper hand and the chance to get the creature to hold still. That's when he got the idea.

Running up to a nearby pillar, he struck it with Galaxia's handle just hard enough for a shard of stone to come off. "Kirby!" he called out, hefting the chunk in one hand. "Inhale this!" With that, he flung the piece as hard as he could.

Seeing it, Kirby rushed to the bit and inhaled it. There was a flash and in a moment he had become Rock Kirby!

"Now, Kirby," Meta Knight called out, "get above him and slide off! You need to hold him down!"

"Wight!" Kirby dashed up, maneuvering to get directly above his opponent. It wasn't easy, considering his enemy's own speed, but he was eventually able to move into position. Making use of his ability, he turned into a huge, heavy statue and slid off of the Warp Star. This sent him right on top of the creature, who could not fly and carry the weight at the same time. They crashed to the ground, with the creature trapped beneath the statue.

Seeing the opening, Ribbon rushed in and let off three rapid-fire shots from the Heart Rod. Soon, Sir Arthur was cured from the serum, and returned to his own form.

Along with this curing, what bonds the serum still held over its victims melted, and those who had been frozen by the slime began to come too as the serum evaporated off. Soon, all were back to the way they had been before the attack.

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" **No!** " Nightmare smashed his hand down on his viewing globe in a rage when he saw what had happened. "They were not supposed to be able to win! The serum was supposed to be unbeatable!"

Several of the magi-scientists working for Nightmare coward nearby. It was never good when their master was thrown into a rage like this, and the best that they could hope for was that they might not be noticed.

"And because of that waste," the warlock continued, "the whole project has been wasted! We no longer have any more of the Demon Beast serum!"

"Uh, um, sir?" one of them tried to speak up. "That's not one hundred percent true."

"What?! You dare to question me?!" Nightmare spun around on the unfortunate creature and snatched him up. "Explain what you mean!"

"W-w-well, sir," the victim stammered out, "we were d-doing some experimentation with a special batch of the Demon Beast serum. We applied it to the traitor, Marx. It appears that the new dose of the serum does, in fact, work. However, there were some side effects…"

"Side effect?" Nightmare calmed down slightly when he heard this news. "What sort of side effects have come up?"

"He's stronger than he ever was before," the magi-scientist answered, "but he hasn't come out of this completely…sane. We've been trying to figure out what went wrong with the new dosage, but anytime any gets anywhere near him, he get rather homicidal."

"Well," Nightmare responded, setting the victim down, "perhaps that side effect is more beneficial that it might appear on the surface. I will see to the prisoner and test subject myself as soon as I can. Now, be gone from my sight!"

The servants didn't need to be told twice, rushing out from the chamber as fast as their feet could take them. Once he was alone once more, Nightmare turned back to the table and summoned up another viewing crystal. "Don't become too comfortable just yet," he hissed at his enemy. "I'm nowhere near finished."

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At the palace, reconstruction efforts were underway. With the permission of the Star Warriors, much of the festivities for the harvest festival would be moved to the territories surrounding Stormholt. That way, the needed repairs could be done without any problems from the tourists.

At the moment, though, the victims of the attack were recuperating from what had happened. No one could fully remember what had occurred, only that at one moment, they had been awaiting news on what they were to do next, and at another they were waking up and there were damages done to the building around them.

Things were taken well in hand by the those around, and people were either moved to new accommodations or allowed to return home, if they so choose. It was now that Meta Knight was explaining everything that had happened to the six, who had all started to come to.

"So that's what had happened to us?" Sir Percival rubbed the back of his head. "All I can remember was waking up, and being within Nightmare's power."

"It makes sense, though," Arthur commented. "Nightmare has always had a preference for finding the worst ways to implement his plans. I dread to think of what would have happened had we not be purified of the serum."

Hearing this, Kirby looked up at Lynette, who he was cuddled against. "Mama 'key now?"

Lynette smiled and hugged her son close. "Yes, I'm alright now."

"I'm afraid there is much more we have to tell you," Meta said, feeling as the ship they were on began to liftoff. "A lot has changed since we last saw each other. I had best start as we return."

"Go on," Heavy Knight urged. "We are all listening."

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As the construction efforts went on in the upper levels of the palace, in the lower levels, there was movement. A lot of the dark slime, cast off when its victims had been purified, had slipped through the cracks in the stone flooring and pooled together. It now slithered through the spaces in the walls and floor, gathering together and growing. It continued in this meaningless, meandering path, until it reached a small amount. When it did, its course changed, and for the first time, it had a destination.

It oozed and trickled until it came to a crack the lead into the lab. It was currently empty, since its owners were currently busy, but the slime certainly didn't seem to care. It flowed over the floor of the space, until it came to a shelf. Bunching up, it moved until it could work its way up to the shelf. Once there, it knocked the jar on it off.

Now freed of its imprisonment, the piece of Dark Matter held within immediately absorbed the slime. Utilizing it, it would gain strength and eventually rejoin its master, Zero. When he was ready, it would help him to take vengeance on his enemies.

Until that time, the Dark Matter would lie in wait.

To be continued…


	86. The Gathering Storm, Part One

An air of disappointment reigned throughout the fortress Stormholt that morning of the festival. It had been a short while since Nightmare had attempted his attack, and things had finally calmed down and the repairs were finished enough for the festivities to begin again. As the young ones of the palace had gotten up, excited for the new morning and eager to begin their games, they had awoken to find one of the most disappointing sights possible. Outside, it was raining.

Thus, what had once held hopes of fun and excitement gave way to dismay. Why, with all the rain outside, it would be too wet to play! Even if the rain itself would slow down, it would still be too wet to actually do anything with the festival. They would have to stay indoors.

Not everyone understood why this was the case. "Kaabii wanna go pway in t'e wain," Kirby said, pointing at the door.

"No, Kirby. We've got to stay inside today," Tiff sighed. Usually, she was all for staying inside with a good book, but today even she could feel the disappointment of the loss.

"Oh, why did it have to rain today?" Lololo groaned. "Why couldn't it have waited until next week? Or the week after that?"

As they were discussing their predicament, they started to hear a commotion going on outside. Out of curiosity Kirby leaned out of the door to see what was going on.

There was a group of people, all hurrying in the direction of the Great Hall. They all seemed to be in some state of excitement, furthering the curious nature of it all. The question looming large in his mind, Kirby reached out and stopped a Star Jumper girl who was about three star years older than him. "Whe'e y'all goin'?" he asked.

"You didn't hear?" the girl responded. "The grown-ups were sad about the rain, too, so they decided to read a special story! We're going to hear more about Metian and Erran!"

That changed the attitude of those in the room. Why, they were going to learn more about the founders of the Star Warriors? That was something worth doing. Thus, they hurried up to join the group in the Great Hall.

They made it just in time, too, as when they arrived, Sir Ebrum had just finished catching up the newcomers to the group about what had happened in the first few scrolls. When he had finished, he turned to a newly opened one and began to read. "'And thus we entered into the meeting room of Big Birdee…'"

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_As they wandered into the grand room, Metian wasn't quite sure what to expect. It seemed to be the grandest place he had ever seen, decorated all over with bright reds and whites and golds, with beads and flowers everywhere. Of course, he realized, he was never much in the position to have seen grandeur before, and thus might not understand exactly what it was he was seeing._

_Erran, on the other hand, was very excited by what he saw. He might have lived a humble farmer's life before his captivity, but there had been times that wandering performers had come to the village, and it was always a treat when they came. Thus, he knew what he was seeing and was delighted by it._

_Neither of them, however, was prepared for Big Birdee herself. She was a huge yellow bird, bigger then the two of them, wearing a bright blue cover-all garment. When she turned to face them, a broad bright grin spread over her face. "Why, Miss Tareeni, you've brought along some guests," she exclaimed. She had a relatively low but incredibly friendly voice. "Welcome, welcome to the both of you. Come along, take a seat!" She gestured to several nest like chairs that were located behind her._

_They were both a little overwhelmed by the enthusiastic greeting. After all, they couldn't think of anything they had done to deserve such a warm welcome. However, their hostess was such a warm and open figure that is seemed rude not to comply with this request. Thus, they took their seats, though in truth, the chairs were somewhat too large for them, especially Metian, who could hardly be seen over the rim of the deep, bowl-like seat._

_"_ _Now, Tareeni's explained what happened when she and Bertram met you," Birdee said, taking a seat nearby herself. "I've got to thank the both of you very much for what you did for my troop."_

_Metian translated the greeting for Erran, and they both bowed their heads. "Thank you for your welcome," the Puffal said as he faced his hostess. "My name is Metian, and this is my friend, Erran. Please excuse his lack of language. He does not speak a language of the area."_

_"_ _I should hope not!" Birdee said with a laugh. She then turned to Erran. ^"I am well aware of the long journey you have made, Erran, son of Iral,"^ she said in clear Dreamlandian._

_This stunned the Dreamlander, who couldn't hold back upon hearing his native tongue. ^"You know my name?^ he asked, slipping for the first time in ages into his first language._

_Birdee nodded. ^"Indeed. Your father and wife have been searching for ages. They had no idea what had happened to you or to the others that the Bukiset had taken. Indeed, once they heard you had been taken by the Haltmann Enterprises at all, they feared they would never see you again. They will be greatly relieved that is not the case."^ She then turned and translated what she had said to Metian, who had only been able to catch bits and pieces of the conversation._

_"_ _Wait," the Puffal said once he had been caught up, "who is this Haltmann? Both Erran and I were prisoners of the Bukiset."_

_"_ _Yes, but the Bukiset are not the ones in charge," Birdee explained, repeating what she said so both listeners could understand. "They have a lot of power, but that power was not derived on their own. I'm afraid who Haltmann is , and what his company has been doing is a very long story._

_"_ _A story that is much too long for right now," she added, getting up. "It is late now, and my troop are not too far away from putting on a show. It will be the last show we have at Orion's Gate before we move on. You are both welcome to stay up and watch, or if you would prefer to get some rest for the night, I will have someone take you to a room for the night. Starting tomorrow, we will begin our journey back to Pop Star."_

_^"You would do that for us?"^ Erran asked, somewhat startled by the generosity. ^"I mean, we'd be very grateful for the help, but you really needn't put yourself out for us like that."^_

_Birdee laughed again and waved a wing. ^"It's no trouble in the slightest. After what you did for Tareeni and Bertram, I wouldn't think of doing anything else. Beside, Pop Star is one of the best planets for putting on a show. It's about time we headed back, anyway."_

_Both Puffal and Dreamlander opted to get some rest, and they were guided to spare rooms within the ship, each having their own for the first time in ages. It seemed rather amazing to them that they would meet up with allies near immediately who would be willing to help them. As they drifted off to sleep, they could only hope that their strange luck would continue to hold out._

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At the palace in Cappy Down, the repairs on the palace were coming along swimmingly. Since most of the people who had come for the festival had relocated to the area around Stormholt, there really wasn't that much that would get in the way of the work. Furthermore, most of the damages had been done to the inside of the palace, so the as long as a tarp was spread over the few cracks and damages in the outer part of the palace, the faithful Waddle Dees were still able to continue to do the repairs.

At that moment, Bandanna was hard at work over-viewing and directing the Dees around, and was somewhat surprised when there was a tap at his shoulder. He supposed that it was one of the worker Dees, and thus turned to give instructions. However, the person who had approached him was the last one he had expected by a long shot.

"Oh, could you please-Sunflower!" he pretty much shouted in surprise. He jumped back in shock, which sent him sprawling on to his back. The head Dee's face turned bright red when he realized what he had just done, and he did what he could to rescue what shambles of his dignity were still left. "Ah, heh, I wasn't expecting to see you there," he said as he pushed himself back up. "Is everything alright?"

Sunflower giggled at his shock. "We're fine," she responded, "but we're getting an unexpected day off because of the rain. The others went over to the fortress to hear some sort of story, but I wanted to see how things were going on over here." She held out a paw to him to help him get to his feet. "Are you alright?"

He accepted the help, though he still felt as if he had lost any and all possibility of looking cool. "Yes, I'm fine, thanks," he said, adjusting his bandanna. "Everything's going pretty well here, too. We're almost done with the repairs. All that's being done now is a few details on the interior. Once the rain stops, we'll be able to finish up outside, too, and hopefully we can move things back for the end of the festival."

"That sounds great!" she responded with a smile. "The place is already looking way better, and I can't wait to play for the end of the festival."

"Hey! What do you think you're doing!" Both Waddle Dees turned to see Dedede stomp over to the duo. "I'm not paying you to chit-chat! Get back to work!"

"You're not paying me at all," Bandanna muttered under his breath.

Sunflower, however, had a different approach. "Oh, I'm sorry, your highness," she said. "I just assumed you wouldn't mind me borrowing Bandanna here for a moment, considering the good news."

"Good news?" Dedede asked, confused as to what he was being told.

"You mean you don't know?" The female Dee adjusted her sunflower hat. "I just assumed someone so grand and important would already know about the big guest who was coming for the end of the festival."

"Of course I know!" Dedede snapped. "After all, no one in Dreamland's more grand and important than me!" He paused for a moment, before his face fell. "Uh, but just to make sure _you_ know what news were talking about, which one is it again?"

"Oh, only that Starlina Jayswin is coming," Sunflower commented.

"Wait, _the_ Starlina Jayswin?" the Pengu asked in shock. "As in, the famous movie starlet?"

The Dee nodded. "Larah got the letter from her herself, and I took a picture, if you want proof." She pulled the photo out from under her hat and handed it up to Dedede.

The moment Dedede looked at the note, he practically started floating away. "Oh, it's true! I'd know this handwriting anywhere! My Starlina's really coming here!"

"Yes, and it won't be too long before she gets here," Sunflower said with a nod. "It'll only be a few days."

"A few days!" The Pengu practically jumped out of his skin. "I gotta get ready! I can't let her see me like this!" With that, he hurried off to his chamber to prepare.

As he ran off, the two Waddle Dees watched the rather ungraceful flight. "Thanks for that," Bandanna commented as he turned back to Sunflower. "He usually never gets off my back when he's like that. Was that letter real?"

Sunflower nodded. "Yep. We had a song that appeared in one of her movies, and she's come in contact with us a few times after that. When Larah said that we were playing at the festival, several celebrities decided to show up, especially since the famed Star Warriors were there as well. I just guessed at which one might buy us some time alone."

"A-alone!" Bandanna Dee turned bright red at the concept.

"Uh-huh," she responded. "I was kind of hoping you'd show me around the palace, now that it's almost fixed and not infested by monsters."

He stayed bright red, pleased with the situation and desperately hoping she hadn't noticed his change in color. "Why, of course," he said, taking her paw. "That would be great! Come on, we can start right now."

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_The next morning, now that the final show at Orion's Gate was finished, the birds of the troop were racing here and there to prepare to leave the planet. Metian and Erran were doing the best they could to help with the preparations, but with the fast pace their hosts were keeping, it was rather difficult to really keep up._

_To make matters worse, one little detail stood out painfully to Metain. {"Hey, Met, are you alright?"} Erran asked, noticing his friend slowing down for the sixth time._

_Metian had been standing still for a moment, glancing at the troop of infant birds, knows as the Wee Birdees by the performers, who were busying themselves with gathering up scraps of colored paper. They were Big Birdee's daughters, and thus commonly around the areas where the work was being done._

_{"It's nothing, my friend,"} Metian responded, shaking off the air of sadness that had settled on him. {"I was just thinking about the past."}_

_{"You were thinking about your pups, weren't you?"} the Dreamlander asked._

_The Puffal laughed at his friend's observation. {"Was it really that obvious?"} He closed his eyes, and it was all that he could do to hold back the tears. {"I bet they've said their first words by now."}_

_{"I miss my son and daughters, too,"} Erran assured him. {"Don't worry, though. We'll see them again, very soon. Once we get to Pop Star, we can start building a force to bring them back. We'll bring them all back, and no one will have to suffer in slavery ever again."}_

_{"I do hope you are right,"} Metian responded. He gave a hopeful smile. {"Things have been looking up for us recently. Perhaps they are destined to get better."}_

_{"That's the spirit!"} Erran declared, giving his companion a hearty clap on the back. {"We'll be on our way and back at home in no time!"}_

_"_ _You two appear to be in pretty good spirits." Tareeni, who had just finished up stashing some cargo into one of the uppermost storage areas, had descended and landed right next to the duo. "Are you about ready to get the journey underway?"_

_Metian smiled and nodded. "Yes, we are. When do you think we'll be ready to get a move on?"_

_The Birdon touched a wing to her head. "Well, let me see. We've gotten all the show equipment packed away and stashed in the cargo bays, and we're about ready to start bringing the ships down inside. I would say it can't be more than an hour, and hour and a half tops, before we go out."_

_After translating her words to Erran, the Puffal turned back. "We can't thank you enough for what you are doing. I can't imagine how dangerous this is for you to be facing off against the Bukiset like this."_

_"_ _Oh, its nothing like that," Tareeni said, motioning as if brushing the thanks off. "We're none to fond of the Haltmann Works Company either, so any opportunity to make sure they feel our disgust is a good one in our book."_

_"_ _There's that name again," Metian commented. "I'm afraid neither I nor Erran have any idea who this 'Haltmann' is. Would you mind explaining what you mean?"_

_"_ _Did I hear someone mentioning that blighter Haltmann again?" The trio was now joined by Bertrand. The Pengi had his conductor's baton under one wing and a box full of papers in the other. "Why, I'm surprised you've never heard of him, though I suppose that's the only way you'd stomach saying his name."_

_"_ _Haltmann Works is the group that completely controls the Bukiset," Tareeni explained. "I know they like to act like they are the ones in charge, which is probably why you don't know, but they take their orders from HW. It's run by President Haltmann, though most people only meet his assistant, Susie."_

_"_ _And I'm afraid it worse than that, lads," Bertrand continued. "They've got a little habit of world conquest. Whenever the Bukiset touchdown on a planet, you could bet your feathers that Ol' Haltmann's got his eye on the planet."_

_Metian looked in shock when he heard this, and was quick to translate the message to Erran. To say the Dreamlander did not take the message well would be the understatement of the century. {"You mean those creeps mean to take over Pop Star?!"} he exclaimed in horror._

_When Metian translated back, Tareeni gave a sad nod. "I'm afraid so. We've gotten news that Haltmann's already spread his control to one of your neighboring planets, Shiver Star. That's why Big Birdee was eager to make it back to Pop Star when she found out what was going on. We're going to have to warn your people if your planet is to be saved."_

_{"Than we have no time to lose."} The Dreamlander turned back to his work loading this ship, the others following close behind him. If his very home world was being threatened, there wasn't a second that could be lost._

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"What to wear, what to wear?" Dedede went over pile after pile of robes, trying to figure out just what would be needed for the upcoming event. "My darling Starlina's going to be coming over very soon, and she's got to see me at my very best!" He picked up several robes and examined them, only to throw them away in disgust. "Oh, no, these aren't going to do."

He grumbled and threw himself back into his throne. It had been ages since he had gone on a date, since no lady in the village was up to his level. As such, he wasn't sure what it was that interested a girl. He'd have to figure out what it was that a girl liked.

Thus, he went over all the men who he knew who had been successful in finding a wife. "Well, Mayor Len got married, but his wife's an old lady. No way Starlina's going to be impressed by the same things as an octojagardian . That mean whatever Chief Bookem's doing is out, too. Sambo's been having that thing with Mable, but they haven't tied the knot yet, so there's no idea if that's going to work. Then there's Sir Ebrum." The idea of himself dressed in the same clothing as his Cabinet Minister flashed through his head, and Dedede waved the idea away with disgust. "No way I'm acting like that square."

That's when the idea hit him. "Hey, doesn't Meta Knight have a wife now?" He snapped his fingers and grinned. "Yeah, he does! It was that white ball lady who appeared the other day! If he has a wife, that must mean the ladies find whatever it is he's doing to be attractive. That means that I need to copy Meta Knight as much as possible!"

Racing off his throne, he began digging through his things to find a pen and paper. Once he found what he was looking for, he began writing down a list of all the qualities that must be essential in finding a girlfriend. "Alright, first of all, he's got a title." The Pengu gave a snorting laugh. "Don't need to write that one down; king beats knight any day. Now, he also has an awesome mask that covers over his face, and a troop of specially train soldiers that do his every bidding. He's got a big palace, too, with a giant ship with a face on it inside. I've already got the palace, but I'll need to get the ship. Finally, he's got a mysterious backstory and an accent."

Once he had everything written down, Dedede went over the list. "I've got the title and the palace already covered. The mysterious backstory, too. I'll get Escargoon and Magolor to start on the ship and the mask, and I'll go searching for my Dededes myself."

"Now," he went on, "about that accent. Of course, I don't really have one, and my voice is already maglificent as it is, but for some reason, the ladies find an accent attractive. I'll have to figure out how to do one!"

"Now, how does Meta Knight do that weird accent of his?" Dedede thought hard, trying to figure out just what was going on when the warrior spoke. After several seconds of very hard thought, he finally had it. "I know! I've got just the voice!"

He wandered over to a nearby mirror and bowed low. "Why-a, hello, Miss Starlina! It's-a me, a-King Dedede!" Once he straightened up, he smiled. "That's-a it! I'll just talk-a like this all-a the time, and I'm-a bound to sound just as handsome and irrisitable-a as Meta Knight. Starlina won't know-a what hit her!"

He then darted out of his room, his plans clutched in one wing. "I had better-a go and-a get Escargoon and Magolor to-a begin working on my new ship-a."

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_It was mid-afternoon when the ship finally took off from Orion's gate. Things had gone smoothly, and it hadn't taken too long for everyone to be loaded on board and ready for the trip. It seemed that their luck would hold out on their trip back to Pop Star._

_Unfortunately, the road of life never perfectly smooth, and even when things are going very well, there is bound to be trouble to come. This trip was no different, and not three hours into the flight, trouble indeed came to their doorstep._

_Metian had been observing the aviators at work when he saw the trouble coming. With his interest in technology, watching them work and maneuver the various parts of the ship was fascinating to him. Thus, he had spent a good portion of the trip with the pilots as they went._

_It was on one of these visits that trouble reared its ugly head. As he was up in the bridge, he happened to spot another ship coming up on them, and closing the gap between them fast. "Uh, is that ship supposed to be coming so close to us?" he asked, motioning to the upcoming ship._

_The captain, a male Birdon named Calomir, looked out at the ship, and his face clouded with worry. "No, only ship that are trying to make contact are supposed to come in this close. That's a Bukiset cruiser ship, so that no the sort of ship you'll want to be seen by. If he hails, I'd recommend you find someplace to hide, and quick, my friend."_

_As if waiting on those very words for an opportunity, the message of a hailing came up on the screen. Following his host's advice, Metian hurried into the nearest room he could dodge into, the bridge's latrine, and hid out of sight. He left just enough space in the door to allow him to hear the conversation that would go on._

_As soon as they were certain that Metian was out of sight, Calomir answered the call. "This is the ship of Big Birdee's Flying Performance troope. My name is Calomir, and I am the captain of the ship. Who is calling and what is the purpose of the call."_

_As soon as he had said this, the image of a Bukiset soldier appeared on the screen. He was marked as some sort of official by his ornate helmet, but otherwise looked like any of their other soldiers. "This is the Grandmaster Eloroy, of the Bukiset cruiser_ Stellerwin _, in the service of the Haltmann Empire."_

_"_ _Ah, I see," Calomir responded. "As you can see, this is merely a troop of performers, on their way to their next performance destination. I do not see how a troop of entertainers would be much of a concern to the powerful Haltmann Enterprises, so as is the case, I will take our ship out of your course and bother you no longer."_

_"_ _Wait," Eloroy commanded. "Just because these are entertainers doesn't mean they aren't of interest. We have recently gotten word that this troop may be harboring two fugitives of the Empire. They are criminals wanted by the Bukiset, and if they have joined with the troop then they must be handed over to us immediately."_

_Metian's blood turned to ice when he heard this, and he backed away from the cracked door. It was almost as if by standing so near he was giving away his position, though he knew that wasn't the case._

_Meanwhile, the Birdon captain handled things admirably. "Criminals?" he responded with a shrug. "If the troop is harboring criminals, then that is news to me. All those onboard who I know are honest creatures, merely working to make a good living for themselves."_

_"_ _Well, these two are crafty," the Bukiset leader warned. "They are two runaway slaves, a Dreamland creature and a creampuff. They are wanted for theft, running away, resisting the arrest of the Starmen, and the destruction of a landing pad. If you know where they are, you have the responsibility to tell us of their location immediately, and hand them over to us as soon as is possible. Do I make myself clear?"_

_Calomir nodded, as if agreeing with everything the Bukiset was saying. "Crystal clear. We don't want any problems with the Haltmann Works Company."_

_"_ _Do as you are told, and you won't have any," Eloroy said in a voice that was more a threat than a reassurance. With that, the screen flickered off._

_Even though the danger had apparently passed, Metian was still not certain that he wanted to come out of hiding just yet. After several moments of huddling back in the latrine, he heard the captain speak again, this time to him. "It's alright, friend. You can come out now."_

_"_ _Are they gone?" he asked, and he poked his head out._

_"_ _They're gone, for now," the captain replied, "but we're going to have to hurry. I don't think it will be too long before they figure out you and your friend joined with us, and when they do, they'll be out for blood."_

_"_ _Then we had best hurry before they figure us out," Metian said, turning his face to the wide expanse of space._

_To be continued…_


	87. The Gathering Storm, Part Two

His course of action now firmly in mind, Dedede hurried down the secret passage way. That ship was going to take a while to make, and since Starlina's visit was so close at hand, he had decided to get Escargoon and Magolor on the job as soon as possible.

As he made it down into the lab, the two of them were hard at work. Magolor was going over several books and tomes that had been opened up on the table top. Nearby, Escargoon was cleaning up the remains of what had been a shelf.

"Crummy furniture," the snail muttered as he cleaned up the mess. "Stupid nails. The store keeper said it would hold up to eighty-six pounds! Why, I've got a right mind to go down there and tell them just what I think of this cruddy…"

"A-mornin', boys!" Dedede declared cheerfully, still using the silly "accent" in hopes of getting it down pat. "I a-hope you're all a-rested up and ready to go!"

"Ah, sir?" Magolor said, looking over at the Pengu with a quizzical look. "Do you have something caught in your throat?"

"Of-a course-a not!" the Pengu replied, still in too much of a good mood to be startled by the question. "I'm-a just a-using my new and mysterious accent! The one that's-a sure to win Starlina's heart!"

"Well, you sound like some sort of mushroom-eating plumber," Escargoon said in a voice too quiet to be heard. In a louder voice he said, "Sire, we're trying to clean up the lab a bit. Everything got kind of mixed up in that monster attack, so we really don't have the time to play any games right now."

"There's only one game-a y'all playin' right now," Dedede responded, "and-a that's the game of love!" Moving over to the table, he swept all of Magolor's books aside with a movement of his wings. In their place, he set out the crudly drawn picture of the mask and the ship. "I'll-a need the two of you-a to be a-makin' these for me."

"Sire, I needed those!" the Halcandrian cried in dismay. He hurried over to where the books had been shoved onto the ground and began collecting them. "Some of these are really old and could have been damaged by that! You need to be more careful!"

Dedede snorted. "Well, y'all need to be ready to jump to it when I call ya. Now, I need you both to get to work on this ship."

"You've never needed a ship before," Escargoon commented as he finished up putting the pieces of the broken shelf into the garbage can. "Why do you suddenly need one now?"

"'Cause this is the first time-a someone like Starlina's comin' to-a visit!" The Pengu practically spun around in ecstasy as he said her name. "Why, I've been racking my poor little-a brain to figure-a out just what I'll need-a to impress her, and I've finally-a got it!"

"And what you need is a mask, a weird accent, and a dirigible?" Magolor asked, going over the designs.

Dedede flashed a smile. "Exactly! After-a all, that's what Meta Knight has, and it turns out he has a girlfriend after-a all! These-a are what I could think of that he has that I don't, so I've got to get them right away, before she gets here. Now-a, you two need to move it and start-a up!" He then hurried from the room, his head filled with all the things he and his lady friend were going to do once they were together.

"So," Magolor said as he looked over the designs they had been left, "shall we get started?"

"We might as well," Escargoon sighed. "This isn't going to end well, but if he gets it into his head it's our fault it didn't, he'll throtal us."

"It's times like this I wonder if I would have been better off taking my chances with prison," the Halcandrian groaned.

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Thankfully, the rest of the trip passed with a relative amount of peace. They were not hampered again for the trip, allowing them to arrive back at Pop Star without damage. However, their arrival was not all good, as they're were still surprises awaiting them.

{"So this is your world?"} Metian commented as he and Erran strode off of the ship. They had opted to approach the village alone first, since a huge ship and gathering might not be so welcome at such a reunion. {"It's more beautiful than I could have imagined."}

{"Wait until you see the village itself!"} The Dreamlander ran a hand through his green and blond hair. {"It's got so much history to it, to the point that there's a lot that I don't know about it."}

As they drew closer to the village, the huge structure came into view. It was a huge cylander made of the dark stones that were in abundance in the area. One might have assumed that it was a tower, except for the fact that there was no roof. Long vines and creepers had scaled the legnths of the walls, but it was clear that it was still inhabited

As they approached, a voice called out from the heights of the tower. ^"Halt! Who goes out there!"^ a voice called out in clear Dreamlandian. ^"Are you friend or foe?"^

^"More friend than you'd expect, Fenlian,"^ Erran called back with a laugh.

The wall guard, who had not been expecting this response, jumped back for a moment, before shooting to the edge to look over so fast that he almost slipped off. ^"Sir Erran! You've returned!"^

^"Indeed, I have,"^ Erran responded with a nod. ^"Now, if you don't mind my friend and I have come a very long way, and we'd like to be able to come in. Do you mind getting the gate open?"^

^"Of course, sir!"^ Fenlian turned back, calling out to the guard at the lower levels. ^"Sir Erran, has returned! Get the gates opened, quick! And someone tell Sir Iral and Lady Tabatha!"^ In response, there was a loud hustling happening within the walls, and soon the door began opening up.

Once the doorway was opened, there was a great amount of clamour. Inside, Dreamlanders of all ages and both genders hurried over, surrounding the entering duo. All were in a state of great excitement, and Metian wasn't quite sure what he should do.

Erran, on the other hand, took this all in great stride. He was already eagerly greeting those who rushed up to him. Soon, an elderly Dreamlandian man came up to them, and there were tears in his eyes. ^"My son!" he declared, embracing Erran as he came up. "You have returned to us!"

^"Indeed, I have father,"^ he responded. He then motioned to the Puffal standing next to him. ^"This is my friend, Metian the Puffal. He was a prisoner aboard the same ship I was, and he was instrumental in my escape."^

^"Well, my friend, you are more than welcome here,"^ the man said, shaking Metian's paw vigorously. Erran was quick to introduce the man as his father, Iral, and translate the words so that the black Puffal could understand.

^"I'm afraid we come bearing some rather bad news, though,"^ Erran added once introductions were finished. ^"We have reason to believe the ones who took us are far from finished, and we need to be able to defend ourselves in the case of their return."^

Iral nodded upon hearing these words. ^"Of course. We will discuss these matters soon. First, come in and rest, then we will hear what you have to say."^

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Bandanna Dee had very much enjoyed showing Sunflower around the palace, and even when she had to leave, he found himself in an incredibly good mood. He couldn't remember a time when he had been so relaxed, with absolutely nothing going wrong. It seemed as if everything was perfect.

Which, of course, meant that he wandered into the main hall to find King Dedede with a troop of Waddle Dees all lined up in front of him. They were all wielding a variety of weapons and wearing the silliest pieces of armour ever imagined.

"Um, sire?" the Waddle Dee said as he wandered over to the gathering, "what exactly is going on here?"

"Ah, Bandanna, there-a you are!" Dedede exclaimed, still using the silly "accent." "I was-a hoping you'd be-a able to help-a me out."

"Is there something wrong with your voice?" Bandanna asked, still incredibly freaked out by what was going on.

The Pengu shook his head. "That's-a only my new and mysterious-a accent. The ladies love-a a mysterious accent, so this is surely going to catch-a Starlina's eye!"

Bandanna sighed and pressed a paw to his forehead. He should have seen this coming after the Pengu had seen that note. After a breath, he looked up. "Sire, don't you think it might be a better idea to just be yourself? After all, maybe she'll like you better if you act like you than like a weirdo."

"Who's-a acting like a weirdo?" Dedede asked. "I'm-a imitating Meta Knight's accent!"

Incredibly glad that Meta Knight was not here to hear the blatant though unintentional insult to his culture, Bandanna Dee shook his head and sighed. "Never mind that. What's going on here? Aren't they supposed to be finishing up the repairs on the palace?"

"Oh, yeah, that." The Pengu waved a wing dismissively. "I-a decided that I have a better-a mission for these Dee. They are now my new troop of fighters, the Dededes!"

"The Dededes?" Bandanna asked, a tone of disapproval in his voice.

Dedede completely missed the tone, and nodded. "In-a deed. They're-a my own personal fighting-a force, trained personally by me. This is just-a like that troop of teenagers Meta Knight totes, around, The Meta-Knights!"

"Sire, I've never hear anyone address Sir Meta Knight's students as 'the Meta-Knights.' Besides, the palace is almost finished. Wouldn't it be best to allow the Waddle Dees to finish their work, and then you can play dress up later?" There was a slight tone of pleading to the Waddle Dee's voice.

Dede thought about the suggestion for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I-a think it would be-a better to get everything set up now, and that way we will-a be better prepared when Starlina comes. Besides, I've got to train these Dees to pilot my new ship, once it is-a made." With that, he spun around on his heels. "Come-a, my Dededes!"

Bandanna Dee could only watch in dismay as a train of clumsy Waddle Dees followed after their king. He couldn't help but have a sense of foreboding growing in the pit of his stomach, which wasn't helped by the last statement said to him. "Did he say something about piloting a ship?"

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That evening, the village held a great feast in honor of the return of the chieftain's son. Much excitement rang out as Dreamlanders and birds danced and preformed through the evening. It seemed that whatever else was to come, the individuals here and now were not too unduly troubled by it.

This was not the case uniformly, however. Metian and Erran sat at a fire, alongside Iral. Erran's wife, Tabatha, as well as their son Ulias and daughters Miraya and Gyselle. Big Birdee was seated there as well, with several of her most trusted birds, including Tareeni and Bertrand. They're conversation was a bit more sober than the others.

^"So, these Bukiset,"^ Iral said, musing over the information that had been told to him, ^"they were in the control of a man known as Haltmann?"^

^"Yes, President Haltmann,"^ Birdee responded with a nod. ^"He is a madman with a goal on invading and taking over the universe. He's already been successful in many areas of the galaxy, and if he finds a certain planet useful, he certain to come on the warpath."^

^"But why would he have any interest in us?"^ Tabatha asked. "We're not particularly powerful, or developed. We didn't even have any idea of your flying ships until real recently. Why would Haltmann have any interest in Pop Star."^

When what was said was translated, Bertrand shook his head. "Who can say why he has any interest in anything, marm," he commented. "The mind of a psychopath like him is often rather difficult for honest folks to comprehend. Logic, or some semblance of it, doesn't work the same way it does for everyone else. How he thinks can only be guessed at, not known for certain"

"My guess," Tareeni hazarded, "is land. He's already gotten a firm hold on some of the planets in your solar system. Shiver Star, Rock Star, even some areas on Neo Star, have already fallen into his power. Of all the planets in your area, Pop Star is the richest and provides the most livable areas, so developed or not, it would be a prime choice for setting up shop."

"{Perhaps the undeveloped nature of the world is even feeding into just what Haltmann wants,}" Metian added when the Birdon's suggestion had been translated. "{From what I know about Haltmann Works, and the Bukiset in specific, they tend to prefer to face enemies who do not yet have the technological capacities to fight back, and they panic when those capacities are developed.}" He glanced down at his paws, his mind wandering back to the family he had been separated from. "{They do drastic things when they are panicked.}"

^"Then the answer is clear, if not pleasant,"^ Iral said once the statement had been translated. He ran a hand over his greying blond beard. ^"We must prepare for war to come. Starting tomorrow, all Dreamlanders of fighting age will begin training in preparation, and the those too young, elderly, or ill to fight will be moved into the tunnels."^

^"We'll stick around and help, too!"^ Birdee exclaimed. ^"Haltmann and his goons might have the upper hand in technology, but between us, they won't stand a chance."^

^"I dearly hope you are right, my friend."^ The Dreamlander Chieftain was more sober than his companion, less certain of the outcome.

As they were speaking, the celebrations had gone on uninterrupted, but at that moment, something happened that drew the attention of all Dreamlanders present. A great pillar of fire appeared in the distance, breaking through the night sky and touching down in the midst of a canyon.

All those who were present but not Dreamlandian could only look on in confusion, but the members of the tribe knew exactly what it was. A great commotion rang through the village, and the Dreamlanders halted what they were doing and began heading out.

"{What is happening?}" Metian asked, grabbing Erran's arm. "{What was that fire?}"

Erran glanced down at his friend, a look of confusion in his eyes. "{You mean to say you don't know about Photron's call?}"

The Puffal shook his head. "{No. Who is Photron?}"

"{We must hurry,}" was the only answer he received. "{It is not wise to ignore the summoning of a Guardian.}" When all this response got was confusion, Erran smiled. "{I will explain on the way, but we must hurry.}" With that, the whole party hurried to go find the landing place of the pillar of fire.

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Confusion and anxiety over what Dedede had told him filled Bandanna Dee as he hurried into the "secret" lab. He might not know exactly what was going on, and he knew he didn't have a good feeling about this, but he supposed he might get a closer look at what was going on before he made a specific decision about what to do. If there was any place were he was going to get a good idea about what was going on, it was down here.

His worries were not appeased by what he found in entrance of the lab. The Waddle Dee was forced to throw himself to the ground as fast as he could as soon as he touched the bottom step to avoid getting swept up in a pillar of fire. "Hey! Watch where you're aiming that thing!" he could hear Escargoon snapping not too far away. "Do you want to burn down the whole palace?!"

"No, but I want to get this thing finished, and if you'd remember, we only have a few days to do it!" Magolor snapped back.

Bandanna was no longer sure he wanted to know just what was going on, but a morbid feeling pushed him on to get an idea. Thus, he entered the lab and peered around. The snail and the Halcandrian was standing in one side by a huge metal frame. The frame was glowing red, probably a side effect of the wave of fire that had washed over the area.

"Uh, hello?" The Waddle Dee wandered in, raising a paw to his bandanna to make sure it was still there. It had been singed in the fire, but was still intact. "Is everything alright in here? Do I need to get the fire department?"

The two technicians turned, noticing the Waddle Dee for the first time. "Oh, it's just you," Magolor said, putting away a small tool. "No, we're fine. Just trying to get these weird orders of Dedede's filled out."

"Yeah, I heard," Bandanna said with a nod. "Well, sort of, anyways. I know he's going around a with a strange accent now, and talking about how he's going to hook up with Starlina. For some reason, he thinks he has to mimic Sir Meta Knight in everything, and he's going about it in the most insulting way possible."

"I know," Escargoon commented, hefting up a huge hammer to begin beating the frame into shape. "He's going around sounding like some weird plumber, and he's going to humiliate himself."

"That's exactly what I said," the Dee responded leaning back. "He's just not going to listen." He sighed aloud. "Do you think there's any way to do damage control on this before he messes up things too much."

Magolor gave a skeptical laugh. "That's wishful thinking. When's the last time he's ever listened to something we said? The best thing we can do is follow his orders and hope it doesn't mess up too badly."

Bandanna looked down, worry clear in his eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. I just wish he'd listen to reason. He does this every time, and it's gotten him in trouble hundreds of times."

"It'd be almost like he wasn't Dedede if it didn't," the wizard replied. "Like I said, it's best just to do as you are told and not bring up too many questions."

The Waddle Dee was less than happy with that answer, but it didn't look like he was going to get anywhere like this. Perhaps it would just be best to hold on tight and hope for the best. It didn't look like there was much else he could do.

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The grouped headed through the canyon in a solemn procession. No one, not even small children, made much sound as the group wandered through. All kept their eyes ahead, and there was a sense of great importance thick in the very atmosphere.

For his part, Metian kept quiet, but he couldn't help but be curious about what was going on. Since no one was speaking, it didn't feel right to speak up to ask. At the same time, however, he couldn't help but long that someone would say something in explanation. He just wished that one sentence of explanation could be offered.

He soon got his wish, but in a way he never expected. Soon, they came to the place the Pillar of Fire had touched down, and they were near enough to feel the heat. "Tribe of Iral!" a deep, booming voice echoed from within the pillar. "Do not be afraid of approaching. My fire will not harm you."

They came through the veil of fire to see a strange core, and Iral and Erran were in the lead. Metian hung back a bit, feeling it wouldn't be right for him to intrude on something that was clearly important to the Dreamlanders, but his fears were dissuaded when the voice spoke again. "I require to see Erran the Dreamlander and Metian the Puffal. You may both proceed before the throne."

Erran straightened up immediately, but Metian hung back a bit. He wasn't certain what language was being spoken, but he had the feeling it wasn't Ponyan or the pidgin, so he had no idea how he knew what was being said.

Sensing his friend's discomfort, Erran went over and placed a hand on his shoulder. "{It's alright, Met," he said with a smile. "{Photron's a Guardian. He can be trusted, but we must do as we are told.}"

Metian nodded. "{I just need a moment to take this all in.}"

"{Everyone does on their first summoning.}" The Dreamlander laughed. "{It's only a fool who can face a fully matured Guardian without any nervousness.}"

After taking a breath, the two went into the core pillar. Inside, a huge throne of an unknown material was set up, and seated on it was a huge man wreathed in fire, and on his head was a crown that seemed to be glowing with an intense amount of heat. He was unlike any creature they had ever seen before, several times larger than the both of them and giving off a pure air of authority.

The man turned his gaze on the two who approached and a kind smile spread across his face. "Welcome, Erran and Metian. I am Photron, of the Fire People."

Once again, a feeling like he shouldn't be here filled the Puffal, and this time his friend felt it too. They both took a hesitant step back and began to bow. Neither said a word as they did this, feeling it wasn't their place to speak.

Seeing this, Photron let out a gentle laugh. "Up, my friends," he said in a soft tone. "It is not my place to be bowed to." When the duo were up on their feet again, he continued. "Now, you have both had quite the adventure recently, haven't you?"

Being the bolder of the two, Erran stepped ahead. "{Yes, sir,}" he said, choosing to speak in the pidgin so Metian could understand. "{We have recently escaped slavery from the Bukiset, who are commanded by the Haltmann Empire.}"

Photron's smile faded a little, but did not vanish. "I have heard. They have performed great amounts of evil in this galaxy, and others, and there time is at an end."

"{Sir?}" Metian asked, getting up just enough courage to speak. "{Is that why you are here? Are you going to help us stop them?}"

"My son, I am afraid that is not my mission." A look of sadness came to the Fire king's face. "My time is at an end as well, and I fear that it will come before the end of your enemy. However, even though I cannot personally aid you in the fight does not mean that I cannot give you some preparation for the coming times."

He waved a hand, and in a moment, two weapons appeared in a burst of fire. They spun around for a moment before coming down to the ground, still burning as they landed. "These will aid you in your quest," Photron said. "Take them, and they will become yours and yours alone."

The duo glanced at the burning weapons in front of them, hesitating at first over what they should do. Then, taking a deep breath, they took a hold of the weapons and withdrew them.

The moment the pillars had been touched, the flames pulled back and reformed, taking new shapes. After a moment, both of them had a new weapon, the likes of which they had never seen before, resting in their hand.

In Erran's was a huge silver bow that was strung with a golden string. Both the top and bottom of the bow had a sharpened edge, with only the leather-bound middle being the safe area to hold it. It seemed to flash in the light of the flames, and almost burned with a blue light all of its own.

In Metian's hand, the weapons had formed into a bright gold sword. It was a pronged longsword, bound at the hilt with leather decorated with gold leaf, and at the end was a ruby pommel stone. It to glowed bright, and there seemed to be an energy, like a very life within the blade.

"These weapons you see before you are like none ever made on this world," Photron said as they examined their new gear. They are the Duciel Bow and the Sword Galaxia, made within my own forge . They will be a salvation to those of noble heart who wield them, and a terror and bane on those who are unworthy. Use them well, warriors, for they will be invaluable in the coming days."

Seeing the sword that was now in his hand, Metian turned. "{Thank you, sir, but there must be some mistake.}"

Erran glanced in horror when he heard what his friend had said and turned towards Photron, expecting the Guardian to be horribly offended. However, the Fire King looked more bemused than upset. "Now why would you say that, Metian of the Star Jumper Puffals?"

"{I am no warrior,}" he said, glancing between the gleaming blade and the one who made it. "{I have never held a sword before in my life. They closest I have every come to such a take was the bombs of my design, and those were clumsy compared to this. This has to be for someone far more worthy of it than me.}"

Photron smiled when he heard this, and shook his head. "I am aware of your lack of experience, good Puffal. Do not be afraid of accepting this gift. True, you are not ready to wield Galaxia in combat quite yet, but be patient. Soon will come a time when you, wielding that sword, will be the salvation of your people."

"Now, there is one last aid I wish to give you." The Fire King looked up and stretched his hand up to the sky. In a moment, two bright flashes of fire shot down from the upper realms and landed in his palm. As he lowered his hand down, they could see that the flames had been two stars, both large and glowing with a bright golden light. "These are the Warp Star and the Flight Star. They will also be necessity in the upcoming battle. Take care not to lose them."H

The two stars floated up, the Flight Star going to Erran and the Warp Star to Metian. They reached out to touch the stars, and as soon as they did, the objects shrunk down, becoming palm sized. This allowed them to take the stars up without any difficulty.

Once they had received the stars, Photron looked up. "My time here is drawing to a close," he said, a tone of melancholy in his voice. "Take care of what you have been given, Star Warriors. I will not lie to you; the task that lies ahead of you will be rough, and it will attempt to overtake you very soon. Hold strong and never give up, and you will not be overcome. Return here once the enemy has confronted you. My servant will be waiting." Once he had said this, the fire swirled around them and lifted up. Any sign that the fire Guardian had been there was gone, save for the starts and weapons that were still in Metian and Erran's hands.

To be continued…


	88. The Gathering Storm, Part Three

As far as Dedede was concerned, his day was going awesomely. Everything had gone according to plan! His mask and ship were being constructed at that very minute, he had a troop of faithful Waddle Dee warriors, and he even had perfected his awesome accent. He couldn't see how anything could go wrong.

"Now," he said to himself in a cheerful tone, "after a day of such-a hard-a work, I think-a I deserve-a a pizza!" He looked around, and it didn't take long for him to see Bandanna Dee. "Good! Just on time."

Bandanna, at that moment, was coming out of a nearby hallway. He looked rather stressed and his bright blue bandanna had scorch marks on it. Not that Dedede really noticed that. At the moment, the young Waddle Dee was trying to make it back to his room to get some rest and think out just what he was going to do.

Which, of course, meant that he was not going to make it there. "Yo, Bandanna Dee! Over here!" Dedede waved energetically as he called out to his unfortunate servant.

Hearing the call, the Waddle Dee jumped and unintentionally exclaimed a few words of shock in the Waddle Dee language. However, he was able to recover from the shock mercifully fast, and he turned to see his employer. "Uh, King Dedede, imagine meeting you here. I was just going up to my room and-"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," the Pengu interrupted, waving a wing. "Come on, I've got a job for you."

This was not comforting to the already stressed near his limit Bandanna, and he almost gulped when he heard the command. "A-a job? But sire, everything's already so busy here. Maybe I should stay to make sure everything's finished alright."

Dedede shook his head. "I wanna pizza," he said with a snort, "and since it's raining, I can't take Mrs. Mufflerkins out to the village. I'll need you to drive the car." He

When he heard what his orders were, the Waddle Dee gave a small sigh of relief. With all the insanity Dedede had been purporting, he had been worried that he'd have to find some enchanted weapon, or get some arch enemy for the Pengu to fight. Driving a car through a mild rainstorm to pick up pizza was an easy enough task. "Alright, sire, that sounds good. Just let me pick up the keys."

As they headed out onto the road, Dedede couldn't help but go on about his "marvelous" plan. After all, when one comes up with an idea that is so clever and unmatched in creativity, it must be discussed as much as possible. Or, at least that was his opinion on the subject.

On Bandanna Dee side, he was used to such inane conversations, so he was just able to tune the rambling drone out. Instead, he focused on getting the car safely into the town. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the rain had been going on for quite some time, it hadn't let up much at all, and the roads were border line flooded by that point.

Due to this fact, there wasn't many other people out on the road at this time, which thankfully did make getting to the restaurant a bit easier. When they arrived at their destination, the place was almost deserted, with only a few people there enjoying lunch.

"Alright, Kawasaki!" Dedede exclaimed as he went into the restaurant. "I'll have-a two giant pepperoni pizzas, with pineapple, and-a anchovies, and-a mushrooms, and-a everything else you got!"

"So your usual? Alright then," the chef responded with a nod. "How about you, Bandanna? Anything you need?"

"Just a glass of water, and some aspirin if you've got it," the Waddle Dee responded.

"So your usual, too." Kawasaki smiled. "Makes it easy on me then. Well, I'll be with you in just a minute. Let me finish up with these gentlemen and I'll get your order in."

As he finished up taking the order of the three other customers in the restaurant, Dedede couldn't help but glance over with some amount of annoyance at whoever it was keeping him from getting his food. His expression changed when he realized who they were.

There, sitting in a booth not too far away, sat three of the Star Warrior leaders who had arrived just a few weeks ago. Sir Arthur, Sir Heavy Knight, and Sir Galahad had submitted their order and were chatting as they waited patiently for their food.

A wide, mischief laden grin spread across the Pengu's face, and he gave a chuckle. "I've got-a the second greatest idea I've had all day," he said, glancing at the older warriors.

Bandanna pulled his headgear down over eyes. "Please, sire, no."

"Sire, yes," Dedede responded, getting up from his own table to approach the booth.

The Waddle Dee sighed and didn't dare to look. There was no way this was going to end without embarrassment. The most he could hope for was that it wouldn't end with punching.

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After the message from Photron, the energy of the little village had changed completely. They had already decided to prepare for war, but the assurance and aid the Guardian had left only solidified in their minds that this was the right thing to do.

As such, the training for war started up. All younger Dreamlanders and birds were given a weapon and trained in its utilization. Older members of the group, too old to bear weapons themselves, instructed the youngsters on proper usage. All prepared for the time when the fragile peace would be shattered.

Metian and Erran especially threw themselves into training with their new weaponry. However, as eager as they were to learn how to use their gifts, they soon learned that Duciel and Galaxia were somewhat different from the weapons they were used to.

Erran held his bow up, examining the glistening metal. "{It's beautiful,}" he commented, running a finger over the golden thread, "{and the blade looks really sharp, but where's the arrows? After all, it's hard to use a bow without the quiver.}"

"{Maybe you need to make them?}" Metian offered. He had Galaxia in one hand, and the two of them were standing alone, preparing to test out their new gear.

"{Perhaps.}" Erran shrugged and hefted the bow up into a firing position. "{This is pretty large though. I can't imagine monstrous arrows we're going to need to make for it.}" As he spoke, he took hold of the string and pulled it back, as if practicing for when he had the ammo for the weapon.

As he made the movement, however, the unexpected happened. In a flash, a glowing arrow appeared on the string. Just as the Dreamlander had predicted, it was huge, unlike any arrow they had ever seen before. It gave of a shimmer like the stars and seemed to be made more of energy than any material either of them could think of.

Startled by the weapon's sudden appearance, Erran let go of the string. Upon being loosed, the huge arrow zipped away from its weapon. As traveled, it seemed to blur even more into just a flash of light, and it soon crashed into a huge stump a distance off. As soon as the bolt touched down, there was an intense burst and a loud bang, and when they looked up, all that remained of the stump was splinters.

Erran himself had been somewhat shoved back by the shock of the arrow, and as he watched the arrow do its work, he was struck speechless. There was no way he could believe that he himself had called up an item of such power.

Metian, however, was not as tongue tied as his friend. He let out a low whistle as he looked over to where the damage had been done. "{It looks like you won't be needed to make your own arrows after all,}" he commented, offering his friend a paw. "{Or, perhaps more accurately, you've already made them.}"

Recovering from his shock, Erran laughed and took the offer of help. "{It seems I have underestimated the level of value my gift holds. So, my friend, what does your gift do?}"

The Puffal glanced down at the weapon. "{I'm not really sure,}" he answered, brandishing the blade. "{I have never handled anything like this before. I'm not really sure how to use it.}"

"{Come now, swords aren't that too difficult to use,}" his companion responded.

Metian frowned. "{Slaves weren't allowed to so much as look at a knife. A sword was so far out of reach that we didn't even pretend we might ever be able to use more and stuck to the clumsier, simpler technological weapons.}"

"{Here, then.}" Erran jumped up, using the bladed edge of the Duciel Bow to slice off a tree limb, which he then brandished as a sword. "Do your best to him me and see how far you come.}"

"{I had better not,}" the Puffal responded. "{This is a weapon after all, and sometimes people who don't know what they are doing are more dangerous than experts. I don't want to hurt you, after all.}"

"{Come on,}" his friend called out with a playful taunt, "{be honest. You're just afraid I'll beat you, even just using a tree branch. Come on, give it your best shot.}"

Metian rolled his eyes.{"That's not going to work. I'm not about to be goaded into a fight like some sort of pup. Hard as it might be to believe, I do actually have more pride than that.}"

"{At least try something,}" Erran ribbed. "{I doubt Photron gave it to you so that you could use it as a glorified paperweight.}"

"{As I said earlier, I don't really have any experiences with swords,}" Metian responded, glancing down at the pronged blade with weary eyes. "{I don't want to mess things up.}"

"{Like I said before, swords aren't that difficult. You'll learning pretty quickly if you actually start working with it.}" The Dreamlander pantomimed a stab with his branch. "{I can even show you what to do, but at least give a practice swing first.}"

The Puffal shrugged. "{Alright then, you win. One practice swing.}" Having said that, he took a deep breath, hefted the glowing blade above his head, hesitated for a moment, and then swung.

It wasn't a very graceful swing. The arc was far from straight and had he been in an actual fight, he would have left himself open to a myriad of attack strategies. Since it wasn't a battle, however, the tip of the blade just came down with a thunk on the grass.

That wasn't all it did, though. As soon as Metian had begun the swing, the blade began glowing, from the the hilt and traveling to the tip. Once it had reached the end of the blade, a huge crescent-shaped burst of energy emerged from the blade. The energy sailed through the air, cutting a trough in the ground as it traveled, and it didn't stop until it hit a boulder about sixty feet off. There it crashed to a stop, but not before cutting a deep gouge into the boulder's side.

As the duo stood and watched the path of the energy, Erran whistled. "{Wow,}" he said in a quiet tone. "{Now I'm kinda glad you didn't take me up on my offer.}"

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Sir Arthur and his two lieutenants had been taking a trip to Cappy Town to see how the repairs on the palace were coming along. The had meant to bring back word to Stormholt on what was going on when they had ended up stranded by the rain. As such, they had decided that it would be a good time to stop and get a bit of lunch as they waited for the rain to settle down a bit. They had absolutely no way of preparing themselves for what was about to happen.

"Well-a, hello-a there, fellow warriors!" Dedede exclaimed, marching right over to the table.

It took the three a moment to try to figure out what was going on. They knew well who Dedede was, and had met him once or twice before, but they had never heard any word about him being warrior, or even having any idea of the knightly order.

Still, it would probably be rude to say nothing, so Sir Heavy Knight extended a paw. "Hello, King Dedede," he said. "Have you stopped in for lunch as well?"

"Indeed-a I have-a!" Dedede smiled. He pulled out his hammer and leaned on it, attempting to look regal. "I was-a just having a check in with my-a team, the Dededes. They've become quite-a the fighting force-a."

"I'm sorry, is there something wrong with your throat?" Sir Galahad couldn't help but ask.

"Why-a, no there's not-a," Dedede responded. "Why-a do you ask-a?"

"It's just that last time we spoke, you didn't seem to have the vocal tick you have now," the purple Puffal responded. "I just wanted to make sure there wasn't some illness you needed help with."

"Illness?" Dedede dismissively waved a wing. "There-a is no illness. I'm-a fit as a fiddle-a. You must be talking-a about my awesome accent."

"Yes, I was wondering about that, too," Arthur said with a nod. "I could have sworn you had an accent more akin to the Southern Arctican dialect."

Not wanting to own up to the fact that he was from South Arctica, Dedede tugged at the front of his shirt as he tried to decide on how to respond. "Uh, well, I'm certainly-a never had that-a accent," he responded quickly. "After all, I have-a the same accent as Sir Meta Knight!"

Heavy Knight frowned at the Pengi. "You have a Delmonto region accent? As in, the Delmonto on Aqua Star?"

"Yes-a, that's-a the one!" Dedede said in a hurry. "Lived there a good portion of my life!"

"Well, that's funny," Heavy Knight responded. "I lived in Delmonto until I was an early teenager, and I have relations who still live there, and I never heard of any Dedede. Who do you know there?"

Finding himself walked right into a corner, Dedede stepped back. "What-I, uh, mean-a, of course! Well, there's that one guy…and his sister-in-law, and, uh…" He looked up and placed a wing to his head. "What's that, Bandanna Dee? You-a need me? Oh, I'll-a be right over!"

Dropping his hand, Dedede gave an apologetic smile. "Well, I'd better go. Y'all have good day." With that, he slunk off with his head lowered.

Once he had left, the three Star Warriors turned to each other. "That was certainly an interesting experience," Arthur commented, glancing over to where Dedede was still trying to cover his face.

"Meta Knight did warn us that he was an odd one," Galahad said with a shake of his head. "Never imagined that he's be so insensitive as to mock someone's accent to their face."

Heavy Knight laughed. "If I was about to be offended by something like that, I would have resigned from the Star Warriors ages ago." With that, the three turned back to their own matters and didn't give the Pengu a second thought.

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Several months of training had gone by when the signs of danger struck again. It was now in the first full days of winter, and a thick coat of snow had fallen the night before. Thus, most of the tribe and their allies were staying inside the enclosure of the village for shelter.

By now, Metian had become familiar with life within the village was often out and about doing what he could to help. Thus, at that morning, he had been up on the village wall, keeping a watch out for any signs of trouble.

Now, by then, his appearance had changed somewhat. In his time there, he had oddly become darker in color, going from the ashy grey he had been when he was a slave to a rich jet black. Truth be told, the change seemed to be for the better, as he seemed much healthier this way, but it also meant that in certain areas, such as on a snow-covered wall, he stood out like a sore thumb.

Thus, that morning, he was alerted to the presence of someone approaching the village by a net that was shot out at him. The projectile came very close to hitting him; indeed, he only had a slit second to jump back, and the net instead entwined around a small statuette that was not too far from him.

In response, he leaned over to see who was approaching. ^"Who is be going there?"^ he asked in broken Dreamlandian. ^"Come out and state you!"^

In response, several other nets shot out, and once again the Puffal had only a few moments to jump back before they could take a hold of him. Reacting to the nets, he withdrew Galaxia and cut into the mesh, causing them to fall to the ground.

^"Sir Metian!"^ The black Puffal turned to see the two Dreamlander guards who were accompanying him that day run up. It was the elder of the two who was speaking, a brown haired individual named Tobian. ^"We heard you shout out and then shots were fired. What is going on?"^

^"There someone outside of gate,"^ he answered, motioning over the wall's edge and pointing out the entwined nets. ^"They attempt to fish me out, but missed me. We must go tell Sir Iral.^"

^"Right. Good idea,"^ Tobian said with a nod. He then turned to the younger guard. ^"Come, Elyishem, go get the chief and Sir Erran. Sir Metian and I will be waiting for you by the stairs."^

They youngster hurried to do as he was told, and before long, Iral and Erran had come out to join them. ^"Elyishem told us there was some sort of commotion up on the walls,"^ Iral said as he approached. ^"Is everything alright? I hope no one was harmed."^

Metian nodded, and as he bowed, his mind raced for the correct Dreamlandian words to describe what happened. ^"I had take route on south wall when net comed flying up. Now warning, just sail and almost fish hoof. When call for more explanation, no voice came back but much flying net. Had to cut, but still no response."^

Though his speech was rather stilted, his message was understood clear enough. ^"So,"^ Erran muttered to himself, ^"they've finally decided to show themselves."^

^"They?"^ Tobian asked. ^"What do you mean by 'they'?"^

^"The Bukiset, at the very least."^ The Dreamlander prince closed his eyes and tightened his grip on his weapon. ^"Perhaps others from the Haltman Empire as well. It looks like the day we've been waiting for has finally come."^

As if waiting for his confirmation of what was happening, there came a huge knocking at the gate at that moment. It was accompanied by a hefty bellowing. "Open up for the Bukiset Captain Eloroy! Do not try to hide! We know you are harboring fugitive slaves!"

Hearing the call, Iral turned to Tobian. ^"Go and get five other fighters. When you have returned, we will go out to meet our foe."^ When the messenger had left, he turned to Metian and Erran. ^"You two may get to hiding. I understand that you might not want to face your former masters."^

Erran, however, shook his head. ^"No,"^ he said, tightening his grip on his bow. ^"I'm going out to face them. They need to know they do not hold any mastery over me."^

^"I go too,"^ Metian added with a nod, and he pawed Galaxia's hilt. ^"Show not afraid."^

Iral shook his head, but he smiled. ^"I might have supposed you would feel that way. Very well, just be certain to stay close, and keep those weapons close at hand. You can be certain that the enemy isn't about to be intimidated by the presence of a weapon, but they might be deterred if a skilled hand wields it."^ At that point, Tobian returned with the five warriors needed, and they went out to face their foe.

As they stepped out, they were able to see their opponents in the light of day. There was about a dozen of the Bukiset standing out in the snow, and all of them were armed. Eloroy could be easily picked out by the golden band on his helmet, and he was flanked on either side by his men.

Iral took the lead in approaching the Bukiset, with Metian and Erran on either side. The remainder of the Dreamlandian fighters stood close as well, their own weapons at hand.

"I see you have decided to comply with our orders and are handing the slaves over immediately," Eloroy said. "That is a wise decision for you."

Iral turned to look at Metian to translate. ^"He say you hand we over with no fight,"^ the Puffal said in answer. ^"Him believe you big scared of them."^

Hearing this, Iral laughed and shook his head. He then looked the Bukiset chief in the eye and said something in Dreamlandian.

"What did you say?" Eloroy snapped. "Come on, speak sense!"

"He doesn't speak Empiric any more than you speak Dreamlandian," Metian replied, slipping back into Empiric himself. "Nor does anyone else here, excepting myself and to some degree, the Prince. If you wish to communicate, you will have to direct your comments to me, and I will translate"

" As for what he said," the black Puffal went on, "he commented that if you believe that a group of armed men coming out to face you is a surrender, than you are a bigger fool than he initially took you for."

The Bukiset started murmuring in anger when they heard this, and Eloroy was furious. "Listen here! Tell this old fool that unless he turns over the runaways immediately, the entirety of the Haltmann Works company will come and wipe his pathetic little planet away!"

Metian turned and translated what had been said, and Iral frowned and shook his head. ^"He is making threats we have anticipated for months."

^"Now, father, Metian and I have trained for this,"^ Erran said, casting a sharp glare at the enemy. ^"Let us teach them what they are to expect if they want to fight us."^

Iral looked distressed at the prospect, but nodded. ^"Very well. If you wish to teach them the touch of the Guardian's weapons, go ahead. We will not stand in your way."^

Hearing this, Metian turned. "Chief Iral has stated that if you wish to take us now, you may attempt. They will not interfere."

"Glad to hear it." Eloroy pointed out to Metian and Erran. "Take them! Take them now!"

Several of the Bukiset advanced on the duo, expecting that they would be easy targets. They learned differently, as the first two to approach Metian were forced to recoil back in a moment when he whipped Galaxia out and destroyed both their blasters. Similarly, the ones advancing on Erran were forced into flight when he used the flat of the Duciel Bow to smack them back, and used the sharp edge of the bow to slice their weapons in two. It was clear they were not expecting the former slaves to be able to fight back.

Seeing the way his men were defeated so easily, Eloroy scowled. "You are slaves of Haltmann Works! I order you to stand down and allow yourself to be taken!"

"The agreement was that you could try to take us, not that we'd come without any fight," Metian responded. He gave a small smile before continuing. "We can't help it if your men aren't up to the task of capturing a few slaves."

Eloroy scowled. "I order you to come now!" He then turned to Iral. "You! It is your duty as a subject of Haltmann to hand over these fugitives!"

When Metian translated the order, Iral responded by laughing. ^"We are no more the subjects of the tyrant Haltmann than you are my subject. Take your army and leave now. You will not be given this grace again."^

The Puffal turned back and translated what was said. Hearing the message, the Bukiset chief stomped a foot. "You've made a mistake, you hear! You've brought down the wrath of an empire! Do you hear! You will all be wiped out!" With that, he turned and stomped off, followed closely by his men.

As they left, the defenders watched, knowing well that war was at hand.

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As Sir Ebrum finished the scroll, there was a rapt silence as they waited for him to go on. However, he didn't continue. Instead, he looked up. "Well, it appears that the rain has finally stopped. That is a good place to pause our study. We will continue later, and we can return to the festivities."

Hearing that the rain had stopped, Kirby rushed over to one of the windows and peered out. Sure enough, the rain clouds had gone away and the sun was shining bright. The vendor for the festival who had not listened to the story were already out and working on drying off their stalls.

Excitement filled through the little one, and he immediately turned to his friends. "C'mon, we pway!" he shouted in excitement, and the others were only just able to keep up with the little one. Thus, they all hurried out to enjoy the festival in the rest of the day.

To be continued…

 


	89. ...The Heart Grow Fonder, Part One

It was the morning of the final day of the festival, and it could be felt in the energy in the atmosphere. Everyone was rushing around, determined to make this day the best one yet, since it was the wrap up for the entire festival. These days were legendary, and with the recent publicity that Cappy Town had received, there were even some big names who had decided to visit on this great day.

This atmosphere and energy could be especially felt in the kitchens. Waddle Dees were running to and fro, preparing dishes and getting them to the guests who had also arrived. Along with the typical Dee chefs, several others were working as well. Kawasaki, Nago, and Shiiro were among the workers, and Lady Like was supervising the whole affair, with the assistance of Lynette.

"Here, take this tray of entrees to the main ballroom, darling," the Dreamlandian lady instructed a group of Waddle Dees. Once they had scurried off, she turned to face her partner. "Thanks again for your help. I couldn't imagine tackling this whole event by myself."

"Don't worry about it," Lynette responded with a smile. She was currently arranging a tray of fruit tarts, though every now and then she ate one instead. "I prefer having something to do than just lounging around with nothing at all. I guess it's the years in the clinic."

"I know exactly what you mean," Lady Like said with a nod. "Once you've gotten used to the hustle of an important gathering, it's rather aggravating to just lie around."

At this moment, there was a semi-silent commotion that arose from the Waddle Dees. Several of them had started flailing around in panic and running around, with all the chaos apparently focused around a certain barrel.

In curiosity, Lynette went over and peered into the barrel, and laughed when she saw who was hidden within. "Kirby! Now what do you think you are doing in there?"

"Eatin' waisons." The tot pulled up a pawful of the dried fruit to show his mother. "T'ey vewy good. Want some?"

The ivory Puffal chuckled, but pulled the little one out of the container. "Now, Kirby, you know better than to get into food like that. These are needed for some of the dishes; you can have them then."

"But t'ey good!" Kirby tried to protest as he was sent away.

"And you can have some later," Lynette responded. "Now, isn't your father out there greeting guests? You should go join him and help get the newcomers settled."

Hearing this, Kirby sprang to his feet. "Oh, yeah!" he exclaimed. "Kaabii fo'got! Bye, Mama!" He then rushed out of the room, eager to join Meta Knight at the greeting.

His rush took him out into the main ballroom of Castle Dedede. King Dedede himself had insisted that all the guests would be greeted there, and they would mingle there for a while before the main festivities of the day began. In particular, Meta Knight had been given the position of the main greeter, since by now he was both someone who could be trusted to recognize guests and who was notable enough to be recognized.

As he was eager to join Meta Knight out in the main hall, Kirby wasn't watching closely where he was going and ended up accidentally colliding with one of the guests, a Pipian woman in a long teal dress. Thankfully, since Kirby was so small and light, the woman was unharmed and the little one was only knocked back a little bit.

Feeling that something had hit her, the woman turned around and looked at Kirby. "Why hello there, little fellow," she said. "You must be the Star Warrior, Sir Kirby."

Hearing the title he would one day hold, the little one straightened himself up and attempted a gallant bow. "I's Kaabii," he said, introducing himself. Unfortunately, his shape made it difficult for such a bow to be performed, and he instead ended up pulling a somersault.

The lady didn't seem to mind. She just smiled and held out her hand to him. "Why hello there, Sir Kirby. I'm very pleased to meet you. My name is Starlina. How are you on this fine day?"

"Hiii, St'lina!" the little one responded, falling back on his usual greeting. "Kaabii goo'! Gonna join Papa in sayin' hi ta gues'!" He then paused for a moment and looked a little bit past the woman before waving. "Hi, Dedededededededede!"

Dedede gave a slight scowl, upset that his gallant entry had been interrupted. However, as Starlina began to turn around, he had to change his attitude fast. "Oh, uh, hi there, Kirby," he said as fast as possible before turning to the woman. "I'm sorry if he was botherin' you, there," the Pengu said quickly. "I'm King Dedede, by the way, owner of this fine palace." He held out his wing and flashed what he supposed was a dashing grin.

For her part, Starlina wondered if Dedede was feeling ill, but decided it would be bad manners to ask. "Pleased to meet you," she said, shaking his wing. "He wasn't bothering me at all. He was just telling me that he was going to join his father. I suppose that means Sir Meta Knight is here as well, am I right?"

"Oh, yeah, he's around here, somewhere," Dedede said. He spoke as fast as possible, eager to change the topic at hand. "So, is this your first time in Cappy Town? I mean, not that's it's not a town worthy of attention, but it was such a backwater little place before I came in."

At this point, Kirby became bored with the conversation and he turned once more to look around other room for Meta Knight. Thankfully, that didn't take long, and he was able to spot the blue Puffal standing at one of the nearby doors, shaking the hands of the last few guests to come in. The little one took off, calling out at the top of his lungs. "Papa! Kaabii comin' now!"

Turning to his son, Meta Knight smiled, and his eyes gained a hint of pink. "I see you are. Have you said hello to some of the guests?"

Kirby nodded. "Uh-huh. Kaabii say hiii to miss St'lina, and Dedede say hiii, too. See?" He pointed to where the Pengu ruler who was still standing with Starlina, who was looking increasingly uncomfortable.

"Oh, dear," Meta Knight mumbled. He headed over to where they were, supposing he'd have to intervene before they had a harassment charge on their hands.

At that moment, Dedede was rambling on, not noticing that his audience had lost interest in the conversation. "And after that, I smacked that big ol' Dark Matter monster back with my hammer! He really thought twice about attacking this palace again!"

"And after that you were knocked unconscious, and Kirby eventually finished off the creature using the Star Rod," Meta Knight called out as he joined the group.

Dedede blushed, upset his bragging had been ruin. "Well, yeah, I guess he helped some," he grumbled.

"I'm sorry for interrupting, but I had a feeling he wasn't giving an accurate story of what was going on," the warrior said. He reached out a paw to the woman. "My name is Meta Knight, but the way."

Unlike Dedede, Starlina seemed more than happy for the interruption. "Oh, there was no problem at all," she said with a slight laugh. "I've heard of you, Sir Meta Knight. It truly is an honor to meet a warrior of your standing."

"Hey, I'm-a warrior too!" Dedede hurried out. He then remembered his imitations of Meta Knight that he had previously set up and eagerly threw himself into them. "I've-a gotten a lot of training into-a being a Star-a Warrior myself, after-a all!"

Hearing this, Starlina looked confused. "Really? You?" She looked over him once or twice, somewhat confused. "I have never heard that you were a Star Warrior."

"Yes," Meta Knight responded, annoyance clear in his voice. "Where, pray tell, did you receive your training and at what age were you chosen?"

"I-uh-well," the Pengu began, his mind racing for ways to keep the facade up "It's a secret! A super big, important secret that even I'm not allowed to tell anybody."

"Oh, yes, because not being allowed to give dates is truly the mark of the truth," Meta Knight said, rolling his eyes as he spoke.

Missing out completely on the sarcasm, Dedede grinned. "Yep, that was it! I can't tell y'all, but what I can tell you is that I was chosen to be at the highest rank possible! Sir Andy himself selected me to be one of his top advisors!"

The blue Puffal was growing impatient with the lies. "Sir Andy?"

"Yeah, you know. Our great leader?" Dedede insisted.

Meta Knight pressed a paw to his face. "You mean Sir Arthur?"

"Yeah, Sir Arty!" The Pengu flashed a bright smile. "He told me himself he wasn't sure what he'd do without me, and that he's honamored to have worked with someone of my calaba."

The warrior groaned again before grabbing the "king" by his robe. "Excuse me, madam," he said with a bow. "I need to have a word with 'sir' Dedede in private."

"Oh, do take your time," she responded, none to bothered with the interruption at all.

As soon as they were out into the hallway, Meta Knight turned on Dedede. "What are you doing out there?!" he asked in a hushed whisper. "Making up stories like that!"

Dedede snorted. "Well, excuse me for simply talkin' about all my credentials. I can't help it if you don't like having another Star Warrior to compete with!"

"You and I both know you are not a Star Warrior!" the blue Puffal hissed. "In some solar systems, you would have been arrested for impersonating a warrior and dragged off to a dungeon somewhere!"

"Ain't it good that we aren't in one of those solar systems, then," the Pengi responded. He frowned and stuck his tongue out. "Now, I might not have gone to one of your fancy-scmancy warrior schools, but I've got everything that's important for a Star Warrior to have. So there!"

Meta Knight groaned. "Alright then. What vows have you taken?"

That caught Dedede by surprise. "Uh, vows?"

"That's right," the knight responded. "From the moment of christening, there are vows a Star Warrior takes. At christening, sponsor vows for the squire-to-be that they would obey their superiors and honor the way of the warrior. Upon becoming a knave, a trainee vows to protect the weak and never raise their hand in revenge. Finally, when knighted, a Warrior vows that they will forever follow the chivalric code to the end of their days. Even Kirby has made the first level of those vows. Now, where did you take your vows?"

"Oh, those vows. I thought you were talking about some other vows." The Pengu gave an awkward nod, still trying to keep up the pretense of knowing what he was talking about. "Well, I did take those, ya know. I, uh, just can't remember exactly when."

Meta Knight sighed. "Dedede, do not keep up this lie. It will not end well. It would be better to tell the truth and allow the lady to make up her mind on her own."

"That's easy for you to say," the Pengu responded with a snort. "You've got that macho thing going on, and you've got all sorts of lady attention! I mean, what I've got might be a gazillion times cooler than what you've got, but it hasn't done me any good as of yet. So today I'm going to be you!"

"You are attempting to be a shallow imitation of me, and I can guarantee you that this will not end well." The blue Puffal shook his head before turning to go. "I am not your father, so you do not need to heed my words of warning. However, you should listen well. End this lie now, or so help me, I will." With that, he turned on his heels and left."

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Kirby was starting to become immensely bored. He had been rather excited to join the grown ups party at first, and while he enjoyed talking to people and eating, it seemed that was all they were doing. None of his friends who were his own age were there and most of the grown ups' conversation bored him. He might have occupied his time eating, but he had been warned by his mother not to eat too much, since the food was for all the guests, not just him. Thus, once Meta Knight and Dedede had left, the little Puffal had nothing to do.

As such, he decided that it might be a good time to go out into the gardens and have a walk. There were some grown-ups out there, but it was bright and sunny, and there was a chance he might find some of his friends.

Thankfully, his attempts didn't take as long as he might have supposed. When he stepped out into the garden, he was shaken from his thoughts by a call. "Well, good morning there, Kirby!" a chipper voice called out. The pink Puffal turned to look in the direction of the voice and saw Pitch sitting up in a nearby tree.

The bird was preening his feathers at the moment. "Beautiful day isn't it?" he asked. "Just the day to start a flight."

Kirby nodded. "Fwying fun!"

"Indeed it is, youngster," Pitch responded. "Today will be a particularly good day for a flight, which is why I'll be starting my journey back today."

"Jo'ny back?" Kirby asked when he heard this. "Whe'e Pitch go?"

"Back home, to Vegetable Valley," the bird responded. "Cappy Town has been very nice, but I do believe I've been intruding on my uncle for too long. I'm heading home at noon, and hopefully I'll make it there before nightfall."

The child looked up, somewhat saddened by the news. "Pitch evah come back?" he asked in a small voice.

"Oh, don't worry," Pitch responded in a cheerful voice. "I won't be gone forever. Besides, Vegetable Valley isn't too far away; it's even closer to Stormholt than it is to here. Maybe you can come visit me."

The idea of a trip cheered the little Puffal up considerably. "'Kay!" he called out with a smile. "Kaabii come say hi soon!"

At that moment, the two were interrupted as someone approached them. "Sorry I'm late, Pitch," Adeliene called out. She had a wrapped package in one hand and she was running to catch up to them. "I had a bit of difficulty in finding the wrapping, but it's all done and ready to go."

Kirby watched with great interest as the artist handed the package up to the bird, who tucked it into a small bag that was hanging on a nearby tree limb. "Wha' t'at?" he asked.

"Oh, this?" Pitch shut the small flap on the sack before answering the question. "It's a painting I asked Adeleine to make a little while ago. It's a landscape of the village and the palace as seen from the hills near the entrance to Whispy Woods. I thought it would make a nice souvenir."

With that, the bird turned and looked up at the sky. "It looks like the wind is turning in my favor. I'd better get ready to go. Good day to the both of you!" He waved goodbye and then took wing.

"Soov-ner?" Kirby asked, a little confused by the word. "Ad'weine? What a soov-ner?"

"A souvenir is a small item that some picks up, usually from a trip," the older girl answered. "People tend to buy them when they've taken a trip and are ready to go back home. It's a way to remember all the fun they had on the trip."

"Oh," Kirby said, though he was still a bit confused. "T'eir bwains don't wo'k?"

Adeleine chuckled. "No, their brains work just fine. It's just that sometimes a little trinket helps, too. A lot of people get them. In fact, quite a few people at the festival commissioned paintings from Ado and me. We'll be delivering them today, considering it's the last day of the festival. Would you like to come and help?"

This sounded like a lot more fun to the little one than sitting around watching adults talk, and he eagerly said he would help. As they made their way back to the museum, a thought struck the little one. "If festiva' ovah, t'en why all t'e peopah comed now?"

The girl shrugged. "I'm not really sure. It seems kind of silly to me, but sometimes people only show up for the first and last days, since those are the days that have the most activities they are interested in. That's why King Dedede worked on all those big projects for today."

Kirby was going to ask more questions, but before he could say anything, Adeleine saw one of her customers and had to run ahead to deliver her paintings. Thus they went on like this for the morning, delivering the orders and calling their farewells to those who were leaving.

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"Here's the next tray of mini pies. You'll want to take it to the hallways; there's some people who are gathered in there," Lynette instructed one of the Waddle Dees. "When the tray is empty, come back here to pick up some of the confections."

At that moment, Meta Knight came into kitchen looking rather frustrated. Spotting her husband, Lynette turned back to the other kitchen workers. "I'll be taking a brief break."

"Just don't take too long," Nago responded in a huff. "If those creatures aren't given explicit instructions, they're bound to break something."

Selecting two recently finished chocolate pies, the white Puffal hurried over to her husband. Handing him one, she kissed him. "Is everything going well out there?" she asked, pulling him over to an out of the way table.

Meta Knight smiled and lifted his mask to begin eating. "As well as could be hoped, I suppose."

"You suppose?" his wife asked. "You say that as if there was trouble for certain."

The blue Puffal shook his head. "It's Dedede. I know you haven't seem that much of him since you have arrived, but he can be so aggravating. I have to watch him all the time or else he does something that cause scandal." His eyes flashed red for a moment. "I swear, he is older than I am, but Kirby has more maturity than that Pengu."

Lynette chuckled. "Well, I suppose that age and maturity are two different things." She took another bite of her pie. "So, what did he do now?"

"He is attempting to pass himself off as a Star Warrior." Meta groaned aloud as he said those words. "In the time before the Downfall, such an offence would be punishable by arrest, yet he means to keep the falsehood up."

"Ah, well, this is a bit more serious than I has supposed," his wife sighed, and she absentmindedly ate her spoon. "You don't suppose he'll go farther than making up farfetched stories about himself, do you?"

"With him, I have no idea," the knight responded. "It could stay here, or it could go as far as him trying to start a war to prove his abilities. He's just too unpredictable."

At that moment, a commotion started up outside in the main ballroom, and many of the kitchen workers were rushing to the door to look outside. One of them, a red Boxin youth who had been acting as a waiter hurried to Lady Like, who was standing not five feet away from the two Puffals. "Ma'am, you might want to get a look at this."

"What's wrong, Elbien?" the lady asked, turning from her own work.

"It's King Dedede," the Boxin answered. "He's challenged Sir Ebrum to a duel!" The youngster turned to Meta Knight. "You should come as well, sir. It's getting pretty crazy out there."

Hearing this, the warrior groaned. "It's not a war, I suppose, but it's trouble, anyway. At least Parm is not foolish enough to actually take him up on the challenge." Getting up, he hurried to the main hall.

Outside, just as they had been told, the chaos was surrounding King Dedede. The Ebrum family had been there as well, greeting the guests, just as Meta Knight had. What had happened was that after he had been scolded by Meta Knight, Dedede had decided that the best way to prove his abilities to Starlina would be challenging a seasoned warrior to a duel. Thus, upon retrieving his own newly-made mask and hammer, he had gone and challenged the leader of the Children of Erran to a duel.

Thankfully, as Meta Knight had supposed, Sir Ebrum had not accepted the challenge. Tuff, on the other hand, was a different story.

"You can't say that about my family!" the boys shouted out. He was being held back by his father and sister, but he was far from pacified.

"Yeah?" There was a tone of scorn in the Pengu's voice. "If-a you're not like that, than why-a are you-a all afraid of fighting me?"

"I'm not afraid! Just let me get my bow!" Tuff was now straining to get at the heckler.

"Now, Tuff, you need to calm down right this instant," Sir Ebrum scolded.

At this point, Meta Knight intervened. "Now, what is going on over here."

Dedede snorted. "Since y'all wouldn't believe me about being a Star Warrior by challenging the so-called leader of the Kids of Aaron to a dual, but he was too afraid to take me up."

This time, it was Tiff who was set off. "It's the Children of Erran that isn't true!" she snapped. "You rushed in here and tried to hit Dad!"

Dedede stuck his tongue out at her. "That's what you say, and it's your word against mine!"

Meta Knight sighed, not bothering to bring up whose word was more trustworthy. "Dedede is, this true?"

The Pengu lifted his mask and crossed his arms. "Well, sure. I can't be helped if there are people too cowardly to take up a challenge."

The knight's eyes flashed red with growing anger. "[You utter child!] Can't we have five minutes of peace with you around?!"

It was at this moment that Dedede seemed to realize the trouble he was in. "I…uh…I was just…"

"You were trying to glorify yourself, and by attempting to appropriate a culture and mantle that does not belong to you!" Meta Knight's voice reached a level of anger rarely ever heard. "[Oh, you ignorant pretender!] Do you not understand the severity of what you are doing!? It would be illegal for you to appropriate the title of a police officer, yet you feel it's fine to lay claim to years of training that never happened! What's more, you are running around trying to stir up fights, both making a mockery of the Star Warrior culture and endangering all those around you! Now, I warned you that you needed to make and end of this lie, and that if you wouldn't, than I would. I was not bluffing."

Without hesitating a second, Meta Knight flew up to a high sculpture and spoke in a raised voice that everyone around was bound to hear. "Listen to me!" he shouted out. "This Pengu is a fraud! No matter what he claims, he is not a Star Warrior and have never had anything to do with us! Do not listen to what he says; he doesn't know what he is talking about." With that, the blue Puffal jumped down from his position and stormed off.

For a moment, there was complete silence, followed by murmured whispers. Not wanting to face the aftermath of his facade, Dedede stomped off as well. He was thoroughly humiliated and could not see how the whole issue had been his own fault. "I'll show him," the Pengu muttered under his breath. "I'll show them all who's really in charge around here."

To be continued…

 


	90. Th Heart Grow Fonder, Part Two

"Alright, ma'am," Adeliene said as she fished out one of the last portraits out of her bag. "Here's your backdrop."

"Oh, this will look just marvelous on my mantel piece," the Cappy woman declared, holding up the painting. "Well done, young lady. You did a wonderful job." She handed over the agreed upon price before hurrying off to join her friends. "I'll just have to recommend your services once I get back home. Have a nice day!"

Kirby was enjoying himself much more helping Ado and Adeliene here than he had been back at the palace. The twins were such good artists that none of their customers were upset with their products. They were busy, and the two of them and the Puffal were kept on their feet, rushing this way and that to pick up the various finished portraits and backgrounds. A few of them were rather difficult to find, but the happy faces of the people who had ordered them was enough to make the venture worthwhile.

While they were doing the work, however, a not-so-happy face came into the shop. "I need ya'll ta do something for me," Dedede demanded as he stomped into the studio. "I'll pay ya whatever ya want to do it!"

"We're a little busy at the moment, sir," Adeliene said in a calm tone as she handed a Waddle Doo his portrait. "If you would just get in line, we'll be able help you when your turn comes."

"I need your help now!" Dedede snapped. He then attempted to push to the front of the line, but found that said attempt put him right in front of a severely irritated looking Bonkers. Realizing what such a position would be like, he backed down. "I guess I can wait."

The line was rather long, so it was about fifteen minutes before Dedede came to the front of the line. By then, most of the pictures had already been picked up and two of the three workers were able to settle down for a bit of a break.

Ado volunteered to stay at the counter, and thus she was the who spoke with the Pengu. "You seemed to be in bit of a hurry," she commented with a friendly smile. "What can I do for you today?"

Without wasting any words on small talk, Dedede slammed down a sketch book. Inside was a picture of a dirigible. "I need a face design for this, but I can't get just the right look. I thought y'all might be able to whip something up for me."

Ado picked up the notebook and looked over the blueprint. "A face design, huh?" she asked. "What do you have in mind?"

"Something that'll look real tough and fierce," he said. "Like nothing Dreamland's ever seen before."

"Like nothing on Dreamland." The girl leaned back and racked her brain for some sort of impressive design. "Well, how about a Kabula then? That would look pretty tough, and there's never been one on Pop Star before."

Dedede tilted his head. "A what?"

"A Kabula," Ado explained. "It's a creature from Musean that looks kinda like a shark, but it lives on land. Elline and Claycia told us about them shortly before they headed back to Lumio Star." The artist began drawing on the picture, sketching out a fearsome maw, a nose on the tip, and a pair of keen eyes. "It's one of the toughest predators on Lumio Star, and a lot of battle armor and weapons have this picture."

The Pengu grinned when he saw that the picture. "That should about do it!" He snatched up the notebook and was about to run out.

"Wait!" the artist called out before he could get too far away. "You still have to pay for the sketch!"

Hearing the call, he turned around and came back, but it was clear he wasn't very pleased with the pause. "Fine," he practically snapped. "What do you want?"

"Well, a full sketch is usually three Dededen, but considering this was small and only in a few areas, I'd say a half-Dededen should be fine," Ado replied, running the calculations through her head.

Dedede fished out the amount and slammed it on the counter. "Here. I've got places to be." With that, he rushed out of the building. He didn't even bother to call out some words of farewell.

"My, he seemed to be in a rush," Adeleine said as she approached her sister. "What did he ask for?"

"He wanted a creature to be drawn on a sketch of a dirigible," Ado said. "I'm not sure exactly what he wanted it for, but it didn't seem like too much trouble, so I drew out a Kabula."

"Oh, good choice," her twin said, nodding in approval.

"Still, I can't help but wonder just what it was he wanted with a Kabula airship." Ado chuckled, but shook it off. "Oh, well, I guess I'm just being nosy."

At that moment, their conversation was interrupted by Kirby rushing in, holding a canvas aloft. "Wook!" he cried out with immense pride. "Kaabii paint!"

The duo couldn't help but laugh when they saw the little one's masterpiece. It was a mix and mash of various colors, with only a few distinguishable shapes present. "It Sto'mho't!" he declared. "See, he'e's a fo'twess, and he'e's t'e twees, and he'e's ah Kaabii's fwiends!"

"Yes, that's very nice Kirby," Adeleine commented, patting the little Puffal child on the top of the head.

Kirby beamed. "Kaabii gonna go show Mama and Papa!"

Before he could run out with the still dripping wet painting, Ado put a hand on his shoulder. "Maybe you should give that a few minutes to dry before you run out with that," she recommended. When the little one looked a little disappointed with the suggestion, she smiled. "Now, you don't want it to get ruined before we can find them now do you?"

"No," Kirby said, looking down at his painting.

"Well, there you go," she continued. "Come with me. I'll show you where the drying room is." She then lead him off to let his picture dry.

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Back at the palace, things had started to regain a smoother flow. The issues of the afternoon were now forgotten, and for the most part everyone had gone back to business as usual. At least, they had for those still attending the festival.

For Dedede, he had other things to do. "That stupid Meta Knight," the Pengu grumbled under his breath. "Thinks he can ruin my chances with Starlina. What's his whole stake in this, anyway? He's already got a girlfriend. A stupid Kirby girlfriend, but hey, he picked her."

As he murmured to himself, he headed to the hallway and to the tapestry hanging in the middle of the wall. Once he had made sure there was no one around to see him, he tugged hard on the tapestry's rope, opening up the passageway to the "secret" lab. Once he had stepped in, the door swung shut, covering over his tracks.

Inside, Magolor and Escargoon were hard at work on the project that had been laid out for them. They were not in the main lab, which would be too small for the sheer size of the project, but instead in a vehicle hangar that had been set up when the palace had been rebuilt following Nightmare's attack. Inside the hangar, the dirigible had begun to take form.

They were not alone, of course. The two of them wouldn't have been able to handle such a monumental task, even if there was a way to keep one from killing the other. No, there was also swarms of Waddle Dees, running this way and that, carrying building materials to the work sight and waste products away. Thus, there was an air of business running through the places.

Dedede took one look at the massive flying vehicle and his spirits were lifted instantly. "Why, that's a mighty fine job, boys!" he said, approaching the huge dirigible. A broad grin spread out over his face.

"I'm glad you like it, your highness," Magolor said, moving out from underneath the engine. "We've got it just about finished, so you won't have to wait much longer to take the first test flight."

"There's just one little detail that needs to be added," the Pengu said in a casual tone of voice.

"What?" Escargoon wasn't too confident when he heard this statement. He climbed down from the interior of the vehicle and made his way to the Pengu. "We've done everything according to your design! We followed everything you said, right down to the color of the washers we used on it! What else could you need?"

"This!" Dedede smiled as he handed over the sketch book. "I want this painted on both sides of the front of the balloon. That way, everyone who looks at it will know who this belongs to and that they shouldn't mess with me!"

The snail took the sketch book and examined the drawing within. "This doesn't look like your drawing, sire. Where'd you get this picture from?"

"I went to those artist twins," Dedede answered. "One of them drew it up for me. They said it was some fearsome creature called a Kabula. That sounded good to me." The Pengu sniggered. "The Kabula. Even the name sounds kinda tough. You know what, I think that's what I'll call this ship. The _DMS Kabula!_ It has a nice ring to it. Just like a Star Warrior ship, I'd bet."

"Wait a minute, what's going on here?" Escargoon set the book down. "Just why do you want all this Star Warrior stuff set up? I mean, I get that you want to impress that actress lady, but why are you going trying to do it this way?"

"How else would you do it?" the Pengu responded.

"Well, there's the traditional way." The snail began counting on one hand. "There's asking her out…flowers…chocolate…promises you don't intend to keep."

"I hate to admit it, but I'm going to have to agree with shell-head on this," Magolor called out.

"You see, eve-Hey!" the scientist said, spinning around on the magician.

The Halcandrian wasn't done, though. "He might be oblivious to everything he can't see with his own eyes, but this is so clearly such a bad idea that even a skeptic like him can sense it."

"And why would this be a bad idea?" Dedede said, annoyed that anyone would question his ideas.

"Well, it's just that these things are bound to be found out," Escargoon pointed out. "After all, the Star Warriors are an official organization, and most, if not all, of the members know each other pretty well. Furthermore, now that we know that their 'Downfall' was less a down fall and more a setback, there's at least a few of the members who are running around. I doubt they're going to like having an outside pretend to be one of them. You don't need one of cape-for-brains fortune tellers to figure that out."

Magolor glared at Escargoon but chose to address the issue at hand. "Yeah, like Sir Meta Knight," he said with a nod. "How long do you think it will be before he calls you out on your charade and tells people the truth."

Hearing this, Dedede scowled and mumbled something, keeping his eyes locked on the floor. It was clear that he was not enjoying what he was hearing.

"What was that, sire?" the snail asked. "I'm afraid all this heavy machinery means it can be hard to hear."

"I said he already did it!" the Pengu snapped. "He already shouted it out to everyone that I'm a fraud! He did it at the festival on top of it, in front of everyone! Even Starlina was there, and he shouted it out to the world!"

Hearing this, both specialists inwardly groaned, and Escargoon did a face palm. "Uh, sire," Magolor said, wanting to get a clearer picture of what had happened before he made a statement. "What exactly did you do _before_ he told everyone your secret?"

"Nothing!" Dedede said, crossing his arms with an expression of wounded dignity. However, his look faded after a moment. "Well, not much. He questioned my ability as a warrior, I had to get my new hammer and challenge Sir Ebrum to a dual."

After another audible groan, Escargoon raised his hands. "Sire, you didn't!"

"Well, what else was I supposed to do?" The look of indignation returned. "I would have challenged Meta Knight himself, but I couldn't find him!"

Several choice words ran through the specialists' heads, but they weren't the sort of things one said to Dedede without fear of some sort of violence. After a moment, Magolor sighed and figured out what it was he wanted to say. "So, if he's already told everyone the truth, why dig yourself any deeper? Wouldn't it be better to admit he was right, that you just got caught up in a bit of momentary emotion, and apologize for it? I'm sure Starlina would appreciate that it takes a big man to admit he's wrong."

Dedede huffed and crossed his arms. "Well, it takes an even biggerer man to prove himself right even when everyone thinks he's wrong!"

"But you're not-" Escargoon began, but he was cut off before he could finish.

"I'm not going to stand around here and argue about who's right and who's wrong," the Pengu said with a snort. "It's all relamative anyway. Now, get finished on the ship or you'll be finding a new place to live!" With that, he stomped out. The two specialists could only watch in dismay as he stormed out of the room.

There was a moment where no one said anything. They were completely lost in the dismay that their boss couldn't be reached. He was so determined in keeping up the tatters of his already shredded lie that he couldn't sense the disaster on the wind. However, there wasn't anything they could do about it.

Thus, they turned back to their work, though not before attempting last shots at each other. "'Shellhead?'" Escargoon asked with a scowl. "Are you even capable of complimenting me without some sort of insult?"

Magolor rolled his eyes. "You're one to speak, Mr. 'cape-for-brains.'"

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Once his painting was dry, Kirby hurried back to the festival. He was eager to show his masterpiece to his parents, and as they were bound to still be working there, then he was certain to find them there. Thus, he raced through the crowd with his painting held aloft over his head.

"Mama! Papa! Wook!" he called out, looking around the crowded room for any sign of his parents. "Kaabii maked weally good art!"

As he rushed through, he was so busy looking for his audience that he completely missed out on the other people around him. Thus, when he took one sharp turn in an attempt to make it to the kitchen, he ended up colliding with one of the guests.

This time, the guest was a man, and once more, Kirby was knocked back. In the process, he accidentally dropped his painting, which clattered to the ground in front of the man.

"Oh, what was that?" The man, a tall Cappy in a fine suit, turned and looked to see just what it was that had hit him. That was when he clapped eyes on the painting, which had fallen picture up on the ground. "My Nova! What have we here!?"

As Kirby pushed himself up, he glanced around to find where his painting had fallen. To his surprise, the Cappy man had picked it up and was calling others to attention. The little Puffal was somewhat frustrated by the sudden halt to his plans, but was too well mannered to yell. Thus, he walked over to the Cappy and tugged on his coat. "Kaabii have Kaabii paintin' back, pwease?"

The man then took notice of the little one. "My word! Young man, you wouldn't happen to been the artist to make this masterpiece, did you?"

Kirby nodded. "Yeah! Kaabii made t'e pictu' for Mama and Papa. Kaabii have it back now?"

The Cappy nodded. "Indeed! I must have a word with your parents myself. Where are they now?" he asked as he handed over the small canvas.

The little one glanced around, seeking out any sign of his parents. It took him a moment to spot a flash of ivory near the entrance to the kitchen. "Oh! Mama ovah t'ewe! Mama! Mama, wook!" he called out, racing over.

Lynette had been taking a moment's break to have a drink when she head the call. She absentmindedly swallowed the cup before going to respond to her son. "Kirby! There you are," she said, returning the child's greeting. "Have you been having a good time at the festival?"

"Kaabii have wots of fun!" he exclaimed, stretching out his paws to show the amount. "Got ta say bye ta Pitch, an' t'en went ta he'p Ado an' Ad'liene give pictu's, an' Kaabii made a weally good pictu', see?" He held the canvas aloft so that she could see it.

"That's very nice, Kirby," his mother said with a laugh. "It seems you've had a very full day."

Before the little one could say anything in response, the Cappy man came up to the two of them and addressed Lynette. "My lady, you wouldn't happen to be this young one's mother, would you?"

"That would be me," she said with a nod. "May I ask who is inquiring?"

The Cappy bowed before introducing himself. "Reginald Alberwithy the IV, at your service, ma'am. I am an art connoisseur from the greater Tiramisu City area, and I just have to say that your son's picture is a masterpiece!"

"Uh, thank you," Lynette said with a moment's hesitation. She glanced down at the picture with some hesitation. It certainly was a nice picture for one that had been painted by a toddler, but not really much more than that. Truth be told, she was going to need a bit of explanation from Kirby later to figure out what it was.

"Indeed it is!" Alberwithy went on, clearly not noting the white Puffal's confusion. "I have been searching for new talent high and low, and I have yet to see something that matches young Kirby's abilities. And to think, he's also the famed Star Warrior apprentice! It seems you have a multi-talented prodigy on your hands."

Hearing this, Kirby puffed up a little with annoyance. "Kaabii not mu'ti-tanted! Kaabii on'y gots two paws!" He held his paws up in the air to demonstrate this fact.

"Yes, I can see that," the Cappy said. He then turned back to Lynette. "This is one of the finest pieces I have ever seen produced by someone his age. The color choices and blending, the sheer amount of emotion put into it! It's exquisite. I will offer you five hundred gold for it."

Lynette smiled, but shook her head. "Thank you, but no thank you. Kirby made this and was eager to show me and my husband. I don't think we'll want to part with it."

Alberwithy was clearly disappointed, but he didn't press the matter any farther. "Very well. I can respect the integrity of your decision. Still, I'll be on the watch for his future projects, and if he's ever willing to take up commissions, just let me know."

As he left, the lady Puffal couldn't help but chuckle. "Well, if that wasn't one of the silliest things I've ever seen," she said under her breath. She shook her head and then turned to Kirby. "So, shall we go take this to show your Papa?"

"Uh-huh!" the little one responded with an eager nod. He hefted his painting high and rushed past her. "Go show Papa!"

"My little prodigy," his mother couldn't help but say with a laugh. "You're becoming more grown-up with every day."

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Out in Whispy Woods, the peace of the bright morning had been shattered. Birds and animals rushed in a panic as a loud sound like a drawn out horn broke out over the trees, only for their flight to be again interrupted by the appearance of a large dirigible overhead. To make matters even worse, it was this vehicle that was making the sound.

"This is great!" Dedede exclaimed as he piloted the newly made and named _Kabula_. "Everything's running smooth as peanut butter!"

"Uh, you do know some peanut butter is chunky, right?" Escargoon asked. He, Magolor, and a troop of Waddle Dees had tagged along to make sure everything went alright with the ship. At the moment, the snail was severely regretting having ever taken step aboard and was wishing for steady ground beneath him.

"What, you not fond of flying?" Magolor asked. Having had much more experience with air travel than the scientist, he was having a much easier trip, though he had to admit that Dedede was not the greatest of pilots. "I thought you were made of sterner stuff than that."

"If snails were meant to fly, we'd have been born with wings," Escargoon responded with a snort. He then turned to Dedede. "Sire, how much longer do you intend to be up here?"

"Not for too much longer," Dedede responded.

The snail was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but the Pengu wasn't finished quite yet. "After this, I'm gonna hook around over the delta too try a few tricks, and then we're gonna fly this right over the palace! That'll show stupid ol' Meta Knight who's the fraud. I'll bet he'll get all jealous and stuff after all, there's no way his ship is anywhere as cool as this!" As if to emphasize his words, she gave the wheel a sharp twist, causing the dirigible to turn as sharply as physically possible.

Unfortunately, the sharp movement happened at exactly the same time as a strong wind in the opposite direction. The ship collided with the air current, and in a moment vehicle had pretty much flipped upside down. Everything and everyone not gripping on to something was tossed around the cabin and by the time that they were able to set things to right, everything was pure chaos.

"Sire, you need to be more careful," Escargoon scolded as he examined his shell for any cracks. "Someone could have been really hurt in that."

Dedede stared out in surprise for a moment, but then a broad grin spread over his face. He had been gripping onto to the wheel, so he had been spared from falling, and was thus not one of the more shaken passengers. "That was awesome!" he declared, completely ignoring the previous warning. "I knew this thing was going to be great, but, man! Even I didn't know I was capable of pulling off those kind of tricks! This is going to be awesome!"

"I think that was just luck, your highness." Magolor glanced in dismay at the Waddle Dees, who were still trying to recover from the shock of the sudden "trick." "I wouldn't recommend trying that again, at least for the Waddle Dee's sake."

Dedede glanced over his shoulder and frowned. "Oh, yeah. I forgot those little guys didn't have any seat belts. That'll have to be something we fix after the show."

"The show?" Both specialists spoke at once, and there was an intense sense of dread in both their voices.

"Of course, the show!" The Pengu gave a bright, shining smile again. "After all, now that I've got this brand spankin' new airship, it's the perfect opportunity to put that stupid Meta Knight in his place!" He laughed as he enjoyed this train of thought. "He's gonna be so embarrassed! After all, what does he have? Some stuffy old hand-me-down that's never been flown? That's nothing compared to my ultra-modern new airship! After the show, I'll even give rides to everyone present, Starlina up front, of course. I might even let Meta Knight come, 'long as he give me an apology first."

The sense of dread lingered on in the individuals present. "Uh, sire?" Magolor asked, moving to a nearby support he could grab onto. "When do you intend to start this 'show?'"

"As soon as we make it back to the palace, before we land." Dedede was by now too lost in his own daydreaming to listen to reason. "I'll show up all amazing and maglificent, and then they'll all have to admit that I, King Dedede, am better than them!"

There was a moment of silence in the cabin in which there was a general agreed consensus. This was crazy and they were doomed. All the unfortunate passengers could do was seek out some sort of grounding shelter and hold on, hoping upon hope that they wouldn't get killed in the vain Pengu's search for attention.

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Nearly three hours had gone by since his little falling out with Dedede, and Meta Knight was still a little unsettled. He was not sorry for what he said; it had needed to be done, whether or not it was pleasant to those involved. Still, the warrior felt that he might have been a little too harsh, acting in anger rather than justice. He would have to apologize for that.

There had been no response after the falling out from the pretender himself, and that was enough to make the warrior somewhat anxious as well. Thus, he had decided to excuse himself from the main festivities to make sure that the Pengu was not up to any trouble, as well as to apologize for his hasty actions.

No one seemed to know where Dedede was, though. He wasn't present in the palace, and none of the servants or guests had seen where he had gotten too. Thus, the blue Puffal wandered around, trying to figure out where the Pengu had gotten to.

As he a walked through a hallway on the outer portion of the palace, he happened to run into Bandanna Dee, who was walking arm and arm with Sunflower. "Hello, my friend," the warrior called out.

Bandanna jumped, as he often did when greeted by Meta Knight, but recovered quickly. "Oh, hello, Meta Knight. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Actually, there is," the knight responded with a nod. "I am looking for King Dedede. There is something that I need to speak with him about."

"I'm sorry, but I haven't seen him in quite a while," Bandanna responded with an apologetic shrug.

Sunflower laughed. "I heard he made quite the scene at the final day party, though."

The warrior nodded. "Sadly, he did. That is one of the issues I wish to speak to him about."

"Well, you know Dedede," Bandanna said, a tone of embarrassment in his voice. "He can't keep quiet or too himself for too long. He'll show up eventually."

"I suppose you are right." Meta Knight sighed. "He'll show up sooner or later."

As they were speaking, a shadow came through the window, blocking out all the light. The speakers rushed to the window to find out what it was that was causing the shadow, and as they looked out, they saw a huge dirigible covering the sky. On it, the grinning face of a sharp-toothed creature was painted to the bow.

The warrior muttered under his breath as he looked out at the behemoth. "Sooner it is, then…"

To be continued…


	91. The Heart Grow Fonder, Part Three

As the huge dirigible pulled closer to the palace, a commotion set up among those present. The people who had been outside at the regular festival and a few of the guests at the party within the palace gaped up in amazement, but weren't too surprised. They supposed this was all just a part of the festivities and was nothing to be concerned about.

For those who had a more active role in the party's planning, however, knew that this couldn't be a good sign. The Waddle Dee's began rushing around in a panic, not sure whether to stay with the food or go out and prepare the courtyard for the huge vehicle. It took a good amount of time for Lady Like and Lynette to regain peace within the kitchens, and even when it had been achieved, there was amount of unrest.

When Meta Knight realized what was going on he spread out his wings. "I apologize for having to leave so soon," he said to the two Waddle Dees as he approached the window. "I believe that whatever is going on over there, it is quite urgent that I make my way there." Having said this, he rushed out and flew down to the courtyard.

By the time the warrior had made it to the courtyard, a small crowd of onlookers had already gathered around and were staring up at the descending vehicle. Chief Bookem and a few temporary lieutenants he had appointed for the purpose of the festival were out and about among the crowd, doing their best to keep chaos from reigning.

"Chief, do you know what is going on with this?" Meta Knight asked as he touched down by the Cappy.

Hearing the voice, the chief spun around. "Oh, Meta Knight, it's just you," he said, placing a hand over his heart. "You make less noise than a cat." He shook his head, trying to recover from the shock.

"My apologies," the knight said with a polite bow. "I did not mean to startle you. Now, what as to that flying machine?"

"Oh, that." Bookem straightened his hat before going on. "I'm afraid I haven't the foggiest idea. No one was scheduled to be bringing in some sort of flying vehicle. I supposed it was your friend, the mouse. He has one of those things, doesn't he?"

"He does, but that does not belong to Sir Daroach," the Puffal replied. "He likes attention, but it is not his way to show up without announcing himself first. Furthermore, that is not his dirigible. It doesn't resemble it in the slightest. Something else is going on here."

As they spoke, the ship came closer and closer to the ground. By then, curiosity had pretty much taken over all of the visitors, and a good number of the guests had also gone out to explore the new vehicle. They gathered around the sides and the cabin, and they only really jumped back when the door to the cabin opened up all of a sudden.

There was a pause for a moment before Escargoon came rushing out of the dirigible. "Oh, sweet, heavenly ground!" the snail exclaimed, throwing himself down and hugging the turf. "I'll never take you for granted again!"

There was a moment of silence before Dedede wandered out of the cabin. He had his head held high and a smug look of satisfaction. It was clear that he was taking the silence of the crowd as affirmation that everyone was in awe of him. "Go on," he said with a smirk. "Say what's on your minds," he said. "We all know what it is." He stood proud, waiting to be showered with praise and admiration.

That was not what was given, though. "Hey!" a Cappy from the crowd exclaimed. "I know who that is!"

"Quite right-" Dedede began, but he was cut off before he could continue.

"That snail is that mad scientist guy who made a monster squirrel!" the Cappy continued, raising a fist in anger. "That creature completely tore through my house! It took me three months to rebuild!"

"Yeah!" a Waddle Doo agreed. "And that white cloaked guy back there made those balloon monsters! What are they doing here?"

A commotion sprang up as the crowd began to call for the specialists' arrest. Several even got even more worked up and began to throw clumps of turf or disposable cups. For a few moments, there was chaos before the police were able to calm everyone down and arrest the wanted felons.

Dedede, however, was having none of it. "Why won't any of you pay any attention to me!" the Pengu shouted, practically stamping his foot. "I had them make this big ol' airship for me, and nobody noticed!"

"Wait," Chief Bookem said, turning to Dedede. "You had them make that for you?"

"It's about time," the Pengu said with a huff. "Yeah, I had them build it. It's pretty awesome, huh? Better than some stupid old hand me down."

"If that's the case, then I'm going to have to give you this." The chief pulled out a pen and pad of paper and wrote something down on it.

Seeing this, Dedede brightened up for a moment. "Oh, really? What is it? An award? A commendation? A cheque for a million Dededen?"

"It's a ticket." The Bookem tore off the sheet and handed it to the king. "Be sure to come to town hall in three weeks to pay off the fine."

Dedede glared down at the sheet of paper. "A fine? You're giving me a fine?"

The chief nodded. "It is, after all, against the law to work with wanted criminals. Since this is your first known offense, we'll let you off with a fine and a warning, but next time you could be arrested. Now, have a good rest of your day."

Now, this was just too much for Dedede. After a whole day of being embarrassed and shown up, he finally got something cool, and he ends up getting fined for it! In anger, he crumpled up the ball and tossed it on the ground. "Here's what I think of your stinking fine!" he snapped, stomping the paper into the ground.

Bookem had already walked away by then, but one of his lieutenants, a younger Cappy just barely out of his teens shook his head. "Now you're littering too? For shame, Dedede." He pulled out another piece of paper and wrote out another ticket. "Now you have a fine for collaborating with wanted criminals and littering." He tore it off and handed it to the Pengu. "I'd recommend you hold onto this one."

Dedede looked like he was fit to burst when Meta Knight walked up. "Sire," the knight said, doing his best to try to limit the collateral damage as much as possible, "perhaps it is time to settle in for the evening."

"No! I'm not done here!" The Pengu ruler was now appearing more and more like an overgrown toddler. "I just want to impress Starlina! I've been working at it all day, and nothing's been working! Every single time, either you, or Kirby, or even the stinking police keep showing up to make me look bad! Now, not only has Starlina not noticed me, but no one has! Does anyone think my airship is cool?! No!"

While he had been speaking, a small collection of children had been wandering around, staring up at the huge dirigible. Kirby had been among the admirers, and when he heard this, he toddled over to the group. Reaching over, he patted Dedede's side. "It o-tay," he said, doing his best to try to sound comforting. "Kaabii t'ink it coo'. Dedede s'ip is vewy coo'!"

Despite the little one's good intent, his attempt at consolation had the opposite effect. Hearing that only small children found his achievements impressive, something snapped in Dedede, and he was now determined to prove to everyone what he could do. "You know what?" he snapped. "If you don't find my presence impressive, than maybe you'll find my abilities impressive! I'll show you, Meta Knight! And I'll show Starlina! And I'll show you all!" With that, he stomped back into the cabin and slammed the door shut.

As the group watched the Pengu, Magolor and Escargoon cast each other weary glances. "You don't think he'd try anything, do you?" the Halcandrian asked. There was a tone of anxiety in his voice.

"You know just as well as I do that he will," Escargoon said with a groan. "Best we can hope is that he does more damage to himself than he does to everything else."

"What are you two talking about?" Chief Bookem asked.

"Well, he just stormed off into the Kabula, so it's bound that he's going to attempt to show off," the snail answered. "However, he doesn't know everything about that ship. We were only able give him the most basic instructions regarding how to steer the ship. There are a lot of other advance to the airship as well, including defenses and ways to speed up the trip. He barely knows how to get that thing started, and he still hit about five trees on his first assent. If he starts pushing random buttons in there…"

Before he could finish, the ship began to lift with a lurch. It was clear that what the scientist had described as coming true, and soon they were going to have a problem on their hands.

"Alright, time to throw the book at us," Magolor said, hurrying away from the rising dirigible. "The sooner we're in our cells, the better."

Hearing this panic from the very individuals who made the ship, the surrounding visitors hurried away in haste. If Dedede knew as little as he appeared to, than it was to no one's favor to be sticking around.

"Chief Bookem, get these people to safety!" Meta Knight called out as the ship began a rather clumsy assent. "The wind is picking up, so it is doubtful that he will be able to control that in the air. I see if I can't find some way to get that thing safely on the ground! If I cannot, it would be best that everyone be in shelter!"

There was a moment where the surrounding lieutenants just looked on in shock, uncertain of what they were supposed to do. They were shaken out of this state by the Chief. "You heard him!" the Cappy officer shouted. "Get these people in to safety and let the Puff do what he's going to do!"

In an instant, the officers began to move, guiding the people away from the dirigible and inside, where they hoped things would be safer. In the mad rush, however, one little one wasn't noticed sneaking away.

As Kirby made his way around one of the palace walls, he glanced back at the dirigible. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew that everyone was afraid of something the airship was doing. They had even said that someone could get hurt. What's more, Dedede was on that ship! That meant that he could get hurt too!

Meta Knight was going to try to stop whatever it was that was going on, but Kirby knew he was going to need help. More Star Warriors might come if called, but that could take time, and in the meanwhile, Dedede could get hurt. Thus, something needed to be done now.

Kirby looked up to the sky as he decided what to do. "Come, Wa'p Stah!" he shouted out. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he was sure something would come to him as he waited for his little Star to come.

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Inside the Kabula, Dedede was stewing in his anger as he prepared the ship for takeoff. "Stupid Meta Knight," he grumbled to himself. "Thinks he's so smart. Stupid Kirby, mocking all my great developments. Stupid cops, giving me a ticket for working with criminals. They think they're better than me. Well, I'll show them! Using this, I'll show them all! They'll eat those words pretty soon!"

As he mumbled to himself, the ship began its takeoff. The rise was shakier now than it was the first time, since there wasn't anyone here to instruct him in the proper way to preform takeoff, but Dedede hardly noticed. In his mind, he was already up in the air, showing off his amazing skills and embarrassing everyone who thought they were better than him.

He didn't wake up from this daydream of self-aggrandizement until he began to hear a thumping coming from outside the cabin door. "Huh? What's that?" he mumbled, turning to look to see who was making the sound.

His search was cut short by a sudden lurch the ship took. The wind had started to pick up, and the conditions were becoming hazardous for even an expert pilot to fly in, none the less a beginner that just got his ship that very day. Dedede was thrown off balance and in a desperate move to catch himself, he grabbed onto the steering wheel as he fell.

This, unfortunately, pulled the entire airship into a spin, making it even harder for the Pengu to cling for his life. He fought hard to keep a grip on the wheel and was eventually able to get it still, both to stop the ship from spinning out of control and to give him something to grip onto as he pulled himself back up.

"Uh," he groaned to himself as he got back on his feet. "Driving this thing is tougher than I thought it'd be. There's gotta be some sort of autopilot around here somewhere…"

Before he could start a search for a switch to perform the driving for him, the knocking started up again, this time accompanied by a voice. "Dedede!" Meta Knight called out as he clung to the cabin door for dear life. "Bring this ship down now!"

Hearing this, the Pengu got up on his feet. "What, so you can impress everyone with your big sword, and your fortress, and your fancy-schmancy knighthood? No way! I'm going to prove to everyone once and for all that I am cooler than you!"

Meta Knight's eyes flashed a bright red when he heard this. "That is what this is about!?" he asked, his usually level voice now raised in a shout. "You are risking your life and the lives of many others over jealousy?!" The Puffal began to mutter several phrases in Boxin that he didn't care to translate.

When he had calmed himself a bit more, he turned back to Dedede. Using as much strength as he could muster, he forced the door open and made his way into the cabin. "Listen here," he said, doing his best to not sound angry, "what people think is cool ultimately doesn't matter. Believe it or not, there are people out there who do not think I am cool, and who do think that you are. This, however, is not a way to try to prove yourself to people. You are risking your life and the lives of others. Look, I apologize if I was a bit too harsh before, but you need to listen to me now. If we do not get this ship on the ground, you could be killed, I could be killed, and many others might join us. Now, you will show me where the controls are and we will figure out a way to bring this ship down in one piece. No one needs to get hurt." He held his paw out to the Pengu. "Alright?"

Dedede wanted to protest out of simple contrariness, but a part of him heard what he was being told and had to listen. He froze for a moment before sighing and giving in. "Alright," he said with a groan. "I guess I we can do that." He reached out and took the Puffal's paw. "But if people ask, I saved the day and you only helped a little."

Meta Knight rolled his eyes, but there was more important business at hand. "Alright," he said as he wandered over to the control panel. "Now, I'll need you to orient me to the controls. I have some experience with piloting ships in rough wind, so I should be able to get us down with relatively little damage, provided I can understand just what controls I'm using."

"Let's have a look over here," the Pengu said, staring intently at the control panel. Truth be told, he only knew a few of the buttons on the control panel very well, and only had the starting and landing switches memorized. He wanted to seem more intelligent than he was, though, so he pretended to ponder all the switches and buttons in front of him. "Well, here's the ignition switch, but we don't need that right now. The landing switch is over there, but we're not quite ready for that just yet."

"Come, time is of the essence!" Meta Knight said with a slight growl. "If we do not land soon, our very lives could be lost!"

"Alright, alright, just calm down," Dedede responded. "Look, we've just got to make sure that we turn off the switch responsible for rising. See?" He turned the switch down. "We'll stop rising soon, and then we, pull this switch right here to start decent."

"Very well," the knight said as the landing had begun. He took to the wheel and began to steer the vehicle away from the more populated area. "Now, please stand back and don't touch anything. Things are in control for the moment, and we don't want anything else to end up going wrong."

"Nothing's going to go wrong." The Pengu gave a smirk. "Everything's in place, and I made sure that nothing can go wrong. The only thing that could cause a problem would be if there was some sort of emergency hatch button, but what are the chances that there is even one here, none the less that it could get hit? Everything's going A-OK!" He jumped on a box that was in the back of the airship and leaned against the wall behind him…and on the button that was behind him.

With a sudden movement, a door opened in the back of the ship, causing several of the boxes to fly out the back of the airship. Unfortunately, Dedede was pulled back with them, and in an instant, he was sucked out the back of the ship.

Meta Knight had only a moment to respond to the sudden change in pressure. He tried to think of a way to help Dedede, but at the moment, if he left the airship he risked it crashing down and harming innocents beneath it. He had to stay where he was to steer the ship down. Thus, he tossed a small ornament that had been nearby at the hatch's switch, which caused the door to be pulled shut. All he could do for Dedede was hope that something intervened to help the Pengu.

As for the Pengu himself, he was screaming his head off as he plummeted out of the airship. He had no time to brace himself for the fall since the only warning had been a slight, near unnoticeable click. Now, he was hoping upon hope that something, anything would catch him. He squeezed his eyes shut and waited for the impact to hit.

When it happened, it did so much sooner than expected. He hit something solid, but it didn't hurt nearly as much as he supposed hitting the ground should have. Thus, Dedede cracked his eyes open to try to figure out what had happened.

As soon as he did so, he realized that what he had hit wasn't the ground, but was instead the Warp Star, expanded out so as to hold both him and his rescuer. Kirby was sitting to one side of the star, guiding it away from the still descending Kabula.

When Kirby realized that Dedede had opened his eyes, he gave a bright smile. "Hiii, Dedededededede!" he called out in a cheerful voice. "Kaabii catched yew!"

"Yeah, well, thanks, I guess," the Pengu replied, crossing his arms as he spoke. He was not pleased to see that he had been rescued by his rival, though he was happy not to be a pancake. "Don't expect anything else for this, though."

"O-tay!" the little one responded. He was aware of what Dedede was like, and was just happy to have made sure he could go back to the ground safe and sound.

Kirby the guided the Warp Star around so that it landed on the beach, not too far away from where Meta Knight was landing the Kabula as they emerged from the flight devices, people hurried over to the beach to question the trio.

"Kirby, there you are!" Lynette reached the area first, rushing over to pick up her son. "Are you alright?"

"Kaabii o-tay, Mama!" the little one responded. "Catched Dedededededede so he not get deaded."

"Yes, and you did a very good job of it. He should be very thankful that you did so, shouldn't he?" the white Puffal said, shooting a look at Dedede that made it clear that message was meant for him. Taking Kirby's paw, she then went on. "Just, next time, tell someone you are going to do that, alright?"

"A'ight!" Kirby gave a bright smile. He then glanced over to the airship and gave a bright smile. "Papa catched t'e big ship!" he exclaimed in a cheerful voice. "Kaabii go see Papa!"

As he and Lynette went over to where Meta Knight was now emerging from the airship, Dedede spotted Starlina among the crowd. Deciding to try his hand at impressing her one more time, he moved through the crowd to see her. "Uh, Miss Starlina?" he said, trying to catch her attention.

This action seemed to do the trick, as she did look up and catch sight of him. When she saw him, however, she did not have the reaction that he might have hoped. Instead, she looked somewhat shocked, but the look wore off in just a moment. "Mr. Dedede, I see you are alright," she said in a voice that was civil, albeit not that warm. "I do trust that everything had been set right by now?"

"Uh, yeah," Dedede said. He wasn't entirely certain the best way to move along, but was going to try anyway. "We got the ship landed, and nobody got hurt, so yeah, that's good."

"Well, if that is all, I will be on my way then," the Pipian woman said, giving a small curtsy. "Good day, Dedede."

"Uh, wait," the Pengu said, stepping forwards. "I, uh, was just wondering if you'd like to go get dinner tonight?" As the question came out, he began to gain more and more confidence. "After all, the festival's still on for a couple more hours, so I thought you might like to have someone show you around or something."

Hearing this, Starlina paused for a moment. "Are you asking me out?"

"Well, yeah," Dedede replied. "I was kind of hoping to impress you earlier, but since that didn't exactly work out, I guessed I didn't have anything to lose."

"Wait, this is what all this craziness was all about?" The woman paused for a moment and then laughed. "I have to admit, this certainly is the most extravagant way a man has ever tried to get my attention, but you didn't need to do this all just to impress a girl. If you like her, you should just tell her and let her make up her mind from there. I'm sure any girl would go out with you at least once if you are honest with her."

"So is that a yes?" the Pengu asked hopefully.

She shook her head. "I'm afraid not. There's another reason you should talk to a girl first before going to lengths to impress her."

Before she could continue, a Cappy man approached them. "There you are, Starlina, my dear," he said taking her hand. "I have to tell you about the most amazing person I met today." He then noticed Dedede standing here. "Oh, hello, King Dedede! I hope the everything has turned well, since your ship has been landed."

"Uh, hi," Dedede responded, still not quite certain what was going on.

"King Dedede," Starlina said, motioning to the Cappy, "this is Reginald Alberwithy the IV, my fiancé."

At the word "fiancé," Dedede's face fell. She was taken. "Oh, you're gonna get married?"

"Yes, indeed!" Alberwithy said with a nod. "We met while going over a magnificent collection of Raisin Ruin Region artwork. I have never met a woman with such impeccable taste in art! Which reminds me, Starlina, darling, I wanted introduce you to a magnificent young artist named Kirby."

He lead her over to where the little one way standing with his parents, who were doing their best to handle all the questions that were coming their way. Seeing them arrive, the little one smiled and waved. "Hiii!" he exclaimed in an excited voice. "Kaabii, Papa, an' Dededededededede goed on big fwying adventah!"

"I can see that," Starlina said with a laugh. "I know we talked earlier, but my friend here tells me you have a bit of talent for painting."

"Uh-huh," Kirby responded, giving a nod as he spoke. "Kaabii pain' weally goo'! Maked Mama an' Papa a weally pwetty pictah!" He then turn and pointed out the blue and white adults behind him. "T'ey Kaabii Mama an' Papa!"

"Wait, I know you!" Another couple, this time both Cappies, walked up to the group. It was a woman who had spoken. "You're the Star Warrior Kirby! You also painted that magnificent portrait I heard about? My, you are a little prodigy, aren't you?"

As word spread about Kirby and his apparently amazing abilities, more and more people wandered over to compliment the young Puffal. As the group grew, Meta Knight was able to leave most of the question answering to Lynette and slip away. He then went over to Dedede, who was still watching with amazement.

"So, your highness," Meta Knight said in a gently chastising voice. "After all this chaos, what have you learned?"

Dedede thought for a moment before answering. "I learned that next time I want to impress someone, I shouldn't imitate you."

"Very good," the knight responded, but the king wasn't done.

"Next time I should imitate Kirby! I mean, you've only got one woman interested in you," the Pengu said with a wave. "Look at how many chicks he's bringing in! And only at sixty, too!"

Meta Knight sighed but just shook his head and returned to his family. This was a problem for another day.

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It was the middle of the night, when no one was out and about. It was the first truly black night since the beginning of the festival, since it was the first time that bright lights had not been strung out for festivities. Thus, it was also the first time that it could emerge safely.

At first, it was only a trickle. A little black ooze that squeezed out of the castle between the bricks. As time went on, however, that trickle grew into a flow, and before long a sizable puddle had made it out of the palace.

Once it was free, the ooze began to form itself into a giant orb and began to rise. It hadn't gotten back up to full strength, but it had recovered enough to pull itself together. Soon, it has risen a good foot off the ground, and it opened its giant red eye.

Now that the eye had formed, it could turn to its mission. It's target had been taken away for the time being, but that was of little concern to the hulking thing. When Dark Matter wanted you, there was nothing you could do to escape.

To be continued…

 


	92. Crown Me! Part One

"Alright, you three," Chief Bookem said as he started towards door. "I'm heading in for the night. I don't want to hear of any fighting this time, alright? I'm looking at you two."

Behind him, the two jail cells were both occupied. In one, Magolor sat by himself, while the other had Escargoon and Doron, the village troublemaker. The two specialists had been in prison for the last two weeks, after Dedede had accidentally revealed their whereabouts to the police.

"It was his fault!" the snail exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at the Halcandrian. "If he hadn't started shooting off sparks-!"

"Look, I don't care whose fault it is," the chief interrupted, smacking his nightstick against the wall. "All I know is that you both are going to be in here at least until the next harvest festival, and I don't intend to spend that time playing referee."

"You wouldn't have to play referee if you'd just let me stay in a different prison from him," Magolor groaned.

"Both you guys just need to chill," Doron commented, not bothering to sit up in his cot. "It's easier to take if you just don't fight it."

"I never thought I'd say this, but you two need to be more like him," Bookem said, shaking his head. "I swear, this jobs gonna send me to an early grave. Well, g'night, boys. See you in the morning." With that, he shut the lights off and headed out of the building."

Once the building was locked up, the chief turned to Samo's bar. He was going to need a bit of a drink after the day he'd just been through, and Buttercup didn't mind the pause as long as he got back before too long.

"Ah, evening, Chief," Samo greeted. When Bookem only grumbled out a frustrated greeting, the bartender chuckled. "I suppose those two troublemakers were up to it again?"

"I swear, if they weren't already in prison, I'd have to chuck them in a cell for disturbing the peace," Bookem exclaimed. "Do you know how many community service jobs they've already bombed out of, in the space of two weeks? Fifteen! I swear, I have no idea what I'm going to do with them!"

Samo laughed again and shook his head. "I suppose you'll be wanting your usual," he commented, pulling a cup out.

"Make it a double," the police chief said with a nod.

Before the drink could be made, there came an earth-shaking boom from outside. There was a crash that followed it that shook the every dish and cup in the building, and Samo had to jump to keep several of his bottles from shattering.

"It's an earthquake!" the bartender exclaimed. "Get under cover!"

Bookem, however, wasn't convinced. "An earthquake? But we don't get earthquakes around here."

Before anyone could say anything, an ear splitting shriek came out, and everyone now knew this was not an earthquake. Everyone in the bar rushed out to see just what was going on, and they weren't alone.

The entire village emptied out of their houses and buildings when they heard the shriek. They all rushed around, trying to find just what it was that had left out the unearthly cry. At first, no one knew what it was that made the cry, but soon they saw it.

When they clapped eyes on the creature responsible for everything, the Cappies cried out in terror and fled for their lives.

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"Thank you again for inviting us over," Ribbon said. She and the artist twins had been invited over to Stormholt that evening to spend some time with their friends who had moved there. At that moment, they were having some supper that had been laid out in one of the smaller buildings out by the gate. "It's nice to have us all in one place again."

"Yeah, we haven't really been able to spend a lot of time as group since this place was found," Adeliene added with a nod.

"We've been rather busy with training," Tiff agreed, "but thankfully, we're going to have a bit of time off."

"Mom and Dad said there's some important meeting that's going on at one of Lumio Star's moons pretty soon," Tuff said. "They received the message from Princess Claycia only a day ago, and its apparently so important that the people running it have invited them and Sir Meta Knight to participate."

"Well, that's exciting!" Ado said with a smile. "Will you guys be going with them?"

"I don't think so," Tiff responded. "It's just supposed to be for the adults, so I'm pretty certain we're going to be left behind."

Kirby, who had been silently eating through the whole conversation, looked up and smiled. "No, Kaabii gonna go," he said with a smile. "If Kaabii go, t'en Kaabii's fwiends go."

Hearing this bold comment, the others laughed. "That's a nice thought, Kirby," Tiff said, patting the little Puffal on the head, "but I don't think that's a sign that we can all go. After all, your Mama and little siblings will be staying behind."

"No, ev'yun go," he insisted. "Twip no fun wivout fwiends."

"If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say you're going to because you're the Guardian," Ribbon sad with a smile. "That makes you someone who is extremely important, so it is vital that some people know who and what you are."

"That sounds about right, though it's kind of a shame," Tuff said with a shrug. He leaned back and took a bite out of a biscuit before continuing. "I was kinda hoping to be able to check out that moon. We've never really been anywhere other than Pop Star and Ripple Star, so it would have been nice to get a look around the galaxy."

Before anyone else could say anything, there came a commotion outside. It sounded like a maddened flapping of wings followed by a crash. Before long, a familiar voice could be heard.

"Someone, go get Sir Meta Knight!" The voice was Coo the Owl's, and he sounded like he was in a panic. "The other council members as well! It is vital that they come!"

Hearing his call, the kids hurried out to see what the matter was. The owl was outside, floundering around on the law. Even in the dark, it was clear that his wing was injured, so it was a marvel he could have made it from the village. He, however, seemed more concerned about getting a meeting of the council members together.

By the time the kids got out to go see what was going on, several warriors had already arrived and were helping the owl back into the main building. "Hey, wait!" Tuff called out as the senior warriors disappeared into the hall. "What's going on?"

Unfortunately, they were too late. By the time they arrived, the main gates had already shut. The guard who was standing there just smiled when she saw them arrive. "I wouldn't worry about it, kids," she said with a shrug. "Sergeant Coo is going to speak with the council once his wing is treated. You'd better go back to the gatehouse."

"But we have to-!" Tuff began, but he was cut off by his sister touching his shoulder.

"Come on. We're not going to be allowed in, so we'd best do as we are told," Tiff said, guiding the other back the way they had come.

There were a few words of protest, but it was acknowledged that they were not likely to be allowed into the council meeting. Thus, they headed in to the gatehouse with some amount of resignation while they waited to see if they were to be told anything.

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It took about a half-hour to get everyone in the council roused and down to the primary hall, but once everyone had gathered together, they immediately turned to the business at hand. "Sargent Coo," Sir Arthur said as he presided over the council, "please, explain to us what happened. Why all of this commotion?"

The owl straightened up and peered out at his audience. "Frankly, I'm not quite sure myself what happened, but it was something catastrophic. I had been resting in my tree, just outside of Cappy Town village, when all of a sudden there was this huge crashing sound."

"Oh, dear," Meta Knight said, pressing a paw to his face. "Dedede hasn't gotten into trouble again, has he?"

"To the best of my knowledge, no," Coo answered. "For once, the palace was not at the center of the crashing. Instead, it came from the police station. It was just before sundown, so Chief Bookem had already locked up. The strange sound happened not long after he left. Well, I, and just about the rest of the village rushed out to see what had happened."

"You would never guess what it was!" The owl shook his head. "I wouldn't believe it myself, if I hadn't see it with my own two eyes."

"Come now," Sir Percival said. "What exactly did you see?"

"You wouldn't believe it," Coo answered, "but it was a great eye with six horns!"

"An eye?" Meta Knight asked. He was becoming disturbed by the possibility of such a beast.

"Indeed," the owl said with a nod. "A huge eye, though it was mostly covered in some sort of black gunk. It had six horns, too. On set had been turned down from its body and were banded with spikes, but the other two were pointed up. The smaller of the upper sets were silver and curved, and the larger was gold and irradiated out from a second eye that irradiated out. The thing also had hands, though I'm not sure how they were connected to the body."

"It had come from the police station," Coo went on. "Just smashed right through the building. Once it was out, it let out some sort of cry before attacking those of us who had come out. Thankfully, it seemed more interested in escape than in fighting, so there weren't any casualties. A number of us were injured, though, and I made my way here once it got away."

"This is grave news," Sir Heavy Knight commented. "Such a beast cannot be allowed to slip away without any trace."

"Are there any signs as to what the creature wanted or why it arrived?" Lady Rosalyn asked.

Coo shrugged. "I'm not sure. I left before an investigations into what had happened could be started."

At this point, Meta Knight stood up. "They have probably started an investigation in the village. I will go myself to see what has been found and if it is of any use to us."

"Good choice," Sir Arthur said. "Choose several members of the Star Warriors and the Children of Erran to go with you. The rest of us will start patrols around Dreamland to see if we can't smoke the creature out of hiding."

"Thank you, Sir," Meta Knight said with a bow. "I shall bring my students for certain with me. If they would like to, I will also bring my sister, Alivea, and the Ebrums. If he can be spared, I would also like Sir Daroach to come."

"I will contact Tiramisu City to see if he is able, though he may wish to stay with his team," Sir Galahad said with a nod.

With that, the meeting broke up to search out where the creature had gotten to.

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"Arise, my creature of Darkness." The voice that echoed through the cave, giving instruction to the new monstrosity that hid there. "At long last, I am now free of Nightmare's control, and you now possess the body of the Halcandrian. The time is coming ripe for my return to power."

"Y~e~s, Z~er~o," the beast said in a hoarse, drawn out voice. "I h~ear a~n~d s~er~ve."

"Good," the voice of Zero responded. "I wait for you to come with me to Halcandra, the magician's home world. The wretched fairy who was our end the last time hid my crown here, the very one whose facsimile you now wear. She placed an enchantment over it, so that only the powers of her descendant and the descendant of the Halcandrian Guardian could lift it. We now has the wretched Tchicalda's descendant. All we need now is the princess, and the time of Zero shall come again!"

"I sh~a~ll t~a~ke th~e p~r~i~n~c~e~ss," the beast droned.

"Once you have succeeded at that mission, join me," Zero finished. "Than our time shall have finally come! No one, not those pathetic warriors, not the Guardian, not even Nightmare himself shall stop us!" Zero let out a cackle as he sent his servant on his way.

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It was several hours later, and thus almost morning, by the time that the small Star Warrior craft touched down near Cappy Town. Despite the fact that it was still dark, the whole village was a stir. Everyone was still hurrying about in a panic, shouting out to each other about the monstrous creature.

Meta Knight climbed out of the ship into this crowd, followed closely by his sister and the Ebrums. They had heard back from Daroach that the mouse and his team would join them there, but that it would probably be mid-morning by the time they arrived. As such, the Puffal and his companions turned to going through the crowd to figure out just what was going on.

"Hey, Meta Knight! There you are!" Dedede's voice range clear through the air. The Pengu was out and about with a troop of Waddle Dees, and it appeared that he had been attempting to get news about what was going on.

"It's about time!" the king said, stomping over to where the knights had come out. "Sir Ebrum, you're here, too. Good. We've got a problem goin' on over here."

"I have heard," the Puffal responded with a nod. "Some creature came out from the police station and caused a lot of damage. If you would excuse me, we need to go down to the station and the surrounding buildings to get some questions answered. Hopefully, nothing has been moved from when the incident happened."

"Oh, I've already got that covered," Dedede responded with a shrug. "I got some Waddle Dees staking out the police station. Only Chief Bookem and those prisoners were permitted inside. Everyone else is kept out. I also took the liberty of lettin' Samo, Kawasaki, and Nago run some sort of charity thing in the palace. Somethin' to keep most of the villagers calmer, ya know. They wanted to do it in the restaurant, but that was a bit too close to the station, so they are takin' care of it in the palace instead."

"That was a very good move," Meta Knight said, somewhat impressed by the Pengu's actions. "Thank you."

"Ya don't need to sound so shocked," Dedede responded with a smirk. "I can be helpful when I want to."

"Dedede, if you wouldn't mind," Sir Ebrum said, stepping up to the Pengu, "I would like a bit more of your help. We are going to need to question some of the witnesses, so would you please assist Lisa and I in getting some information from those at the palace?"

The Pengu puffed up, feeling very important to everything at the moment. "Of course I help. They're bound to listen to me, after all." With that, he turned on his heels and headed up to the palace.

"While we're headed that way," Lady Like said, turning back to Meta Knight and Alivea, "you can get the information from those here."

"Starting with the Chief and his prisoners," the Boxin lady said with a nod. "We'll meet up with you later in the morning, and there we can share what we have discovered."

"Then it is decided," Meta Knight said. "Good luck. We will contact you when we find out something of importance." The group that parted ways, heading to their own destinations.

Inside, the whole place was a disaster zone. There was a huge chunk of the roof that had been torn out, leaving a sizable hole in its place. One of the cells was torn up as well, with its bars twisted and splayed in all directions.

Chief Bookem was in that cell, examining the whole area for clues as to what could have happened to cause such destruction. In the cell that had not been torn up, Escargoon and Doron were pressed against the back wall, as far away from the damaged cell as they could possibly get.

"Chief," Meta Knight said as he and Alivea entered into the station, "we heard news of what happened and came as quickly as we could."

Hearing the greeting, the Cappy chief looked up. "Ah, Meta Knight, good. I was just getting a look around to figure out what happened. In all this chaos, it appears one of the prisoners to escape, and I think he probably had something to do with it."

"Of course he had something to do with it!" Escargoon practically shouted out. "He was the cause of this whole mess!"

"Just let me out of here, please!" Doron begged. "I promise I won't do anything bad! I just can't be here when he comes back, please!"

Seeing the two prisoner's reactions, Alivea turned to Bookem. "They are in quite a panic," she commented, motioning towards them. "What happened with them?"

"They've got some weird story about a giant eye coming in and changing the prisoner here into that beast, but it's all crazy talk," Bookem said with a shrug. "I guess they'd say anything to get the opportunity to get out."

Despite the chief's words, Meta Knight was not convinced that what the two witnesses had to say was nonsense. He went over to the cell and peered in. "So, you know what happened then?"

"Yes, we know!" the snail replied. "We got to watch every minute of it!"

"Tell me what happened," the warrior said in a calm tone of voice. "I am listening."

"We were just trying to get some sleep," Doron began, "when all of a sudden, this weird darkness spread out, like something was blocking out the windows. I tried to ignore it, but then this weird black gunk started to ooze into the windows and slither along the ground like worms."

"I saw it too," Escargoon agreed. "Once it got in, it started to reform into a gigantic black ball with a red eye right in the center. It looked over at us at first, and I could have sworn it was the end. It didn't want either of us, though, and then it turned to Magolor. Apparently, he was the one it was looking for, since it went over to him and started to pull him into it."

"That's where things got really creepy," the Cappy thief picked up. "After pulling him into itself, the whole thing started to get small again, and in a moment, there he was, just like before. That didn't last long, though, 'cause he then started to twitch around a whole bunch, like he was full of jumping beans. That was when he totally changed! I'm serious! He completely changed into a horned eye-thing! You've got to believe us!"

Meta Knight closed his eyes in thought before he spoke. "I do believe you, and I think I may have an idea of what is going on. Now, was there anything else that happened that is of an importance?"

"Well, there was one other thing," Escargoon said with a nod. "When that thing took him over, there was a few seconds where the thing started to talk. It was muttering something about a crown and a princess. There's nothing else to say. After he mentioned the princess, he mutated into the freaky eyeball thing and then flew off."

When they heard there was nothing else to learn, the two Star Warriors stood and bowed. "Thank you for the assistance you have given," Alivea said. "We must now go and see if we cannot find out who this 'princess' is."

As they turned to go, the snail raced to the bars. "What, you two are just going to leave us in here?!"

"While it certainly is regrettable that your fellow prisoner was doubtlessly possessed by Dark Matter," Meta Knight said in respond, "the fact still remains that you were not brought here for no reason. Furthermore, you will probably be safer here than elsewhere. If the monster wanted to harm you, it certainly would have done so before its own escape. It is unlikely that it will return here."

He then turned to the chief and bowed. "Thank you for allowing us to come here and examine the evidence." With that, the two warriors turned and left.

"Yeah, no problem," Bookem responded. He was a bit confused as to what exactly was going on, but if the Star Warriors had stepped in, than it was likely under control.

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Back at the Stormholt Gate House, everything was quiet. Even though the main fortress was still a buzz with activity, the little house had gone quiet a while ago. The kids were fast asleep, with Tuff and Kirby resting in the kitchen room while the girls took the living area.

As this was the case, no one was awake to notice the figure that loomed outside of the building. It was cloaked with some sort of invisibility spell, but it was so big that evidence of its movements would have been noticed, had one been paying much attention to what was going on. As it was, most of Stormholt's inhabitants were busy in the main building. With the Gate House's occupants all fast asleep, that meant that no one noticed the disturbances caused by the hulking figure.

At least, no one noticed until it struck. Casting a huge hand into the little Gate House, it smashed right into the living area and began swiping around. The girls, who had been woken up by the sudden smash, were forced to flee, lest they get captured by the giant flailing hand.

Hearing the sounds of the devastation, the boys were shaken into wakefulness as well. "What the heck is going on in here?" Tuff asked as he and Kirby raced in. He jumped back when he got a good look at the creature they were facing. "What the heck is that thing?!"

"T'at a hand!" Kirby pointed out. "It a bad hand!"

Tuff had to grab the little Puffal by the paw and pull him back. "I know that," the Dreamlander commented. "I just want to know what is going on!"

The kids were forced to race to the back of the gatehouse to avoid the hand of the monster. This didn't seem to dissuade their pursuer, though. It let out a roar and took charge, sending another hand through the hole in the wall chasing after them.

Unable to keep fleeing within the building, the kids were forced to flee outside. Now in the clear, though could see that all the panic had alerted the adults to what was going on. There was several warriors who were in the distance, running up to them, They could also now get an idea just of what they were dealing with.

Behind them was the creature, a huge horned eye ball. It looked down on them and prepared to attack. Instead of letting out another beastly cry this time, it spoke in a strange voice. "Th~e p~r~i~n~c~e~ss," it said in a guttural, drawn out way. "I w~i~ll t~a~ke th~e p~r~i~n~c~e~ss."

"Princess?" Adeliene asked, whipping out her paintbrush as she spoke. "Who is the princess?"

"I don't know," Tiff responded. She and Tuff didn't have the Duciel bow on them, so they were both seeking out something to use as a makeshift weapon. "Whoever it is, I don't think that thing wants to help them."

Acting fast, the twins used their brushes to paint up a barrier between themselves and the creature. Unfortunately, the creature was stronger than it looked and smashed through the block without too much problems. It then thrust its hand out at the two artist in an attempt to strike them.

In response, Kirby rushed ahead, dealing out several sharp kicks to the monstrous hand. This seemed to work for a while, since the hand did seem to be stunned and driven back. The victory didn't last all that long, though, since the second hand then came up, snatching the little Puffal up and taking him high in the air.

Seeing her friend in trouble, Ribbon flew up after the hand. "Let him go!" the little fairy shouted out as loud as she could.

To the surprise of all, it seemed that the monster did respond to her, since its ascent halted in response to the cry. It then opened up its hands, releasing the toddler and letting him float to the ground.

As soon as the hands were open, however, two beams of light came out of nowhere and struck the fairy. Ribbon let out a cry of pain and shock as she was hit, and then she fell unconscious. Before she could fall, however, one of the hands lashed out and snatched her up. "M~a~s~t~er!" the creature called out. "I h~a~ve t~a~k~e~n th~e p~r~i~n~c~e~ss! I n~ow c~o~me t~o j~oi~n y~ou!" With that, it flew off, taking the unconscious Ribbon with it.

Everyone was so entranced by the sudden attack that they didn't notice the devices that the creature left in its wake.

To be continued…

 


	93. Crown Me! Part Two

Inside the Palace, everything was abuzz. Most of the village was moving around in the kitchens and the surrounding rooms, but there were a few stragglers around in the hallways. Bandanna Dee was out there, guiding those who were out and about to the proper areas where they should wait.

This was the scene that the Ebrum parents came upon when the arrived at the palace. "My good Dee," Sir Ebrum said, going over to the Waddle Dee, "do you have a moment? The missus and I would like to ask a few questions."

"Some questions?" The servant turned when he heard the call. "Sure, I have a moment, but I'm not sure how helpful I'll be."

"Do you have any idea of exactly what happened in the village?" the Dreamlander asked. "We have heard the description of the creature, but we cannot think of any beast we have seen before that would match the description."

"I never really got a good look at the thing," Bandanna replied, "but from what I heard, it's not from Dreamland. It might not even be from Pop Star. That wouldn't surprise me at all. I just hope we can catch it before it eats someone else."

"Eats someone else?!" Lady Like repeated with an amount of alarm. "You mean to tell me that I has already eaten someone?!"

"Sadly, yeah," the Waddle Dee answered with a sad nod. "It was that Hacandrian guy, Magolor, I think. The two other prisoners started rambling on about it as soon as we were able to get to them. Once this thing arrived in their cell, it attacked and ate him before mutating into a giant eyeball thingy. It then got out and started acting all scary and stuff, but it didn't eat anyone else yet."

"Thank you for your assistance, Bandanna," the woman said with a smile. "We will ask around a bit more before we go over what we have learned."

They did as around for nearly a half-hour more, but unfortunately their search was in vain. Most everyone else had only glimpsed the creature from a distance and had no desire to get any closer. Furthermore, the didn't have any other information about the creature. Thus, their search came to an end with only a few bits of information found.

"Oh, dear, this won't do." Sir Ebrum stroked his chin as he thought. He and his wife were now seated at one of the large, made up tables, trying to put the pieces together. "Now, let's think about this rationally. Monsters don't appear for no reason. Whenever they show up, it's because someone has sent or summoned them. I don't think anyone around here would have summoned this beast, so it is likely that this one was sent."

"The question of who is likely easy as well," Lady Like added. "This was no doubt a work of the servants of Nightmare. The question still remains though, who? It could be any number of known sorcerers or mad scientists that work for him. What's more, this eating people appears to be new. I can't think of anyone who has used a beast that eats people before."

"Absorbs, not eats." The speakers turned to see as Meta Knight and Alivea approached the table.

"What is that?" Sir Ebrum asked as the knights joined them.

"The creature," the Puffal said, explaining what he had meant. "It's not eating people, it's absorbing them. Mutating them."

"Absorption and mutation?" Lady Like asked. She frowned and pursed her lips. "That sounds disturbingly familiar."

"You are telling us," Alivea said with a nod. "This seems way too close to the Dark Matter attacks from before for comfort."

"The fact that we have no idea where Dark Matter is or who is controlling him doesn't help matters all that much," Meta Knight said, thinking hard into what the answer could be. "Be it Nightmare or Zero, either way, it's not going to end very well."

It was at that moment that another face joined the group. "I suppose from an exclamation like that," Daroach said as he took a seat at the table, "that you have some idea as to who is at fault for this disaster."

"Indeed, we do," Alivea responded. "It looks like we are dealing with Dark Matter again."

"There is also another matter that we are going to have to deal with," Meta Knight said with a nod. He explained to the mouse and Dreamlanders what Escargoon and Doron had said, and how they had a guess as to who the next victim was going to be.

"There's a right riddle in and of itself," Sir Ebrum said with a shrug. "Who could they be after? We don't have any princesses here."

"True, but Dark Matter doesn't really have any ties to Dreamland, or to Pop Star," Daroach pointed out. "In fact, the planet that creature has always had the strongest hate towards is Ripple Star."

When he said these words, looks of recognition overcame his companions faces. "That's it!" Meta Knight exclaimed, springing to his feet. "Ripple Star! I'd bet my sword the princess is from that world!"

"But Ripple Star has a queen, not a princess, and that queen has no children," Alivea said with an amount of confusion.

"Well, not quite," the mouse put in. "True, Queen Soleena has no progeny of her own, but the title of Princess is not a public title in their culture. All that makes one a princess is being in the bloodline of a past queen, and often times, a princess won't know her own title until it is her time to become queen."

"If that's the case, than it could be any number of fairies on Ripple Star," Sir Ebrum said. "Unless, of course, there is someone else who knows."

"It's a long-shot," Alivea said, "but do you think Soleena herself might have any idea who the target is going to be? After all, she would have the best chance of knowing who her successor is going to be."

"That would probably be our best bet," Meta Knight said with a nod. "We will need to travel through the Fountain of Dream to Ripple Star. It would also be good to bring Miss Ribbon with us, She tends to work well at acting as an intercessor in these cases." Their minds made up, the group then headed out to their ships to return to Stormholt. They planned to then turn back and take the fountain to Ripple Star, and continue to formulate their plans from there.

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Ribbon had come to consciousness a few moments, but that didn't matter all that much right now. She could sense almost nothing as her captor dragged her away. Though she struggled all she could against the creature's grip, she could not do so much as glance out among her surroundings.

After what felt like an eternity to the little fairy, the beast eventually halted in its flight. It stopped in a strange area and froze, sitting perfectly still for a while. Thankfully, this meant that it released her from its grip and allowed her to fall to the ground.

Now freed from the monster's clutches, she glanced around her surroundings to try to see if there was any chance of her escape. What came to her sight was not hopeful. They were in a completely barren field, without an a place to hide or area of escape anywhere she could see. There was barely any light here as well, meaning that she was already struggling to try to see ahead of herself.

Still, she had no intention to just hold still and get passively taken. She glanced behind herself to see what the captor was doing. It was standing off to one side, holding completely still and making some sort of groaning speech. Ribbon had no idea who the beast was speaking to, but it gave her hope. Her captor was distracted, which meant that she had an opportunity to escape.

Not wanting to let that opportunity get away from her, she took to flight while the beast was still distracted. Moving her wings as fast as she could, she flew away from the beast, hoping beyond hope that her captor would not notice her escape until she had gained enough ground. The terrain gave her at least one hope for her escape; she might not have anywhere to hide, but at least nothing was going to spring up to block her escape.

At first, it seemed like her attempt was going to work. The creature, so entranced by the "conversation" it seemed to be having, did not notice her flight and had made no move to follow her. She was soon able to make it far enough away from her kidnapper that she could no longer see him, which made her hope that he could no longer see her either.

Now away from the one who had brought her here, she turned this way and that, looking for someway out of the barren wasteland. She never stopped moving, lest that give her pursuer the time to catch up to her, but that didn't mean she wasn't keeping her eyes open for any opportunity away from this place.

After flying for what seemed to be hours, but in reality had been only a few minutes, she came upon and cliff that apparently had no ground beneath it. The sight of the apparently bottomless cliff face unnerved the little fairly, but her options weren't varied. She decided she'd rather take her chances with the cliff that risk recapture, so she took a deep breath and flew over the side.

As Ribbon started to descend, she strained her eyes to see where the cliff would end and ground would become available again. Her attempt, however, was in vain. Though she flew as fast and a hard as she could, she never caught sight of the ground. She had flown twice as long as she had before when she finally came to the end, and something far more curious came to her sight.

It was another cliff edge. Ribbon was baffled as to why there would be a second cliff at the bottom of a cliff, but she didn't have any time to question it. Instead, she zipped over the edge and flew hard, hoping that this time she would find a way away from this horrible place.

Her hopes, however, were all in vain. As she flew, something soon came into her line of sight. Hoping that it might be something to help her escape and get back home, she picked up her speed and zipped over to the big thing. She soon saw, to her horror, that the thing was not something help her, but was instead the creature, who had sat in wait to recapture her.

She realized too late what had happened. What she had seen was not two cliffs, but rather the edges of a meteor with some sort of self-contained atmosphere. She had flown right around in one big circle.

Ribbon swerved in an attempt to get away from the beast, but she was not fortunate. The creature lashed out, snatching her up in one blow. "E~s~c~a~pe w~i~ll n~o~t b~e th~a~t ea~s~y, p~r~i~n~c~e~ss," it said in a disturbingly emotionless voice. "Y~ou w~i~ll b~e th~e v~e~ss~e~l o~f L~or~d Z~er~o." Without another word, the lights went dark for the little fairy, and they were on the move once more.

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When the warriors made it back to Stormholt, they were surprised to find that the entire area was in a chaotic state. People were running this way and that, doing small jobs here and there, but all were armed.

Spotting his wife tending to several injured warriors, Meta Knight hurried over to her. "Lynette, what is going on here?"

The white Puffal woman looked up from her work, but didn't pause for a moment. "We were attacked, Meta," she said, turning to pick up a roll of bandages to tend to a bleeding Dreamlander's arm. "We think it was the creature. Kirby and his friends were the only ones to get a good look at the beast, but they believe it to be the beast that attacked the village."

"You say Kirby saw it?" the blue Puffal asked. "Where is he? Is he hurt?"

Lynette shook her head. "No, thank heavens. He and his friends are tucked away inside. Most of the damage wasn't caused by the creature directly, but rather by the explosive devices it seems to have scattered around. The kids were far enough away that they weren't hurt."

"I'm afraid to say that I can't say the same for our equipment," someone else added in. The group turned to see Kit Cosmo coming their way. "Most of those little buggers were planted just above the primary docking station. It caused a collapse and left around sixty percent of our ships underground."

"Things are getting worse and worse by the moment," Sir Ebrum said, touching his chin. "Sergeant Cosmos, do you happen to know where Sir Arthur is?"

"He's within the main hall, trying to work everything out," Kit responded. "If you've got any information that can be of help at the moment, it would be greatly appreciated."

"We do, and we must speak with Sir Arthur as soon as possible," Alivea said.

"We will also need that young fairy girl, Miss Ribbon, to join us," Daroach added before they could run off.

"She should be with the other children," Lynette responded as she got up. "I'll go get her and bring her to the main hall."

"We will meet you there," Meta Knight said before hurrying off. Things were looking bleaker each passing moment, and he was anxious that they get a move of before something worse happened.

Within the Great Hall, things were not much improved. The Council itself had not gathered, since most of the members were out trying to get an idea of the damages done, but Sir Arthur was there. Knights and warriors of several different races were gathered around him, telling him of the damages done to the fortress and injuries sustained.

When the group came into the room, however, the leader looked up and smiled. "I see you have returned, my friends," he said, extending a paw to the newcomers. "I wish I could have attended to you sooner, but as you can see, we've had a run in with the creature ourselves already."

"I'm afraid we will not make anything easier," Meta Knight said with a regretful tone. "We do know what the creature is, but the tidings are not good."

"Than say them soon," Arthur replied.

"We know now that the creature is Dark Matter," Sir Ebrum said. As soon as he said those words, the room gained a deathly silence. "It has taken over the Halcandrian wizard Magolor for an unknown purpose relating to some princess."

"Princess?" a Boxin captain who had been standing nearby asked. "We don't have any princesses here. Why would they attack Stormholt?"

"I'm afraid that is the question of the hour," Daroach replied. "The closest idea to an answer that we could come up with is that it might have something to do with Ripple Star because of that world's history with the creature. We were going to ask the Queen of that planet if she had any idea what was going on. We returned here only to update the council of our choice and bring the Lady Ribbon with us to act as liaison."

"That sounds like a good idea," Arthur said with a nod. "You have my blessing to go. I will send someone to go find Ribbon."

"I'm afraid we have a problem in that area." Lynette strode into the room as she said this. She had the children with her, with one very notable exception. "I'm afraid that the creature had come here in the first place to take Ribbon."

"It took her?" Arthur asked. "How could we not have heard of this by now?"

"We've been trying to tell you guys forever!" Tuff snapped. "No one's been listening to anything we say!"

"Humphrey, watch your tone!" Lady Like snapped at her son.

Arthur, however, raised his hand. "I'm afraid the young one is right. This is a severe emergency, and one we should have attended to sooner. However, we cannot fix he mistakes of the past, only attempt to avoid the mistakes of the future. Now, children," he said, turning to the kids, "do you have any idea where the creature has taken her."

"I'm afraid we don't know," Tiff said, stepping forward to speak for the children.

Before she could say anything else, though, Kirby raced forwards. "Kaabii heared it ta'k!" he chattered out, jumping up and down in an attempt to be heard. "It sayed Wibbon is a pwincess an' t'at it was gonna go tah see it mastah! Kaabii don' know who it mastah is, but it sound vewy scawy."

"This is very concerning news," Arthur said, closing his eyes in thought. "It is clear that we cannot just let matters lie. That beast and its 'master' have now abducted one of our allies, and it is our honor-bound duty to get her back. Yet, at the same time, we have no idea where to begin our search."

"Sir, if you would not mind my suggestion," Daroach put in, "perhaps we had best carry on with our plan as before. We will speak with Queen Soleena and see what information she has to give us. It may be that she will have more of an idea of where to begin the search, and will undoubtedly be willing to help us find her pupil."

"That course of action makes sense, Sir Daroach," the green Puffal said with a nod. "I would like you and Sir Meta Knight to make the visit. I ask that all others remain here, however. There is a lot still to be done."

The request was agreed upon and everyone hurried out to fulfill the tasks allotted to them.

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"This is grave news indeed," Queen Soleena said. When the two knights had arrived at the palace and had brought their urgent news to her, she had wasted no time in coming out to greet them. They were now in the great hall of the Ripple Star palace. "You say that the creature referred to her as a princess?"

"Indeed," Meta Knight said with a nod. "That was one of the details that confused us the most. We are aware that Miss Ribbon is important since she is your pupil and the ambassador to Pop Star, but we do not know why she would be referred to as a princess."

"There is good reason for that," the queen answered. "Even Ribbon herself would not know why, should you ask her. You see, she does not know now, and I did not intend her to find out for a very long time, but Ribbon is to be my successor."

"That does seem off, if you do not mind me saying so," Daroach commented. "Wouldn't your successor be one of your own descendants?"

"That would have been, had I been the descendant of Stellara, the first queen," Soleena answered. "However, that is not the case. My predecessor, Queen Celestiana, was the last known royal descendant of Queen Stellara. She died childless, and as the daughter of the Queen's closest advisor, I was chosen to be the replacement until another descendant could be found. For the longest time, it was believed that would be a hopeless feat, since even though Stellara herself had many children, only the ruling line had been recorded. Believe it or not, Sir Meta, it was you and young Kirby who helped us to discover Ribbon's heritage."

"I am afraid I do not understand," the knight replied.

The queen laughed and shook her head. "I would not expect you to. It happened while you were under the control of the beast, Dark Matter. When you arrived here, possessed by that creature, you may remember that I attempted to use the Heart Rod to purge the creature from you. My attempt, however, did not work. Indeed, nothing worked at all, until Ribbon wielded the Heart Rod. Later, both she and Kirby wielding the Star Rod vanquished the creature altogether."

"It was after witnessing the strength she had when wielding the weapon of old that I knew that the next descendant of Stellara had been found," the queen went on. "Unfortunately, it appears that Dark Matter and whoever is controlling him knew this as well, which is why they took over that wizard to abduct her."

"That answers the why," Meta Knight said, "but that still leaves where still in question. Lady, would you have any idea as to where Dark Matter might wish to take the descendant of Stellara?"

The queen frowned and shook her head. "I am afraid not. Ripple Star has connections with only a few worlds, and most of those connections were founded early on. We have hidden artifacts on a few worlds, both good and bad, in an effort to keep them from falling into the wrong hands. However, only the Star Rod, which as you know was hidden on Pop Star, has come to our attention in the recent times. We would have to know some connection before we could guess which world they are headed for."

"Excuse my interruption," Daroach said after a moment of thought, "but we may have a connection. The magician who was taken was a Halcandrian by the name of Magolor. You wouldn't happen to know of connections between Halcandra and Ripple Star, would you?"

In truth, the mouse had expected his question to wind up as another dead end. However, the moment that the words had come out of his mouth, a change came over Soleena. "Halcandra, you say?" she asked. Her face had turned a deathly white and there were fear in her eyes. "Do you know of the ancestry of this 'Magolor?'"

"Actually, I do believe he once did mention his bloodline," Meta Knight answered. "He said he was the descendant of a guardian, a warrior queen named Tchicalda, I believe. I paid no heed to it at the time of learning, though. Why do you ask?"

"This is worse than I thought," Soleena said, getting up and moving into the palace. "Both of you, come with me and I will explain."

Both Puffal and mouse were confused by the request, but followed behind without a word. They were lead into the palace library, where there were already of number of scribes and scientists at work. Soleena instructed her guests to take a seat before she flew off to a more private area of the library. When she returned, she had a large tome in one hand.

"As I mentioned before," she said, opening the pages of the ancient book, "after the defeat of Zero in the time of Soleena, multiple artifacts related to the beast were locked away. One of these items a crown, the Master Crown, which was said to be powerful enough to facilitate a full return of Zero's power." She pointed to a picture of a golden crown in the book. "Stellara had wished to destroy the crown outright, but she was not able to do so in a way that would completely rid the world of his evil magic. Hiding it on Ripple Star or one of the surrounding worlds was also not an option, since some greedy people of wicked heart had already come seeking the crown."

"To avoid anyone getting a hold of the evil artifact, Stellar brought the crown to the planet of Halcandra, where she had learned that the Guardian Tchicalda was ruling," the fairy queen went on. "Together, they locked the insidious device away and left it guarded by the dragon Landia. It was known that the lock could only be undone when the descendants of these two Guardians came together."

"That would be why the Dark Matter possessed Magolor to abduct Ribbon!" Meta Knight exclaimed. "Whoever is controlling it means to use the two of them to unlock the crown!"

"And if they succeed, then they will have the full power of Zero," Soleena said with a nod. "We must try to stop them at all costs."

"Indeed," the Puffal responded with a nod. "We must return to Stormholt to begin the journey immediately."

"Just wait, my friend," Daroach said, halting the Puffal in his pacing. "True, we must act with haste, but we have no idea where Halcandra is or how to get to the hiding place of the crown."

"I can help you with that." The fairy queen reached out and pulled a thin scroll out of the air. "Halcandra is in a separate region of the universe. Normally, it would take several months to travel there, but if you use this portal, it will cut the time down to a few days. The portal will only work once, but hopefully, the return trip will not be as urgent as the pursuit." She handed the scroll to the mouse, who tucked it into his cape.

"I thank you for your assistance, Madam," he said with a bow. "We will make haste to return the young princess."

"We will not return without her," Meta Knight vowed.

Seeing this, Soleena smiled. "I wish you fortune," she said, raising her hand, "and I hope to see you again very soon." When she had said these words, the two warriors hurried to fulfill their mission.

To be continued…

 


	94. Crown Me! Part Three

On the unsuspecting planet of Halcandra, life went on like it had for centuries. Not that this would have been obvious to a newcomer who was seeing the planet for the first time. No, to someone who was used to life thriving in an obvious way on the surface, Halcandra would seem like the last possible place one would wish to live. Its rocky surface was pock-marked with craters and volcanoes, most of which were still quite active and allowed lava to flow freely over the surface. The Great Volcano ruling over the northern side of the planet especially let loose constant explosions, making it appear that life on this world would be completely impossible.

However, as a wise man who had once pointed out, life has a habit of finding a way to thrive, and it was no different on Halcandra than anywhere else. While the surface was completely inhospitable, under the ground, there was a thriving city. The Halcandrian people had never lived on the surface, choosing instead to build vast cities in tunnels of long dried-up magma flows. There were defenses surround the inhabitant to keep lava and magma out, except for the small portions that were used to power the city. It was within these subterranean metropolises that the people of Halcandra lived out their lives.

That is not to say they never ventured out onto the surface. Occasionally, such action was needed to defend their world or to make sure the machinery used to power the cities were still in working order. Thus, up in areas where the lava flow was less severe, there were little housing regions set up to shelter the workers or soldiers as they did their work. These buildings were usually abandoned, which made it possible for the few things that wanted to be out and about on the surface to do so unnoticed.

It was to one of these buildings that the Dark Matter-possessed Magolor brought Ribbon to. It was miles away from the entrance to the primary city of the planet, and the entire area was surrounded by broiling lava.

Upon landing, the creature released its grip on the fairy, allowing her to tumble to the ground. As soon as she realized she was free, Ribbon once again worked up her strength to fly away from the beast and escape. Unfortunately for her, the intense heat constantly emanating from the planet was too much for her. As she was more used to the less extreme temperatures of Pop Star and Ripple Star, she was forced to fly after her captor to get away from the frying heat.

She was weakened by the sudden shock, and after she made it in to the cooler shade of the building, she collapsed. It was then that a dark laugh emanated from the building, mocking the fairy for her weakness. "So," the voice said with a booming echo, "I see that the temperature of Halcandra is not much to your liking, young princess."

Ribbon was startled by the voice, but she didn't want to show any weakness. After all, she had no idea what the voice might want with her, but she had the feeling that it wasn't anything good. "Who are you?" she asked, trying and failing to sound more angry than afraid. "How dare you bring me here against my will! Show yourself immediately!"

"Be cautious when listing your desires, child," a dark voice called out from the shadows. "You may soon find out it is far more than what you truly want."

The fairy turned to look for the one who had spoken. There wasn't any sign of the speaker himself, but there was a long black hallway. It was from this hall that the voice had been echoing from.

Ribbon attempted to inch away from the corridor, but unfortunately for her, the creature that had brought her here caught her and pushed her in its direction. "G~o," the beast said in a dark voice. "Th~e m~a~s~t~er w~a~n~t~s y~ou."

"Alright, I'm going," she said, trying to sound braver than she felt. As she trekked along the dark passageway, the pit of anxiety in her stomach grew and grew, and by the time they had made it into the heart of the building, she almost felt like vomiting.

What she saw when she reached the end did not help matters. There, in the center of the room, seated on what had once been a magnificent throne, floated Zero the terrible. When he saw the fairy, the eye turned and let out a malicious laugh. "So, little princess," he said, "am I not what you were expecting."

Ribbon tried to think of something clever or defiant to say in the face of her captor, but as she stared at the scourge of her people, her tongue dried up in her mouth and clung to her jaw. The most she could spit out was choked sounds of shock and horror.

"I see you are struck dumb by my magnificence," Zero said, rising from the throne to come closer. "It is a typical reaction to my presence. Now, I'll bet you are wondering why I have had my servant bring you all this way. I can't tell you that now, now can I?" He let out another laugh. "What I can tell you is that you will find out soon enough."

He then moved, and Ribbon could feel tendrils of psychic energy trying to force its way into her mind. She fought hard against it as she realized what was happening. Zero was trying to take her over.

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"This is troubling news," Arthur said. He, along with the leaders of those who lived within Stormholt, had gathered in the heart of the fortress to discuss what was to be done. "We are already dealing with far too much with Nightmare alone. Zero, or whoever is controlling Dark Matter, must not be allowed to claim the Master Crown."

"Then we have no other choice," Lady Rosalyn said, closing her eyes as she spoke. "We must go Halcandra ourselves to get Ribbon and Magolor back, before they can be used to get that infernal device."

"Unfortunately," Sir Lancelot added, "the devices the creature planted around our base has destroyed most of our fleet. Seventy-five percent of every airship we own is now buried under rubble, and of what is left, most are too small to take on such a voyage."

"We have but one choice," Meta Knight said. His eyes flashed green as he spoke. "There was one ship spared from the blast that is big enough to bring the force we need to Halcandra and back. We must take the Halberd."

There was an uproar from those gathered when those words were spoken. The Halberd was a treasure of the Star Warriors! To many, the very idea of taking the ship out of the bunker it had been built in was a disrespect to Metian himself! Besides, even if it wasn't, it was millennia old and had never been flown. It was far too risky an option.

On the other hand, as others pointed out, it was not like they had a lot of options. They had to find a way to stop Dark Matter, and if the Halberd was the only way, then it was a risk that needed to be taken. After all, Nightmare have no intention of sparing any treasures of their people, and a second Distort would not help matters at all. If risking the great ship would increase their chances of stopping a new disaster from arising, then it was a risk that needed to be taken.

The racket grew to such and intensity that Sir Arthur needed to shout to be heard. "Quiet! Quiet now!" He brought the hilt of his sword crashing down on the table top, letting out a thunderous crack. That was enough to silence the hall, with all eyes turning to him. "Now, is this the way we are to act?" the green Puffal asked in a scolding voice. "Arguing like pups over the last cupcake? I'd expect better from warriors."

There was a silence as those who had been arguing looked down in shame. Once everything was quiet, Arthur went on. "Now, I understand why the decision to use the Halberd is not a particularly desirable one. However, it also might be our only choice. After all, with most of our fleet destroyed by the explosions that happened in the hanger, there is not many vehicles left that would be able to take enough of us to Halcandra in time to stop this monstrosity."

"But how will we know if the ship is even capable of taking the trip?" a GSA member asked. "It is millennia old, and has never been flown. I know the rest of Stormholt was in fairly good repair, all things considered, but this isn't a test run we're talking about."

"You have a point," Arthur said with a nod. "Meta Knight?"

"One of my students, the Lady Ax, is an expert when it comes to machinery," the blue Puffal responded. "She, along with a mechanic from the territory are going over the state of the machinery with the Halberd. If there is anything about the ship that would make it impossible or dangerous to fly, then they will be able to find and repair it."

There were several voices speaking among themselves around the room. This solution was enough to get them to concede the issue, though they were not totally pleased with the idea.

When the consensus was reached, Sir Arthur spoke again. "It is decided, then," he said. "We will take the Halberd to Halcandra. That way, we can offer our assistance to the Emperor there in any way we can. Now, this leads to the new question: who is to take this journey?"

Turning to Meta Knight, he gave a sad smile. "I suppose you know what must be done."

The warrior's eyes turned blue flecked with silver before he spoke. "Yes. Kirby must be one of those accompanying us. He is the only one who can use the Star Rod to its fullest potential, and with the danger of the power of Zero returning, it is vital that such an important tool not go overlooked. Of course," he continued, and here he pulled out Galaxia, "I will be going as well."

"As shall I," Heavy Knight said, once his son was finished speaking. "I do not intend to leave my son and grandson to this danger and not undertake it myself."

"And as shall I," Daroach called out.

"And our tribe shall come, too," Sir Ebrum announced.

One by one, nearly every warrior with the chamber called out that they, too, would undertake the trip despite the risk. Indeed, there were so many volunteers that there appeared the none would be left at Stormholt once the mission was undertaken.

Arthur, however, raised his hand. "I thank you all for your courage," he said. "However, I cannot allow our ancestral home, only recently won again, to be left without any defenders. Thus, all non-combatants shall be left here, along with a few warriors to defend them."

"Of those who are to come," he went on, "there will be an appointing. I, along with Sir Heavy Knight, Sir Galahad, Sir Percival, Sir Meta Knight, and Sir Daroach, shall select five warriors each from the GSA and the Star Warriors, including our new Boxin and Star Jumper recruits. I have no say on how many of the Children of Erran come, but I ask that the heads of that order similarly limit the number."

"We shall select thirty of our best troops to accompany," Sir Ebrum said.

"Thank you," the Puffal leader said with a nod. "Now that the decisions have been made, we shall go out and appoint those we shall bring. Our number will be just over sixty people, which should also allow for a few smaller ships to be brought. I ask now that those who have been appointed as leaders make their selection, and once the men are chosen, we shall make ready for the voyage."

Finishing up his speech, he held his sword aloft. "Donec Tenebras Perit!" he shouted out.

"Donec Tenebras Perit!" came back the thunderous repeat, and the meeting was drawn to a close.

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Despite the trouble that was brewing in the wilds of it's surface, the population of Halcandra was preparing for what was to be a joyous occasion. It was the six hundred and fiftieth star year in the reign of Emperor Jualon, and as such, a great celebration was to occur in the capital city of Volcron. As was proper, the emperor's eldest son, Prince Viatal, was overlooking the preparations of the city.

Viatal was a tall and rather thin Halcandrian, and he wore the white robes that marked royalty. "So," he said, turning to a Halcandrian woman wearing a dark purple robe and glasses, "is everything ready in the main square, Mirita?"

"Everything had been set up, my prince," Mirita responded, going over a checklist she was carrying. "We've made sure the fountain show is all set up, and the magma lines have been checked to make sure that nothing is too weak to handle the load it will take."

"I see you are on top of everything as usual," the prince said.

"I should hope so," the woman said in response. "After all, there will be near fourty thousand people in attendance! And that's not even counting how many millions will be in tune to our celebration while having festivals of their own. If I wasn't on top of everything, then disaster would strike."

"So, have you thought of what you will do for yourself during the festivities?" Viatal asked.

"You know as well as I do that I'll have to keep an eye on everyone to make sure everything goes off without a hitch," Mirita replied.

"Yes, of course," he replied, taking her hand, "but that doesn't mean that you have to spend all of your time working. It is a celebration, after all. Isn't there something you'd like to do? Someone you'd like to do it with?"

Realizing what he was suggesting, Mirita blushed and turned back to her clip board. "If you are asking me something, your highness, you don't need to beat around the point like that."

He laughed. "I just wanted to make sure I wouldn't be presuming that you'd be free just because I hoped you were," he commented. "After all, I'd imagine I'm not the only man to ask."

"You're not," the woman said with a nod. "But you are the first I've said-"

"Chancellor Mirita!" Their conversation was cut short as a guard rushed into the room. He seemed to be in a panic and his armor was singed, as if he had just come out of a fire. "Chancellor, there is an emergency!"

Mirita and Viatal turned to the panicked guard, their own conversation now thoroughly interrupted. "Yes, Private Jaikal," Mirita said, going to address the guard. "What is happening?"

"It started on the outskirts of the city, but they've made their way in!" Jaikal was in so much of a panic that he forgot to salute, even though he had his spear. "We tried to keep them back, but the more the fought the fiercer they became! We need help-!"

"Now, calm down, my friend," Viatal said, approaching the guard. "Who is pushing closer? What is happening?"

"Two monsters, the likes of which we have never seen before!" the guard stumbled out. "One looked like a winged and crowned eye, and the other was a great horned banshee! We tried to fight them off, but they made their way into the city!"

At that moment, an explosion went off, rocking the building they were in. Without hesitation, Mirita rushed to the door to see what happened. "I'm going to see what's going on," she declared as she moved.

"Mirita, wait!" Viatal called out, hurrying after her.

When they made it to the door, they found what the guard had told them was true. Chaos was reigning in the streets of Volcron. Citizens, for the most part, had rushed to the relative safety of their homes and businesses, and the guards were out, trying to fight off the two monsters.

And what monstrosities they were! One of them was the Dark Matter possessed Magolor Soul, who was a fearsome sight to behold. He summoned up great weapons with his mind alone, and using these tossed the guards around as if they were mere toys, and not the well-trained soldiers they were.

The other beast was even more terrifying. A huge woman with large bat wings and a pair of horns twisting out of her skull. She attacked by telekinetically throwing her opponents away, before unleashing an ear-splitting scream that cause all who heard it to fall over in terror.

As the beasts rampaged, the eye beast caught sight of the opened door and the two onlookers. Summoning up a giant fireball, it turned and aimed it at the Palace. "D~ie, p~r~i~n~ce o~f H~a~c~a~n~d~r~a," the beast snarled in a raspy voice as it launched the projectile at the targets.

Viatal stood frozen in shock, unsure what to do when he heard the beast speak to him. Mirita, however, was not as startled. "Get down!" she called out, pushing him out of the way of the fireball before it could land.

Unfortunately, as the blast hit, the woman had not gotten out of the way in time. Chunks of rubble fell from the damaged structure, striking her in the back and knocking her over. There wasn't enough time for her to even feel the blow before she fell.

"No!" Viatal cried, rushing to his companion's side. He picked her up and shook her, attempting to revive her. "Come on, wake up!"

He didn't have long to attempt this, however, since another blast shook the building. Still carrying Mirita with him, the prince hurried off to the lower levels of the palace. There, he would be able to get his friend to safety and call for help in the defense against the monsters.

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Within Stormholt, all was abuzz. Everyone was hurrying this way and that, rushing to prepare for the coming trip. Air Ride machines were rushing this way and that, pulling loads of supplies and smaller crafts that would be loaded into the Halberd. Mechanics were rushing and shouting to each other to make sure the great ship would be ready for her maiden voyage. Even those who would be remaining at the fortress worked with those who would be leaving, eager to make sure their loved ones would have a safe trip.

"Be sure to keep this kit close at hand," Lynette said, handing over a satchel to Meta Knight. The family had gathered together to say their fare wells, and it was all she could do to keep from crying. "There's just about anything you could need in the case of an emergency: bandages, ointments, epipens, even an amount of flu medicine, if you come to need it."

"Thank you, my dear," Meta responded, taking the sack. He leaned into hug her, and had some difficulty due to the Puffalings crowding around his and his wife's feet. "I will miss you very much."

"I wish there was some way I could join you," Lynette said, returning her husband's embrace. "If only there weren't so many injured here, I could have come along."

"It is better this way," Meta responded. "True, I would have preferred to have your company, but if something happened to us, one of us would need to stay for the little ones." He patted Kirsti on the head as she leaned in for a hug. "I pains me enough that Kirby must accompany on this mission; it would be ill advised to bring them all."

"True," his wife sigh, picking Charlie up. "And there's my condition to consider."

Meta Knight leaned in and kissed her one more time. "It will not be long before we return. Just stay safe until that time."

"Bye-bye, Mama," Kirby said, reaching over to hug his mother.

Lynette gave a sad smile and returned the embrace. "Goodbye, Kirby. We will see you again very soon."

Their goodbyes now said, the two Puffals slipped into the stream of those boarding the ship. Near immediately, Meta Knight was pulled into the hustle of commanding the final touches added to the great ship. Kirby, however, had much less to do with getting everything ready for the trip, so he had been taken to the great control center of the Halberd, where he could both watch all of the amazing things that occurred as well as be watched with close scrutiny by those present.

What an amazing sight it was! The Halberd was truly an engineering marvel, the crown jewel of the warrior architect himself. The ship itself was to be piloted by a single individual, but that was hardly the only job to be done. Technicians rushed this way and that, keeping an eye on control monitors and making sure everything was in place for the takeoff that would be happening very soon.

Before long, everything was ready. All the gear and supplies that were to be brought had been loaded up. This included several smaller air crafts, such as the Zephyr II, if a more compact form of travel would be needed. Food and medical supplies were loaded into the lower levels of the ship, awaiting the time when they would be needed. Everyone who would accompany on the trip but had nothing to do with the ship's navigation was seated and strapped down to keep them safe during the lift off. All that was needed was for the take off to happen without a hitch.

As soon as all was ready, every set to starting up the takeoff. Meta Knight stepped forward, as he was to be the one to pilot the ship. Taking a hold of the wheel, he turned to his copilots. "Are the engines ready?"

"Ready as they'll ever be," Mace called up. She and several other mechanics were gathering in front of the monitors keeping track of the engines. "We're turning them up at full power."

"Good," the warrior called out. "All personnel be ready for takeoff." With that, he began raising the wheel, causing the ship to begin moving.

At first, things went slow. This was to no one's surprise, since the ship was quite old and there was no intention to damage things by making them move too fast. The vehicle itself, however, was much sturdier than some gave it credit for. There was no problem what so ever, and the ship began a smooth decent down its landing track, beginning its first voyage.

The launch track was angled down, directly into the orange ocean. As the line of the water came into sight, Meta Knight turned to few other technicians. "Prepare to withdraw wings and landing gear," he called out, "and set the propulsion to propeller." There was a murmur of assent as the workers did as they were told. In a few minutes, the ship hit the water, and with its wings and landing gear safely tucked in, it shot into the water like an arrow.

Maneuvering through the water was easy for the great ship, and soon they were moving out of the secret tunnels beneath the mountain into the Orange Ocean proper. Once they were out of the tunnel, Meta Knight angled the ship so that it was facing upwards. "Prepare to unleash the wings and switch propulsion to jet power," he called out.

As everyone worked to get to their places, the ship moved up faster and faster. As they were about to break the surface of the water, the knight raised his hand. "Switch it now!"

In just a second, the Halberd shot up and out in a huge blast of water. As soon as it was out in the open air, a blast of jet fire sent the ship skyward. The spreading of the wings caused the ship to go even farther, blasting through the various layers of the atmosphere into the depths of space.

Once they had broken the final layer of Pop Star's atmosphere, Meta Knight turned to Daroach, who was buckled up nearby. "It is time."

The mouse nodded, before picking up a communicator. "Spinni, is the queen's gift ready?"

"All set and ready to go," the teen called back. "We're just waiting on the word to send her out."

"You have it now," the mouse knight responded. "Fire when ready."

Within the weapons bay of the Halberd, Spinni gave a thumbs-up to Storo. "Boss says fire at will!"

"Got it!" the large mouse called out. Spinning around, he took aim in front of them and fired a missile that was carrying the scroll Soleena had given them.

As soon as the scroll was out in open space, a change began to occur. It twisted and tore, tearing open a rift in space with it. This rift opened further, until it was large enough to let a whole fleet through.

Seeing the rift, Meta Knight began maneuvering through it. "We are almost there!" he called out. Everyone held on tight as they went through the wormhole. The trip was rough, but the Halberd was strong enough to take it. Though there was turbulence, everyone made it through fine.

Once they had gotten through the rift, much of their trip was finished. They were now within the space territory of Halcandra.

To be continued…

 


	95. Crown Me! Part Four

On Halcandra, things were looking bad. The monsters were continuing their attack through the main portion of Volcron, and despite the military's best efforts, there didn't appear to be much that could be done to halt their progress.

Thankfully, the beasts did not appear to be interested in finding and attacking the civilians. They would attack anyone who ended up in their path, but they seemed to have a singular mind in traveling right through the heart of the city. As such, as long as byroads or hidden tunnels were used, the people of the city were able to evacuate away from the carnage.

For the royalty, however, evacuation was not going to happen. After the direct attack from the eye beast, Viatal had hurried to tell his father, Emperor Jualon. Mirita had been taken, along with others who were injured but alive, to a haven on the outskirts of the city. The Emperor and prince, however, made their way to another destination entirely.

It was a grand shrine built near the Great Volcano of Halcandra. It was the only place near the volcano where people could go, due to a magical barrier that separated the area from the rest of the planet. The Shrine rested next to a gate where, as the legend told, stood the place for the gate in the barrier. The gate was locked to all, and aside from the details in the legend, there was no known way to get in to the volcano.

The Shrine itself, however, made a great fortification. Built by the Guardian-Empress herself, the building was set up to last for ages and withstand any sort of attack. It was also at the very back of the city and right in the pathway of the monsters, so it seemed to be the place where the plans for defense against the invaders, when they eventually arrived.

For the moment, however, it was time to discuss just what was going to be done in the meanwhile. This was a task that was easier said than done.

"Quiet!" Jualon called out. He was doing his best to speak over the panicking voices of his soldiers and generals, but the urgency of the situation had whipped all up into such a frenzy that there was little coherent speech happening among the group. "Please, everyone be quiet!"

Next to him, a page dressed in the pale blue robes of the personal servant of the emperor stepped forward and blew a horn. The echoing sound of the instrument struck all who heard it silent. It also struck them a little bit deaf from the sound of the blow.

"Yes, Nieri, thank you," the emperor said, motioning to the page to step back. Turning to the Halcandrians gathered around him, the emperor began again. "Now, my friends," he said, "I understand that everyone is eager to raise voice to their concerns, but I ask that everyone remain calm and wait for it to be their turn to speak. Now, do we have any idea of what we are dealing with?"

"Of course we do!" one general, an elderly Halcandrian who had a beard so long it was poking out of his red robes, said in response. "We're dealing with some sort of eye-wizard and a banshee woman! They are attacking Volcron, and while our troops are holding them back for the moment, there seems to be little hope of pushing them out of the city."

"Yes, we know that, General Limongo," Jualon responded. "That's not quite what I was looking for, though. Does anyone know where these beasts came from? It might give us some clue as to what these monsters weaknesses are, or at least what they want with us."

"They came from the surface!" a woman called out. She was sitting in the front and was wearing a pale-yellow robe, though it was hard to see for all her jewelry. "I saw them come myself! They practically burst out of the Northwestern surface base and rushed the entrance to the city! It was so horrifying that I needed to take my smelling salts for ten minutes before I could come here!"

"Thank you, Xiarlie," the emperor said with a nod. "Now, is there anything else? Anything that might help with our situation?"

As the discussion went on, Viatol's eyes scanned over the whole room. As the people around him shouted out theory after theory, an idea struck him. It was one that seemed like one that might be fantasy, but what happened today already seemed like one. He might as well mention it.

"They are coming here," he said after a moment of thought, "because they are after that." He raised a hand to point out a banner that was hanging at one corner of the room.

On it was a picture portraying a legendary meeting that rarely ever happened: the meeting of the Guardians Tchicalda and Stellara. It was the time when Stellara had requested that the Master Crown of Zero be hidden within the Great Volcano, and with the help of Tchicalda, the barrier was set up.

"They are coming for the Master Crown," Viatal said again. The prince's voice commanded respect and attention as he said these words. "That's why they are here: they are coming to bypass the barrier some way and make it into the volcano to get that crown."

As silence, thicker and more anxiety ridden than the one that came before it, blanketed the room. Finally, one of the people inside the room spoke.

"That can't be," a lesser lord said with a laugh, trying to dismiss what was far too horrible to be true. "After all, if they wanted to even make it into the Volcano, they'd either need to have the bloodline of two Guardians, or be a Guardian themselves. It's clear that neither of those beasts are Guardians, and all of Tchicalda's descendants, yourself and your father included, are accounted for and not in league with any of those creatures. There's just no way."

"I'm afraid there is one problem with your statement, Lord Haveron," Jualon said, and his voice turned dark with concern. "There has been no account of my nephew, Magolor, for many Star Years."

The weight of the statement hit the crowd. Since his banishment for attempting to break through the Great Volcano's barrier, no one had really cast a thought as to the wayward lesser prince. Now that there was two great beasts approaching the shrine, however, the loss of track caused a great amount of distress in those around.

"I do not believe he would be in league with the beast voluntarily," Viatal said after a moment's pause, "but that does not seem to have caused any hindrance. It may be the case that corruption and control is at play. The primary hint towards this theory, at least that I see, is in the Banshee witch. Does she not resemble what a fairy might look like if corrupted? If that is the case, than she may very well be the descendant of Stellara."

"With Magolor and the kin of Stellara in their control," the emperor stated, his tone turning dark, "whoever is in control of those creatures would have no hindrance from the barrier. If the Master Crown truly is their goal, than none of the ancient defenses would be able to stand against their onslaught."

There came an outcry from the group at such a dreadful idea. Why, it would be the very end of the universe if some evil force were to get their hands on the Master Crown! With that sort of power, it would take a Guardian to defeat the evil power, and wish though they might, they did not have a Guardian at hand.

"Quiet!" the emperor shouted, trying once again to quiet the group. This time, however, his voice could barely be heard over the great clamor of noise. No one seemed to be even paying attention, what with the horrors that were close at hand.

Again, the clamor was broken when Nieri let out a blast from her horn. This time, however, it took her five blasts before everyone was silent. Once the quiet had fallen, she motioned for the emperor to speak again.

"Now, I do not want any word of discouragement to go out among our troops," Jualon stated. "We do not know if this theory is what is happening. After all, this is merely the worst-case scenario. We must be prepared if that is what is happening, but we cannot give up without a fight!"

There was a rumbled of agreement that rang out through the room. Thus, plans were set into place to prepare for the monster's arrival. Whether what they were dealing with had the Master Crown as an end goal or not, they would have to put up a fight like it was. If they did not, the very fate of their world would be in ashes.

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On board the Halberd, an air of relief filled the crew. It had worked. The ship was still in one piece and they had made it through into Halcandrian space. Now that they had come so close to their destination, all they would have to do was hold their course until they made it to the planet.

Once they had reached a point where the autopilot could take the ship until they reached Halcandra, Meta Knight released the wheel and stepped away. "Sir Arthur," he said, approaching the head of his order, "we are now on course to Halcandra. What do you plan to do when we reach our destination?"

At that time, a small group was gathering together to hear what the green Puffal was going to say. Peering out at the group, Arthur cleared his throat and spoke out in a tone for all to hear. "When we reach Halcandra," he said, "our priority should be contacting the emperor, Jualon. We will be able to gauge from his reaction to our arrival whether our help is needed, or even wanted. We will attempt to land without invitation only if contact is impossible. After all, we are trying to come as allies to Halcandra, not as enemies."

"Sir Ebrum," he said, turning to the head of the Children of Erran, "are your troops ready to disembark when the time come?"

"We are all prepared and waiting," the Dreamlander man said with a nod.

"Sir Daroach," Arthur said, turning to the mouse warriors, "is your ship ready to leave the Halberd when it is time?"

"My team is preparing the Zephyr II as we speak," Daroach replied. "I am merely waiting on their word to go out and load the supplies we will need."

At that moment, there came a load outcry of voices, all headed in the direction of the control room. "It appears," the mouse said, turning towards the commotion, "that they are on their way here now."

In an instant, the door opened with a whoosh and, sure enough, it was the remaining three members of the Squeaks who entered it. What was not expected, however, was the entourage they brought in with them. Between Storo and Spinni was the group of kids. Tiff, Tuff, Ado, Adeliene, Lololo, and Lalala all trailed between the two mice in varying degrees of protest. Bandanna Dee was there as well, but he seemed more concerned with keeping his head down and his gaze away from the surrounding eyes than he was with arguing. Finally, Doc had to use the robotic arms on his vehicle to physically drag Dedede in, considering the Pengu was attempting to swing at him with the now rocket-powered hammer.

"Now, what is going on here?" Sir Arthur called out. His voice had such a tone to silence all protest, and even the usually argumentative Dedede fell silent. "You all were not invited on this endeavor," he said, his eyes scanning the offenders. "What are you doing on this ship?"

None of the offenders dared to speak up, so Spinni answered for them. "We were getting the Zephyr II ready," she said in explanation, "when we found out the younger set stowed away inside."

"Children!" Lady Like exclaimed. "I am quite ashamed of you. You know you were not to come on this mission."

"But we had to!" Tuff said, trying to defend the position his friends were in. "After all, Kirby came, and we had to come to help him."

"Yeah!" Ado called out, trying to back the Dreamlander boy up. "After all, this isn't the first time we've fought monsters. We helped against Dark Matter the first time he attacked! And when Drawcia and Paintra attacked the castle, we helped to fight them off. And when that monster Slice-n-Splice attacked us at the Dreamlander Ruin, we faced him off and fought back. You can't say we haven't had enough experience, because we've done all this before. We just want to keep doing what we have been doing for ages: helping Kirby fight back."

"Kirby came, not because it was a good position for him to be in, but because he is the only one who has a shot at defeating the Dark Matter beasts permanently," Meta Knight stated. "If we had any other option, he would have been waiting back on Pop Star, as the rest of you should have been." The look in his eyes was enough to silence any word of protest.

Sir Ebrum sighed. "Children, I know you meant well, but your coming along may well cause more harm than good. You may have had experience in facing off against creatures of power. No one is arguing against that. However, none of us here can send you into battle with good conscious."

"Why not?" Tiff asked, wielding her bow. "We've proven our own abilities before."

"Yes, but there is a difference in learning to defend yourself when there is no other choice and when you are going to attack when there is one," Daroach said, stepping in. "You have done much the assistance of the cause of the Star Warriors, but it seems you do not remember what that cause is. Miss Tiff, can you tell me what the code of the Star Warriors states about members who have not yet reached the title of knave?"

The blonde looked at her feet and fiddled with her braid, but answered truthfully. "'No warrior who is not yet reached the level of knight is to be sent to the defense line, except in the time of great need. If such a time would come, then those knaves who have been school in the proper protocol of war time may assist in whatever needs to be done. Under no circumstances will a squire be sent into the front lines.'"

"Indeed, and well-remembered, Squire Tiffany," Sir Arthur said. "Even in the case of Kirby, he is not to be sent into the front lines. His assistance will only be required if it turns out there is no other way to achieve victory, and even then, his help will only be utilized once the enemy has been restrained and the danger lowered as much as possible."

"No one is questioning your courage," Meta Knight continued, "but under no circumstances will you be allowed to face the enemy. Had we the opportunity, you would have been returned to Pop Star to wait for our return. As it is, that is not an option. You will have to remain in the safe room with Kirby and a supervisor until the time when it is safe."

None of the children spoke, instead focusing on the ground. Through all this time, however, Dedede had been dangling from one of the limbs of Doc's vehicle, and his was starting to lose his patience. "Yeah, yeah, boo hoo!" he called out. "Just get on with it and put me down!"

The moment the Pengu uttered these words, all eyes turned to him. "Ah, yes. Dedede," Sir Arthur said, stepping up to face the offender. "We can't forget about you. Please set him down, my good friend."

Doc did as he was bidden, though a bit more abruptly than was expected. The Pengu was released and fell flat on his back. By the time he had gotten up, all eyes were now turned to him.

"I can understand why the children snuck aboard this ship," Meta Knight said, his eyes turning a peach color as he spoke. "Their honor and courage made them believe that they had responsibilities that they did not. You, however, I cannot understand. Why would you have joined them in their hideaway?"

"Actually," Bandanna Dee said, speaking up in the loudest voice that he dared, "we didn't sneak on board the mouse-ship. We came with the Kabula."

"So that's what you call that eyesore hunk of junk," Spinni said with a frown. "Gotta wonder how you got that thing snuck into the loading dock."

Dedede smirked, glad to have something that the Star Warriors didn't understand. "I have my ways and my reasons. All that's important is that now that I am on board, y'all can be rest assured the leadership is in good hands."

Once he had said this, he raised his hands, waiting for the cheers and applause to start up. When the sound never came, he peeked and eye open. "Y'all hear what I said? I'm hear now, so you can just let me take over. I am the king, after all."

After a moment, Sir Ebrum sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Dedede," he said after a moment of composure, "you do realize that you only have an honorary title, correct?"

"Of course, I know my title is honorary!" The Pengu crossed his arms and gave a bright grin. "Mine is the most honorary title of all! That's why y'all need to be listenin' to me."

"You are aware that honorary mean 'not actually holding any prestige or power,' right?" Meta Knight said.

"I said, of course I know that!" Dedede snapped. "Of course it means 'not actually-' wait, it means what?"

"Honorary means 'not actually holding any power or prestige,'" Lady Like said, picking up where the Puffal warrior had left off. "What you don't quite seem to understand is that you do not become a king by moving into an area and declaring that is your title."

This revelation seemed to hit Dedede hard. "It's not?"

"No," Meta Knight said, shaking his head. "Now, you do hold kingship over the Waddle Dees, for whatever power that gives you, but the position of a king requires more than just a lot of money and a big house. It requires responsibility for the surrounding country, hard work in the field of upkeep, and responsibility to defend your people. Without these elements, you are merely a rich person who has set up a comfortable livelihood."

"What is more," Sir Heavy Knight added, "even if you did have authority over Dreamland, you would not have any authority over the Star Warriors. We are a separate group unto ourselves. Even though we will pay respect to the ruler of the land we are in, we are not bound to his service. We have our own commander, selected by the council. For us here now, that is Sir Arthur."

Dedede looked crestfallen, though only for a moment. Once that moment passed, he frowned and his expression became more determined than ever. "I know what you're trying to do! Y'all trying to befoodle me, so I'll just let you all have all the fun when I really should be in control! Well, it won't work, ya hear! I know my rights!"

A look of dismay at the Pengu's sheer thickness passed between the present adults. Before anything else could be said, however, a Dreamlander girl with red hair came up. "We've just come within reach of Halcandrian signals," she said with a salute. "We you are ready, we will begin sending out a request for communication."

"Very good, Lumi," Sir Ebrum said. "We will join you in a minute, once we sort out a few issues."

Lumi saluted again before returning to her post. Once she was gone, the adults turned back to the matter at hand. "Alright, we are going to begin decent," Sir Galahad said. "You children will remain with Kirby. Perhaps, if the situation is safe enough, you may join us on Volcron with parental permission. You too, sir Waddle Dee. I have no doubt you were brought here by your king."

When he was addressed, Bandanna Dee mumbled an amount of thanks while pulling his headgear down to cover his eyes. Now, much more than ever, he wished he was back home, safe in his own bed.

"As for you, Dedede," the purple Puffal went on, "you will be confined to a chamber until you begin to show a bit more respect and compliance."

"I'll go wherever I darn well please!" the self-proclaimed king stated. He was about to continue his protest, but a glare from Meta Knight shut down whatever complaint was about to start.

Instead, he straightened his shirt to try to regain whatever stature he had left. "What I mean to say," he said, trying to sound calm and composed, "is that I'm tired. I've had a long day, and I want to take a nap. Take me to my chamber now!"

"Whatever you say," Spinni commented, rolling her eyes.

Once the message had been given, everyone turned to go to their destinations. The importance of the next few hours hung on nearly everyone's minds. The results of the next few meetings would decided the fates of planets.

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Inside the shrine at the Great Volcano, the sense of the battle was at high alert. It was becoming crystal clear with every passing moment that the prediction given by the prince was likely true. Though they had fought with animal ferocity, the Halcandrian army was being whittled down by the monsters' attack. More and more fell, and even more were injured to the point where they couldn't fight, meaning that the city's defenders were becoming scarce.

In the same time, the monsters' path was becoming more orderly and a target could be chosen with high confidence. It was the shrine, to no one's surprise. The attacks came in a more orderly line, and as such, the army was sent out to fortify the region that stood in the path.

Citizen casualty, thankfully, was few. All civilians had been evacuated from the area when the prediction had been given, making it easier for the defenders to fight without fear of collateral damage. Using this defense, time was bought for the shrine itself to build up its protection.

At that time, soldiers swarmed the whole building. There just wasn't any precaution that wasn't worth taking. Prince Viatal himself took command of the soldiers, making sure everyone was where they were meant to be and the building was kept under constant guard.

Emperor Jualon would have liked to be on the front lines as well, but age and responsibility kept him in the inner portions of the sanctuary. His safety had become especially important now, since the beasts were now coming up to the very gates of the volcano.

As this was the case, all was a buzz in the interior of the room. Various commanders and soldiers rushed around, eager to find out just where they were needed and what they were going to need to do. Voices climbed over one another in a desperate attempt to be heard, making it horribly difficult to tell one utterance apart from another.

It was in all this hubbub that a young communications officer tried to work his way through the room. "Your highness!" he called out, attempting in vain to get the attention of the emperor. "Your highness! There is a message of great importance that you need to see!"

Try though he might, the young officer mostly got jostled around, since those who held much higher standing than him were also clamoring to get the attention of the emperor. Eventually, however, he was able to push his way to the center table to make his claim. "Your highness, it is of great importance that you come to the communications center. There is someone trying to reach us, and they want to speak to you directly."

"Go away and tell them we don't have time for diplomacy," one general said with a huff. "Can't they tell we're in a state of crisis right now?"

"That's just it," the communications officer insisted. "They do know, and they said they could help us."

"Help us?" a nearby colonel laughed. "There's no way they could help us. Not unless they were the Star Warriors themselves, but no one's heard what happened to them in centuries."

By now, the officer was losing his patience. "They insist they are the Star Warriors, and they are led by one who is undoubtedly a son of Metian."

At the mention of the founder of the Star Warriors, all fell silent. Jualon himself, who had only caught the very last part of the sentence, was the first to break the silence. "What did you say this fellow's name was?"

Glad to have finally got attention, the communications officer spoke loudly so all could hear. "We are being hailed by a group who claims to be the Star Warriors," he stated. "They are lead by a son of Metian named Sir Arthur, but there are many more creatures among their group. They say they know what is going on and are requesting permission to land, but they are willing to speak with you over the communications lines before permission is granted."

A murmur passed through all that had listened. The onlookers expressed a wide degree of emotions, ranging between utter joy and sheer disbelief. None, however, made too much sound, since all was eager to hear what the emperor was going to say.

Jualon closed his eyes and had a moment of thought. Though this only lasted for about two minutes, the tension in the room made it feel much longer for all involved. Once he had process what he heard, the emperor made up his mind.

"Tell them I will speak with them," he said, turning to the messenger. "If they are who they claim they are, then their help will be invaluable in this time of need."

"I shall do so immediately," the officer said with a salute. He then hurried off to fulfill his duties.

Even once the messenger had returned to his station, the crowd stayed still to see what was going to happen next. Noticing this, one of the sergeants broke the silence. "What are you all doing here?" he snapped. "Do you think those things are headed here for a tea party? Get back to your jobs!"

Once everything was back and moving, the sergeant turned to Jualon. "You go ahead and take that call. Everything will run as usual in here."

"Thank you, my friend," Jualon responded. He then turned to take the call, knowing full that the results of this meeting might very well be Halcandra's last hope for salvation.

To be continued…

 


	96. Crown Me! Part Five

 

  
The silence onboard the Halberd was so thick that you could have heard a pin drop. As everyone waited for the response from the planet, hardly anyone dared voice a thought, lest it cause the eventual connection to be missed.

Thankfully, the messenger who had gone to alert the emperor soon returned. "His highness will be here to see you," the Halcandrian said.

"Thank you, my friend," Sir Arthur said, giving a respectful bow. "Hopefully, we will find a way to assist you in this time of great need."

It was only a moment later when Jualon entered the communications room. Striding up to the monitor, he turned to his counterpart and bowed, which Arthur mirrored in response. "I welcome you to Halcandra, friend," he said as he finished, "though I wish you could have arrived at better times."

"Your officer has alerted us to the troubles you are currently facing," the green Puffal responded. "I am sorry to say that it is because of these troubles that we have come."

"I was told that you know exactly what danger it is we currently face," the emperor said, wishing to move straight to the point. "That would be very good news for us. As it stands right now, we are limited to guesses as to what our enemies are and how we can stop them. We are doing our best to try to drive the beasts back, but the best we can do now is keep them at bay for a short while. Perhaps your knowledge will be able to assist in what is going on."

Arthur nodded in response. "What I have to tell will not be encouraging, but it is important for you to hear. What you are facing is not natural in origin. Are you aware of the legends of Guardians and Distorts?"

"The stories of the Guardian-Empress are treasures of our people," Jualon responded. "Her defeat over the beast of corruption and decay saved our world and many others. It would be a shame to say we have forgotten her and others like her."

"Then you know how destructive these Distorts can be," the head warrior stated. "I am sorry to tell you that one of the Distorts has returned, despite his defeat by the Guardian. Zero has returned, along with his servent, the beast Dark Matter."

Jualon paused and thought for a moment. "So, it is this Zero we are facing? That is troubling news indeed. No doubt, he wishes to break into the Great Volcano and take his crown."

"I do not need to tell you that if he succeeds, we will all be doomed," Arthur said, his tone becoming grim. "What more you need you know is how Dark Matter, and perhaps Zero himself, is able to possess and utilize victims to do his will. We know one of the beasts is one of those victim, and the other is as well. We know this because they were two who were known to us on the planet Pop Star."

"One of these victims," he continued, "is the fairy princess, Ribbon of Ripple Star. We have no doubt that she was taken because she is the descendant of Stellara, who defeated Zero in his first life. He is vindictive and spiteful; as such, it does not take a lot to see why he would have taken her captive."

The Puffal then took a breath before continuing. "The other is Magolor of Halcandra. I do not know if that name is familiar to you. All we know is that he was a refugee on Pop Star who had taken employment there, and that, like Ribbon, he claimed decent from a Guardian."

"This is troubling news," Jualon responded. "I'm afraid that I have never heard of this Ribbon, though Ripple Star is known to us on Halcandra. As for the other name, I am sad to say I do know him. He is my nephew. He was banished from this world years ago, for attempting to enter the sanctuary without leave, and we have wondered for a long time what became of him. This fate was far from what we had even considered. It is almost too terrible to be true."

The emperor sighed and then went on. "What's more, if what you say is true, than we are in worse straights than we could have imagined. To be attacked by a Distort, and without a Guardian's aid, is a hopeless fate."

"Not as hopeless as you might assume, my friend," Arthur said. "We are not left without any help. As hard as it might seem to believe, a new Guardian has been found among my people. He is one of our squires, a child by the name of Kirby." He then moved aside and motioned for another of the Star Warriors to join him. "This is Sir Meta Knight, the father of the new Guardian. He knows more about the situation than anyone else."

"It appears that we have more of a chance than we supposed," Jualon commented. "You and your men have permission to come. There is a shrine outside the great volcano of this world. That is where our stand is being made. Please come to that place; my son will meet your ship and bring you there. All I ask is that the Guardian be brought with you."

"It will be our honor," Arthur said, saluting as he spoke. "We shall come right away. Donec Tenebras Perit."

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Once he had been alerted to the situation by his father, Viatal had wasted no time in making his way out to the surface. He only brought a squad of five soldiers with him, leaving the majority of the army to face the beasts.

As they waited, the soldiers kept their eyes locked on the sky, waiting for the arrival of the Star Warriors. "Do you really think they can help us?" one of the soldiers asked, anxiety more than clear in his voice.

"Of course they can," another answered, though his words were more confident than his tone. "I mean, you've heard the stories of the Star Warriors. The great victors who torn down Haltmann Works when it was at the peak of power!"

"Yes, but that was millennia ago," the first said. "The founders are long gone, as well as all the original fighters. Is there any sign they have retained their strength?"

Before any answer could be given, there came a faint roar of engines. All eyes turned to look at what was approaching, and when they caught sight of the massive ship that was decending, Viatal smiled. "I'd say that's a pretty good sign."

The Halberd had pierced the atmosphere of Halcandra and was descending to the barren surface of the planet. It was the largest ship any of the Halcandrians had ever seen. They were hardly able to respond as it came closer, landing with a grace unthought of for a ship its side.

It didn't take them too long to shake themselves out of the shock, and as soon as the ship was on the ground, they hurried over to meet the newcomers. As the landing platform spread out, Viatal took his place, standing in front of the emerald-clad soldiers. "Star Warriors," he called out, giving a salute, "Halcandra extends its welcome to you."

Once the platform was down, nine individuals came down. Four Puffals, two Boxin, two Dreamlanders, and a mouse, all in their full gear, came out to meet the Halcandrians. "We thank you for your welcome," the green Puffal clad in gold armor said. "These are my companions, Sir Galahad, Sir Heavy Knight, Lady Rosalyn, Sir Parm, Lady Memu, Sir Daroach, Sir Meta Knight, and Squire Kirby."

"Kirby," Viatal sai, and his eyes turned towards the pink pup. "Is this the one who is the new Guardian?"

Meta Knight nodded. "Come, Kirby," he said, motioning for the squire. "Tell them the name you have been given."

The child nodded and stepped up. He had the Star Rod gripped in his paws, and his eyes flashed with a light that highlighted the stars in his eyes. "I's t'e Gua'dee'ann, Kaabii of t'e Stahs!"

For a moment, all stood in silence. In the minds of the adults, an unspoken fear passed between all of them. This was the first time that Kirby was really being asked to prove his position to one who had not witnessed a display of his power. There was the chance the the Halcandrians might not believe him, and all waited to see if that fear would be fulfilled.

In the Halcandrian soldiers, this very idea was flashing through as well. They looked on at the little Puffal pup and couldn't help but wonder if this was some sort of prank. After all, the pink tot was just about the furthest thing from a fierce warrior that they could think of.

For Viatal, however, the thought that this might be a lie or a joke was about as far from his mind as possible. As soon as he laid eyes on the child, he noticed the stars that flashed in the child's eyes. They were so small, and since they were only a slightly different shade blue from the rest of his eyes, they were not very noticeable. However, all the same, the young prince noticed them.

The moment he took notice, the prince saw something else. Standing behind Kirby stood a Halcandrian lady, dressed in a completely white robe that was decorated with patterns of silver. Her eyes, also silver, flashed from behind her headscarf, and in each one of them was a small star. As he looked upon her, his breath caught in his throat. "Lady Tchicalda!"

Seeing her descendant's reaction, the woman nodded, and though her mouth could not be seen, the signs of a smile appeared around her eyes. She never said anything, only motioning to the young Puffal standing in front of her. The message she was sending was crystal-clear.

Viatal immediately withdrew his sword and pulled a formal bow in front of the toddler. "Lord Kirby," he said. "I am at your service."

All looked on in an amount of shock. No one else had been aware they were in the presence of the previous Guardianess, and thus had not expected such a dramatic response.

Kirby had expected it least of all. Surprised by the action, he dropped his salute and toddled over to the bowing prince. "Uh, hiii," he said, giving a friendly wave. He held up a paw. "We be fwiends?"

The prince looked up from his bow, and a laugh tore itself from his throat. "Yes," he said, taking the paw and shaking it. "I do hope we can be friends."

"Now," he said, straightening up and turning to the adults, "I'm afraid we are in dire straits. We are all within the shrine by the Great Volcano. You shall come with me there to speak with my father, However, we are struggling to face the beasts that are at our city gate. If I may ask, would it be beyond reason to ask that reinforcements be sent there?"

Hearing this, Daroach flashed a smile. "I've got just the idea."

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Out in the battlefield, all was going in Zero's favor. Having taken over Ribbon as his slave, he now had two powerful monsters under his control. Between Magolor Soul and the Banshee Princess, none could stand in his way.

The Halcandrian army had done their most valiant to stand against him, but their forces were just about spent. From his hiding place, the Distort could see them fall in droves from his monsters. He would get his crown soon, and once he had it, he would destroy the pathetic world for their resistance against him. Once it was gone, he'd turn his eyes to the rest of the universe, and no one, not Stellara, not Kirby, not even Nightmare, would be able to resist his rule.

Sensing the position, they were in, several of the Halcandrian captains called for their troops to fall back and regroup. Unfortunately, there was a platoon of ten who could not respond to the call. They had attempted to work their way around to beasts to get an attack in from the back.

This maneuver had the unfortunate effect in that it also meant that they were cut back from any retreat. Instead, as the captain of this group realized, they were in the position to buy an escape for the rest of the army. He motioned for his men to follow him up through one of the wrecked buildings, which placed them directly above the two monstrosities.

Taking advantage of the positioning, he led his men on a charge at the monsters. Fighting with all they had, they distracted the foe in an attempt to give the majority of the fighters the opportunity to escape.

The attack did its intended goal, but it was unsuccessful in any attempt to sway the enemy. Those who had been unfortunate enough to end up in the path of the Banshee blown back by a powerful shriek. Three of them were sent flying, and the unfortunate fourth was grabbed by the back of her robe and thrown back into the building.

The other six had charged Magolor Soul, since he was the larger of the two monsters. They did not fair any better than their companions. Raising his arms, the twisted wizard summoned up portals which sucked in his enemies and spat them out in all directions. The only exception he made was the captain, who he grabbed and tossed down. The beast then summoned up two gigantic swords and swung them down, prepared to cut the Halcandrian down.

Before the blow could land, however, a huge ball of energy shot out of nowhere, blasting both blades away from the monster's grasp. The shot had come from a ship that had come over the horizon.

On the outside of the balloon, Daroach hung on to the ropes. "Fine shot, Doc!" he shouted out in approval. "I had best make my entrance now!"

Letting go of the ropes, the mouse fell for a few feet before wrapping his cape around himself. He flickered out of view before appearing again, this time just above Magolor Soul. Unleashing several star bolts from the Triple Star, the mouse teleported away before his enemy could respond, and appeared again just behind the captain.

The attack did better than could be expected. The blows sent the monster sailing back, crashing into the rubble that had been some of Volcron's buildings. In response to the sudden shock, more ruble fell, trapping the beast under its weight.

His attack now fulfilled, Daroach spun around and helped the captain to his feet. "I do hope we aren't too late to offer some assistance."

"Um, uh, thanks," the captain responded, floored by the sudden rescue. "Um, who are you again?"

"Oh, dear me," the mouse replied, shaking his head at himself. "I have quite forgotten my manners." He took off his hat and gave a bow. "I am Sir Daroach, member of the Star Warriors and leader of the merry band of mice, the Squeaks. Who, may I ask, do I have the pleasure of addressing?"

"I'm Captain Ilansmen, of the Halcandrian army," the captain replied.

"Pleased to meet you, Captain," Daroach replied, replacing his hat.

As he did so, there was a loud crash that called all attentions to turn. As they had been talking, the Zephyr II had been continuing in attacking the Banshee, keeping her at bay while her partner was still trapped beneath the rubble of the building. The sound had come when it had landed another shot at her, sending her into one of the supporting columns of the cavern.

"Is that an airship?" Ilansmen asked. "Underground?"

"Yes, it took quite a bit of thinking to get it down here, but a most worthwhile endeavor," the mouse warrior said with a smile.

There came a thundering crash ask Magolor Soul tore himself out of the trapping rubble. At the same time, the blended troops of the Star Warriors and Children of Erran flooded into the cavern.

"Ah, it seems the backup is now here," Daroach commented. He twirled the Triple Star in one paw and turned to Ilansman. "So, shall we give 'em a fight worth remembering?"

Seeing his rescuer's confidence, the Halcandrian gritted his teeth. "We'll make them feel for this attack!"

"That's the spirit!" Daroach turned, his eyes flashing with battle light. "Come on, gents! Let's show them what we've got! Donect Tenebras Perit!"

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"Come, this way," Viatal said, guiding Meta Knight and Kirby down the chambers of the Shrine. Only they had traveled out to meet the king, since the rest of the Star Warrior troop had gone out to meet the foe on the battle field. "My father will certainly want to meet you. From there, it might be wise for you to travel to the Great Volcano and see if you can't secure the crown."

Meta Knight nodded, but his thoughts were troubled. "Once we have the crown," he said after thinking for a moment of what to ask, "do you have any idea of what we will do with it? After all, if two Guardianesses couldn't think of a way of getting rid of it, then what shall we do to further secure it?"

"A wise observations to make, my friend," Jualon commented as he came to join them. "It is one we currently do not have a definitive answer for, but in times like this I suppose we have no other choice than to come up with the answer when we need it."

When the emperor entered in, Meta Knight and Viatal immediately bowed. Kirby didn't respond at first, but then followed his father's lead once he realized what was happening.

Jualon nodded, giving acknowledgment to the respectful gesture. "Sir Meta Knight," he said, greeting the blue Puffal, "I appreciate your arrival, especially with all the chaos going on. I suppose this is the young Guardian?"

"Indeed he is, father!" Viatal said, unable to restrain his excitement. "He has the same legendary markings that Lady Tchicalda had! Just look into his eyes, you will see!"

"I suppose I will, my son," the emperor said, turning a scolding gaze to the prince. "However, I was speaking to the child's father, not to you."

Realizing his faux pas, the prince turned and bowed to Meta Knight. "You have my apologies, sir knight. I just got caught up in the excitement of the revelation."

"Do not trouble yourself," the Puffal responded. "It was a startling revelation for us all."

Jualon nodded, but then turned his attention to Kirby. "It is true," he said, speaking directly to the child. "You do bear the same marks that Tchicalda was famed for. It is not always present on a Guardian, but it is one of the few markers that is indisputable. It seems you have been sent just in the time you are needed."

"He has been needed many times over," Meta Knight commented. "We believe that Nightmare is the Distort Kirby was born to defeat, but in this time, activities of Distorts and all their ilk seems to have risen again."

"I can't say why this is happening, but nothing ever happens on chance." The emperor placed a hand on the Puffal's pauldron. "Your child has a great destiny to fulfill."

At that moment, a blow shook the whole palace. For several seconds, everyone around was forced to find something to brace themselves, lest they be tossed to the ground. "They are getting closer," Viatal said, holding tight to the pillar he had been thrown against. "We had better hurry and make it to the volcano's entrance; that way Kirby will have the time to make it to the crown before the beasts do."

"Quite right," Meta Knight said, scrambling to get back to his feet. "If you would lead the way, it would be greatly appreciated."

Nodding wordlessly, Jualon took a medallion from around his neck. He hooked the chain around a nearby lighting fixture, and it slid into a slot that fit it like a glove. Once the chain was in place, he moved the medallion into a depression where it clicked into place.

Now that the key had been fit into place, there was a rumbling as the wall began to move. It pulled back a few inches before sliding to the side, making room form them to pass through. "It is not far to the barrier," the emperor commented before taking a tourch and moving along. "It is invisible, but when we reach it, we will know because we will not be able to travel any further. Kirby will need to take it down before we can go any farther."

Taking a deep breath, the toddler rushed ahead, moving past all the adults. He wasn't quite sure what he was going to do when he reached the barrier, but he was certain he'd figure something out.

One by one, the adults followed after him into the passage. They didn't bother to close off the doorway, since anyone the door could block would not be able to do anything, and those that could wouldn't be blocked.

Without knowing what was ahead of them, they moved on, hoping that they path they were on would bring them to a better ending.

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"Ahhrrrggg!" Dedede loudly groaned. He, Bandanna Dee, the kids, and a GSA member name Kaylon had been left on board the Halberd while the rest had either gone out to the battlefield or the sanctuary. The Pengu wasn't happy with the arrangement, and he was making sure that everyone knew it. "I'm soooooo board!"

"There really isn't that much that can be gained by complaining, sire," Bandanna said. He was seated at one side of the control room, playing a card game with Tiff, Adeliene, and Kaylon. "Lets just make the best of it and hope they make it back soon."

"Where did they go to?" Lololo asked, glancing out the huge bow window of the ship. "I can't see anything outside except wasteland."

"That's because Halcandrian Civilization doesn't live on the surface," Kaylon responded. "They have vast, populous cities, but they're usually tucked away underground."

"Underground cities?" Tiff commented, raising an eyebrow. "That sounds like something out of a fantasy novel."

"Here, it's a reality," the Pipinite soldier responded. "The surface isn't very habitable, but the soil underground is really rich and fertile, not to mention in a lot of abundance. Add in the fact that there are hundreds of naturally formed, thousand foot lava tunnels, and it just makes more sense to build under the ground."

"Whoa," Tuff said, looking out at the horizon. "You mean we might be over a city right now?"

"It's quite likely," Kaylon replied, before laying down another card. "Not that it matters all that much. The roof structures of those caves are thick enough that they've held up for millienia. We should be fine just as long as no damage is made."

Just as he spoke, the ground began to shake. All of a sudden, there was a thunderous crack, and a brief respite. In the moment's pause, Lololo and Lalala peered out the window to get an idea of what had just happened.

"Uh, what should we do if there was damage done to the ground?" Lalala asked, and her voice held terror.

In response, the others looked out, and to there horror, the signs of the underground battle were showing. One of the supporting pillars under the ground had been utterly decimated, and without the support, the ground had crumbled away, opening up a large sink-hole. It had paused for the moment, but a crack had appeared on one side, and it was clear the ground was starting to open up in the direction of Halberd.

Realizing the danger, Kaylon immediately took charge. "Alright, everyone, we've got to get out of here," he called out, ushering the kids, Dedede, and Bandanna Dee away from the big window. "We've got to get to the ship before we're pulled down into that thing!"

Everyone hurried to follow the command, not wanting to end up in the cave-in. Unfortunately, as they ran, another jolt shook the great battleship. Most everyone was able to grab hold of something, except for Kaylon. The unfortunate GSA member was tossed hard into a doorway and was knocked unconscious.

"Come on," Ado shouted as she and her sister rushed to his side. "We've got to go!"

Their efforts, however, we're in vain. They blow he had taken had sent Kaylon out hard, and no matter what they did, they couldn't wake him up.

"Come on, we've got to go!" Tuff called, and he hurried to help the two girls get the unconscious soldier out.

"Where are we going to go?" Adeliene asked. "He was the only one who knew how to fly a Star Warrior ship!"

At that moment, Dedede swooped in, grabbing the Pippinite soldier under one are. He had a broad smile on his face. "I told y'all it was a good thing I brought the Kabula," he said in a smug tone of voice. "Come on, I'll get us out of here!"

Without any other option, they hurried after him. Thankfully, the Kabula had already been set up in case it was needed, and they just needed to load into the ship's passenger area. From there, Dedede took the wheel.

"Alright, hang on now," he called out. "I've been practicing, but my liftoffs are still pretty rough." Pulling hard, he raised the ship out of the launch port, taking it up into the air.

This action had happened just in time. Just as they made it clear of the battle ship's launch bay, the sink hole had reached their position. In an instant, the Halberd sank down and crashed into a thankfully abandoned area of the city.

From within the safety of the Kabula, the kids stared out at the wreckage. "What are we going to do now?" Adeleine asked.

"One thing's for sure," Lololo said. "We can't go back there. We'll have to find some sign of population, and hopefully they'll be able to help us."

"We'll head over there," Dedede said. The children followed his gaze to the top of what appeared to be some sort of building, which was poking out of the ground. "That looks like a kind of house to me."

"I can't believe I'm saying this," Tiff commented, "but Dedede's right. That does look like the closest thing to an actual building out here, and we'll need to find medical help for Kaylon."

Hearing the comment, the Pengu gave a huff. "Don't act so surprised, Blondie. I can be super intellamajent when I want to be."

Thus, the balloon sailed off in the direction of the building, where hopefully help would await.

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The passageway to the the entrance of the Great Volcano wasn't a long one, but it was definitely tense. No one had gone down this path since the fateful meeting between the two Guardians, and the signs of this disuse was everywhere. Cave dwelling plants had sprouted up everywhere, and had it not been for the fact that they were in a tunnel, it would have been impossible to know which way they were going.

Emperor Jualon had taken the lead, followed closely by his son. They both were wielding torches to light the way down the ancient path, and a feel of anxiety filled them both. It was considered anathema for anyone but the Guardian to come this way, and even though they had him with them, that feeling of Taboo was still hard to shake.

Meta Knight took the rear. He didn't carry a torch, but considering the natural luminescence of his eyes, he didn't need one. The warrior had stayed in the rear just in case they were followed by someone who might mean them harm, and his eyes swept back and forth to make certain everything was safe.

Kirby, who was stationed between the two groups of adults, was the only one not distracted from his surroundings. Not having the anxiety of taboo of the two Halcandrians nor sharing the caution of his father, the toddler was able to absorb the magnificence of everything around him.

Even though he couldn't have had any idea of the strange hieroglyphics all around him, the feel of the place was arcane, and the thrill of being a part of this ancient, amazing legacy had filled the child. He ran a paw over several of the pictures as he walked, and as he felt each picture, the image of successors was embedded in his memory.

It had only been about fifteen minutes by the time they arrived at their destination, but felt like it had been hours. "We are here," Jualon said. "The barrier is positioned between those two emblems." He pointed to two pictures that were right at the ends of the hall. One was of a diamond that had ivy crawling around it, and the other was of a heart crowned with a wreath of flowers. "Those are the symbols of Tchicalda and Stellara. Only Kirby will be able to reach them. What he'll do from there, I do not know, but I'm sure he will." The information now stated, the two Halcandrians stepped back.

Meta Knight was going to move to instruct Kirby to approach, but he found the gesture was unnecessary. As soon as the toddler had laid eyes on the pictographs, a sense of kinship filled him. He rushed ahead, and placed himself between the two pictures.

As he did so, something amazing happened. The two emblems began to glow, the diamond in silver and the heard in a dusty rose. Above the toddler, a third symbol appeared: a yellow, five-point star. Once the three symbols reached their zenith of brightness, two more figures appeared. They were the spirits of the two Guardians, in full growth and majesty.

Meta Knight and the Halcandrian royalty could only gape in shock at the amazing image in front of them, but Kirby took everything all in stride. He met the eyes of the two women, and there was a clear feeling of the meeting of equals. The three figures locked eyes for a moment, before turning to the barrier, and all at once said the same word.

"Open."

In a moment, cracks appeared. They first appeared in the three symbols, but they spread out until the whole area was filled up with webs of fractures. In an instant, the fractured separated with a loud crack and fell away.

When the shards faded away, so did the two women, leaving the little one alone. He blinked for a moment, as if suddenly coming awake from a trance, before taking a few steps and examining the air in front of him. Once he was certain that the area was unblocked, he turned around and waved to his companions. "It o-tay! We go now!"

To be continued...

 


	97. Crown Me! Part Six

  
Episode Ninety-Six: Crown Me! Part Six

"Hello!" Dedede called out through the empty halls. They had now made it to the building, and finding a door open on one of the floor levels, they had entered in to seek help. "Is anyone here?"

"We have someone with us who needs medical attention!" Tiff added, hoping the message might get someone to come out and help.

"Hello?" Lololo called.

"Is anyone here?" Ado added.

At first, it seemed as if their search for assistance would go unanswered, but after a few moments of persistent calling, someone came up. It was a Halcandrian clothed in the green uniform of a soldier, and he didn't seem pleased to see them. "You!" he called out, brandishing a metal-tipped spear at them. "How did you get into the sanctuary?"

"Our ship had problems and one of our companions was injured," Bandanna Dee said. "We were hoping to find some place where we could get help and wait for the rest of our group."

The soldier looked them over for a moment. "Your group? Did you come with the Star Warriors?"

"That's us alright," Tuff said with a nod. He raised up his bow and pointed out the star-symbol on its handle to point it out. "Can we come in or not?"

"You may, but you'll need to stay close," the soldier responded. "Things aren't going well with the battle, I'm afraid. Come, you'll need to bring your injured friend into the basement levels."

As they followed him down into the sanctuary, the rooms became more and more inhabited. Doctors and nurses rushed around, tending to injured members of both the Halcandrian army and the Star Warriors. An air of tension filled the whole place, making it anxiety of the travelers even more intense.

"Uh, you said the battle wasn't going well a moment ago," Adeleine said once Kaylon had been taken off to receive medical help. "What exactly did you mean by that?"

"What I mean is that the monsters were able to break the line," he answered. "Pretty soon, they'll make it here. Once we do, the best we'll be able to do is get out of the way and hope whatever it is the Guardian is going to do will work." He pointed to a hallway that was a short way off. "He went down that way with the Emperor to go and deal with the Master Crown before the beasts can get to it. I hope they'll be able to destroy that wretched thing. If they can't, then we, and the rest of the universe, are all doomed. Now, if you will excuse me." He then hurried off to join the rest of his troop.

Once he was gone, Dedede crossed his arms. "How rude. He didn't even lead us to the guest rooms."

In response, Tiff huffed at him. "Be polite!" she scolded. "These people are experiencing a crisis! There are more important things to do right now than tend to your whims."

The Pengu just scowled and muttered under his breath. "I'll go find my own way around," he grumbled. "C'mon, Bandanna."

"Sorry about that," the Waddle Dee said to the kids before turning to follow.

Even though Dedede had stomped off, the content of their conversation caught the attention of the others. "There are more important things we could be doing, too," Lololo said.

"After all," Lalala tagged in, catching on to what her brother was saying, "we can't just sit around and do nothing, knowing full well that our friends are in danger."

"I agree completely," Tiff said, shifting her bow to a holder on her back. She touched her chin and looked up in thought. "But what can we do? We can't join the warriors out on the battle field; we'd never make it in time."

"That," Tuff agreed, "and if the monsters didn't kill us, then Mom and Dad really would."

"We could try to go help Kirby in the volcano," Adeleine suggested. "After all, that hallway was left open to the world. Maybe we could figure out some way to plug it up to buy them time."

"That's an idea," Tiff said with a nod, "but we don't know if they'll need help there. If we're not careful, we might end up making things even worse."

Before the conversation could go on for much longer, there was an ear-rending shriek and a crash. The kids stood transfixed by the sound for a moment, but were shaken out of it by the sounds of screams. Along with the panic of the refugees, Dedede and Bandanna Dee came rushing past, screaming as they hurried right into the still open passage.

"What's going on?" Ado asked, and she didn't have to wait long for an answer. An energy blast tore past them, only barely missing the kids. The blast ripped open a hole in the walls, and they could easily see exactly it was that had happened.

The Beasts had arrived. It was a blast from Magolor Soul that had torn open the holes, and the shrieks from the Banshee were rending few structures still standing apart.

Understanding that to stay where they were would be suicide, the six kids hurried right after the way the king and servant had gone. As they went down the passage, Ado and Adeleine pulled out their paintbrushes and began painting up as many huge blocks of stone as they could in the hopes that it would at the least stall their pursuers for a short amount of time.

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Once the barrier had fallen, the trip into the Great Volcano continued to the heart. It was clear, even though the path had been barred for so long, that this had once been a place of great events and remembrances. Colorful mosaics made from precious stones covered the volcano's walls on either side, portraying great battles and heroes, memorials of births, deaths, and coronations. Treasures of great varieties were stored in niches in the walls.

"It's more marvelous than I could have ever imagined," Viatal said, his voice soft with amazement.

"The great treasures of our people," his father commented, nodding in agreement. "Thought lost to the ages of time, but here this whole time. I can't believe I didn't suspect they'd be in here."

Despite the solemnity of the occasion, Meta Knight couldn't help but give a small laugh. "Do not regret it. A similar event happened not long ago for our people."

Kirby, for his part, had been rushing to and fro, from niche to niche, picking up a pretty jewel here and a small trinket there. Indeed, never before had he seen such shining objects before.

Meta Knight raised a hand as he tried to call the small child back. "Kirby, come here. These are not to be played with."

"Let him look," Jualon said, and it was now his turn to laugh. "These treasures were the belongings of the Guardianess, so in a way, he does lay some claim to it."

In his excitement, Kirby climbed over a pile of treasure and peered over it, and what he saw filled him with more delight than before. He began leaping in excitement, and coherent words soon gave way to repeated "poyos" as he pointed to the newfound excitement.

"What has he found now?" Viatal asked aloud, and the three adults joined the little one to get a look at what it was.

There, laying a few yards away from the pile, was a medium sized star ship. It was shaped like a sailing ship, complete with sails and ores, and was light blue in color and accented with yellow stars.

"It is a fine ship," Meta Knight commented with a nod. He patted his son on the head. "You have good taste in vehicles."

"That is more than a fine ship," Jualon said, and once again a look of awe came to him and his son. "That, my good knight, is the Lor Starcutter!"

The warrior turned to face his companions. "The Lor Starcutter?"

"That is the famed ship of Empress Tchicalda," Viatal answered. "Legend states that the ship could drive itself, provided it was all in one piece, and that it would always take its owner where it needed to go."

"Fascinating," Meta Knight said. He gave a small laugh. "It seems Kirby is destined to uncover ancient histories wherever he goes. Now," he said as he turned to go, "we had best find the Master Crown before our foe catches up to us. Come, Kir-"

It was at that point that the three adults realized the child was not with them. In the short while the attention had been pulled away from him, he had rushed off and made it to the side of the Lor Starcutter, making it necessary for them to follow him.

As he reached the ship, the little Puffal stretched out his arms and appeared to hug the side of the ship. "Hiii!" he called out, beaming up at the ship. "I's Kaabii!"

"Kirby, we must be going," Meta Knight said, guiding the child back. "It is important that we find the crown soon."

"O-tay," the child said with a tone of disappointment. He then turned to the ship. "I got's ta go. Bye."

The adults were confused by the child's addressing of the vehicle, but they ignored it as childish flights of fancy. At least, they did, until a voice came booming out of it. "Wait," a calm but loud female voice echoed out. "Please return. I can be of some assistance to you, Guardian Kirby."

In that moment, the adults turned back. On instinct, Meta Knight withdrew Galaxia. "Who is there!?" he asked, holding the sword high. "Show yourself!"

"But I am not hiding," the voice said, and there was a tone of confusion to her voice. "You can see me right here."

"If that is the case, then you must be invisible," Viatal responded. "We can see no one here, unless you expect us to believe you are the Lor Starcutter."

"I am Lor Starcutter," the woman persisted. "I am also surprised you didn't know that, Viatal, Crown Prince of Halcandra."

"You know of me?" the prince said, becoming somewhat unnerved.

"No more jokes," Jualon said, his voice becoming firm. "We have no time to waste, and we cannot spend the few precious moments we have arguing with a delusional voice."

"You seek proof of my identity," the woman said, and her voice carried a tone of realization. "I do suppose there might be many people wishing to masquerade as a Servant of the Guardians. Proof is within order."

In a moment, there can a rumbling in the room, and with a sharp jerk, the Lor Starcutter rose into the air. With a speed uncommon for a ship its size, it shot up through the cavern, maneuvered itself around the four onlookers, and then flew back around, so that it was once more in front of them. This time, however, it was still hovering a foot in the air.

"I suppose," the ship said with a tone of mischief, "you believe my story now?"

By this point, only Kirby was moving, as he was leaping in the air and giving the display the applause he believed it deserved. It didn't, however, take too long for the adults to compose themselves.

"Quite right, my lady," Jualon said with a nod, and he motioned for Meta Knight to put Galaxia away. "You do not need to convince us any further."

"Good, I'm glad we have everything sorted out." The door on the side of the ship opened up, dropping a loading dock to allow them inside. "Now, I heard you say the four of you were seeking a crown. Correct me if I am wrong, but do you mean the Master Crown?"

"Indeed," Meta Knight replied. "We are in a hurry to reach the crown to keep a monstrous Distort from attaining it."

"So, Zero has arisen and if trying to take his power back." There was a tone of recognition in Lor's voice. "It was as Lady Stellara had feared. Well, that's why I was left behind. I shall bring you to where the crown was laid, and hopefully the Guardian Kirby will have more luck in destroying it than the Ladies did."

"How did you know it was Zero we are dealing with?" Viatal asked, though his voice was still soft with amazement.

"As I said, this was what Lady Stellara had feared in the last days before her death," the ship answered. "She had come here and trusted the guarding of the Master Crown to Lady Tchicalda, who was only in the first years of her rule at the time. When neither of them were able to completely destroy its evil, they locked it away in here in hopes that a future Guardian will have an ability more suited to the job. I will take you there now and we can find out."

Once all the passengers were onboard, the ship rose a small deal higher in the cavern. It felt like she was about to shoot forwards, but before she could, she halted. "You said you were being pursued by two beasts, correct?"

"Uh-huh!" Kirby chirped. He stretched his paws wide. "T'ey t'is big!"

"There are eight individuals, other than you, that have now entered the tunnel system," the Lor said. "They do not have the signature of any Distort. Should we go to retrieve them?"

"They might be your men," Meta Knight commented, turning to the emperor.

"If they are, then thigns are going badly for us." Jualon closed his eyes and contemplated before making a decision. "Lor Starcutter, go retrieve them, then take us to the crown with as much speed as you can give us."

"Very well." Turning towards the entrance, the ship flew the short trip to pick up the extra passengers.

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Dedede's panicked flight had caused him to gain a head start on the others, but before long, his physiology caused him to lose his breath. Despite the panic he had once been feeling, he was forced to stop and take a breath, leaning against one of the walls.

As soon as he stopped, the others caught up, each in their turn. Ado and Adeleine were last, since they had been taking up the rear.

"Do…" Bandanna Dee began, and he had to take several more gasping breaths before he could continue. "Do you think we lost them?"

"Well, I can't hear them down here," Lalala said. She peered down the darkened tunnel she and her friends had been moving through. "Maybe they took a different path?"

"I doubt it," Tiff replied. "That Halcandrian guard said this was the way that Kirby and Meta Knight had gone. There's no doubt those things want whatever it is Kirby was going to, so the only question is to why they didn't chase us farther than this."

"I think," Ado answered, and she panted a bit before continuing. "I think that would be 'Leine and me." The artist twins had arrived last, since they had taken up the rear, and by the time they had reached the resting area, their paintbrushes were practically clean, considering the amount of their power they had used. "We painted up a barrier behind us to keep them from following. I don't think it will stop them permanently, but at least it will buy us some time."

"Yes, but time to do what?" Tuff asked, impatience radiating from his voice. "We can't just stay here and do nothing, since those things will get here no matter what we do?"

"We could keep going," Lalala suggested. "This cavern looks like it goes on for ages."

"Or we could stay here and try to fight them," Lololo added. "We might not be able to do a whole lot in the shape we're in now, but we'd have time to get ready to fight."

"I vote we run," Bandanna said, raising a paw.

"I don't think that's a viable option for some of us," Tiff sighed, giving a sideways look at Dedede.

"What are you saying?" the Pengu responded in a huff. He crossed his arms with disgust. "I'll let you know I could run a whole palace's length if I had a mind to! I can fight, too, and way better than you little twerps!"

"We should move on while we speak," Adeliene said. She glanced down at her brush, which was still rather dry. "If it comes to a fight, Ado and I aren't in any position to help, so if we try to get a head start on those beasts, it'll give our brushes the chance to replenish."

"Getting a bigger space between us sounds like a good idea, whatever it is that awaits us," Tiff said with a nod. "Come on; it looks like it might get brighter down the farther we go."

They kept moving down the dark passage, feeling the walls to keep on their path. Since they had no tourch, the group was left wandering in the dark. More than once did one of them trip or run into some sort of unseen debris. The struggle ahead of them, however, seemed much more palatable than the monsters behind them, so they moved on.

Just as Tiff had predicted, by the time they had wandered about five minutes down the pathway, a light became visible. It was faint and small at first, but grew in both size and brightness as they got closer.

"Look!" Lalala called up when it had reached about the size of an orange. "It's a light! Maybe there's an exit this way."

The group hurried their pace for a while, but soon an oddity about the light became apparent. "Uh, guys?" Bandanna asked. "Why is that star-shaped?"

"I don't think that's an exit, but its still our best bet," Tuff called out, and his livened his pace to a run.

"Tuff, wait! Come back!" his sister called out after him. She started running, too, to try to catch up with him. "What it that's an enemy?"

By that point, however, the Dreamlandian boy had caught a clear view of exactly it was they were dealing with. "I don't think that's an enemy," he replied, and immediately he began waving his arms to catch the thing's attention.

After a moment, the thing got even closer, and now all could see what it was. The star-shaped light was the headlight of a ship! It was a medium sized ship, so it took up a good portion of the tunnel. As a result, it was moving slowly, so as not to damage itself on the rock walls of the tunnel's sides.

As the ship got closer, a female voice echoed through the hallway. "Greetings, traveler," she called out. "Who do you work for and where do you intend to go?"

"I don't work for no one!" Dedede immediately snapped. "What do I look like to you?"

"What he means, ma'am," Tiff said, hoping that the Pengu's knee-jerk reaction didn't lose them a potential ally, "is that we are not from around here. Most of us are apprentices in the Star Warriors, and we came down here in hopes of finding shelter. Our ship sank into the ground and the sanctuary we went to is now under attack by monsters. We came down this pathway to get away, and we are currently blocked in. We were hoping to find an exit in this direction."

"There is no exit on the path you were taking," the woman responded, "except for that of the volcano's crater. However, others of your order are on board here, and they had asked my assistance in getting to the Master Crown. Do you wish to accompany?"

"Yes, ma'am," Tiff said, giving a polite bow. "If it would be alright with you, than we would like to come."

Once she had spoken, the primary doorway to the ship opened up. "Very well," the woman continued. "Enter in and we can be on our way."

One by one, each of the the group entered into the ship. It was a bit more spacious on the inside than it had seemed from the outside, so they didn't need to worry about cramming into each other. Within, Meta Knight and Kirby were seated at the control panel, and there were two Halcandrians with them.

"We have picked up more of your group, Sir Meta Knight," the woman's voice said, though the group couldn't see where she was hiding. "We will now travel to the Master Crown."

When they saw who was waiting on board the ship, the kids grew very tense. "Sir Meta Knight," Ado started. "We can explain-"

In response, Meta Knight raised his hand. "I've already heard, and I understand. There's very little you can do under these circumstances. I am only relieved you made it out alright."

"You can thank me for that!" Dedede said, puffing up his chest. "We made it out to my balloon and everything was pie from there."

Upon hearing the word 'pie,' Kirby came over and stared intently at Dedede. "Pie?"

"I told you I don't understand that weird alien language of yours, Pinky," Dedede commented with a snort, shoving the young Puffal away as he spoke.

"The Guardian is commenting on your specific phrasing," the woman's voice said, and the reply echoed throughout the ship. "He is wondering where the 'pie' you spoke of is hidden. However, since all scans of you do not report the presence of pastry, I can only assume the statement was metaphorical."

Hearing the voice, Dedede practically jumped out of his skin. "Geez, lady!" he said with annoyance. "You're gonna give someone a heart attack! Why don't you come out and show yourself?"

"But I have shown myself," the woman replied. "In fact, you can see me everywhere you look."

Hearing this interaction, Meta Knight gave a small laugh. "Forgive me for not making introductions sooner," he said, raising a paw. "Dedede, Bandanna Dee, children, these two gentlemen are Emperor Jualon of Halcandra and his son, Prince Viatal. The ship we are currently in is also the Lor Starcutter. She has generously offered her services in taking us to the Master Crown before our enemies reach it."

"Wait," Lololo responded, trying to process what they had just been told. "You're telling us that this whole ship is alive?"

"Indeed, I am," Lor Starcutter answered. "Why do you all seem so surprised by this fact? Is there something you perceive as wrong?"

"Please, madam, forgive our shock," Jualon said. "It is just that we are not used to ships and vehicles that are alive and moving on their own power. Under most circumstances, it it required for a pilot to drive the ship."

"Yes, a pilot," the ship said with a thoughtful tone. "I did have one or two of those in my lifetime. They were quite helpful, especially in communication."

They soon came out of the tunnel again, and now freed from the constrains of the stone walls, the ship picked up in pace. She rushed through the treasure cavern so fast that the passengers had no time to observe any of the marvels around them. To the panic of her passengers, she moved faster and faster before diving into a pool of magma in the center of the cavern.

"Please, do not be frightened." Lor's voice was completely calm, contrasting heavily from the chaos going on in the cockpit. "You are in no danger. My chassis is made to be able to withstand the heat, and this is the only way to our destination."

Her reassurances worked to calm the environment, but it wasn't enough to make everyone feel at ease. They were able to look out the screens and see the glowing molten stone all around them, and the feeling of being buried alive wore hard, even though they were protected from the outside environment.

Thankfully, this passage ended rather quickly, with the Lor Starcutter exiting the magma and floating over a deep pool. In a plume of steam, the ship dived into the water and then moved into another tunnel. This one went on for a shot way before coming up onto an underground beach.

When they came up to the beach, the ship finally slowed down, coming up one to the sand and stopping. "We have reached the antechamber," she said as she opened the door.

As they emptied onto the beach, it soon became clear that there was a new problem with their quest. "It big!" Kirby exclaimed, stretching his paws out wide.

To the others' amazement, they found that the child's words were, if anything, an understatement. The chamber that they now stood in was a huge honeycomb of tunnels going this way and that. The water was the only area that did not involve stone walls filled with holes.

"This is where that crowny-thing is hidden?" Dedede asked, crossing his arms with dismay. "How in Dreamland are we going to be able to find our way around this maze?"

"First of all, you are not in Dreamland, you are in the Volcron Region of Halcandra," the Starcutter answered. "Secondly, this place was intended to be a challenge, so those who might want the crown for its evil power might not be able to find it. Do not fear, though. I will guide you to its hiding place."

"Really?" Dedede responded skeptically. He looked over the ship which was clearly too big to fit into any of the tunnels. He smirked and laughed at the idea. "What are you going to do? Go on an intensive exercise regime?"

"Dedede, manners!" Meta Knight snapped when he heard the comment.

The rudeness of the statement, however, had been completely missed by the Lor Starcutter. "Exercise?" she repeated, trying to comprehend the purpose of the suggestion. "No, exercise wouldn't be much of a help in fitting through the passage. Instead, I'll just use my MCU."

"MCU?" Bandanna Dee asked. "What is an MCU?"

At that moment, a new figure appeared right next to the Waddle Dee, startling him into jumping back. The new form was shaped like a living flame, and was bright green. A pair of wide eyes peered out of the flame, and two hands hovered on either side.

"This," the figure stated, and by the voice they could tell it was the Lor Starcutter, "is my MCU: my Mobile Consciousness Unit. I utilized this form whenever I need to get into areas where I would not normally fit."

The others, amazed by this sudden revelation, felt like spitting out question after question, but before they could begin, the Starcutter's whisp form began to move. "Come along," she called out. "I have been sensing tremors in the area that suggest that our foes are not far behind us. We will need to hurry to reach our destination before they do." Having said her piece, she then floated up to a tunnel that was about half-way up the cavern wall and waved for the others to follow.

As the followers watched her, a realization hit her. "Well, we're going to have to climb that, aren't we?" Ado asked.

Meta Knight shook his head. "Those of us who can fly and carry someone will transport the others up. Once we've all made it, we'll continue on."

It took about ten minutes to get everyone up to the tunnel, and by the time they were all ready, the tremors that the ship had talked about had gotten stronger. "Come, show us where we must go," Jualon said, motioning for the Starcutter to take the lead.

"Gladly," the whisp said, giving a polite bow. "Come this way. We will need to pass through the gateway of Landia to reach the crown."

"Landia?" Viatal asked as they started moving. "So the four-headed dragon of old is real?"

"Indeed, Landia was real," the Starcutter answered. "Of course, it wasn't a four-headed dragon, but four dragons acting in unison. Not that it matters, though. After all this time, I highly doubt that Landia is still alive."

The walk through the tunnel was longer than the flight was, and with every passing moment, the atmosphere grew more and more tense. The tremors were now near constant, and traveling only by the Starcutter's eerie green glow wasn't helping too much.

"Uh, are you sure we're on the right pathway?" Bandanna Dee asked. He peered nervously around the tunnel. "We've been on this way for a really long time, and-uh…" He had frozen because as he said those words, he turned to look ahead of himself and caught sight of a huge mouth full of razor sharp teeth.

"Gaaahhh!" he cried out, jumping back and falling flat on his back. "It's a monster! It's going to eat me! Help!"

"Calm down, my friend," Viatal said, coming over and helping the panicking Waddle Dee back onto his feet. "That does not have any power to harm you."

"It doesn't?" Bandanna asked, peering cautiously at the skeleton. "How do you know?"

"Because it is dead," the prince said. He gave a laugh and shook his head. "If I had to guess, I'd say this is one of the four that made up Landia."

"That guess would be correct," the Starcutter replied. She scanned the skeleton and ran the information gained from it through her systems. "This is indeed one of the sisters, which means that this is one of the entrances. The other three will be guarding the other three entrances, where they have been left to guard this treasure for ages past."

"Than that means we are not very far away from the crown," Meta Knight said. He removed Galaxia from its sheath. "Come. We must make haste."

The group followed him past the skeleton, and not far from where the dead dragon lay, there was another opening. When they passed through this entrance, they came into a large chamber, and siting in a cage dangling from the roof, was the insidious devise they sought to destroy.

"We have now come to it!" Meta Knight exclaimed. He raised Galaxia and prepared to strike. "Come, Kirby! Let us destroy it now!"

"Poyo!" the child exclaimed. He raised the Star Rod above his head and charged it for the blow.

Before they could make their move, they were interrupted. "Wait!" the Lor Starcutter called out. "Not in here! The chamber is too unstable! If you launch an energy based attack in here, you could trigger an eruption!"

Hearing this, the two Puffals paused and lowered their weapons. Not willing to give up quite yet, though, Kirby toddled over to the crown and smacked it with the Star Rod. Well meaning though the action was, the attempt was futile, as without the charge of energy, the weapon only clinked off the item a few times.

"I don't think that's going to do anything, Kirby," Tuff pointed out.

"Quite true," Meta Knight said with a nod. "We'll have to take it out onto the surface. There it should be safe to destroy."

They went to move the crown outside, but before they could go far, there was another tremor, and this one was the largest yet. It seemed to shake the whole volcano from base to crown.

"What's happening?" Adeleine cried out as she clung to a stalagmite.

"This can only mean one thing," Meta Knight responded, and he raised Galaxia once more. "The foe is upon us."

To be continued…


	98. Crown Me! Part Seven

Within the tunnel systems of the Great Volcano, all hell had broken loose. The two beasts had broken through the barriers of stone, and uninhibited by any magic, they were able to make their way inward and downward, right to their target. They had ripped into the grand honeycomb chamber when the seismic activity made their presence known.

"Everyone, to arms!" Meta Knight shouted out. He held Galaxia up so that the weapon was charging as he ran. "We have no choice but to fight here! We cannot allow them to get the crown!"

No one argued, instead moving to grab moved into potion to fight. Tiff and Tuff drew their bows and fell back, ready to unleash a volley of arrows to give the others cover. Jualon and Viatal both had blade tipped staves, which had previously been used as walking sticks. These were raised up and prepped for the attack. Dedede pulled out his hammer, newly upgraded to the steel variety, and smashed through several stalactites in anticipation. Ado and Adeliene decided their brushes had enough time to replenish and pulled out the weapons, prepared to paint up something their team might need when the time came. Bandanna Dee raised his spear to a defensive position, and Lololo and Lalala reached out from whatever pieces of debris the could to pelt the foe with. Lor Starcutter flashed back to her ship form and prepared to unleash a barrage with her on-board weapons.

Kirby charged ahead of the others, the Star Rod raised and charged. His small form and fast hooves meant that he was able to make it out to the enemy only just after the Starcutter, and was thus able to launch the attack while the beasts were distracted by the gunfire. He was ready to face his foe or die in the trying.

By the time he made it to the Honeycomb cavern, the twin monsters had already began ripping everything up. The Starcutter was doing her best to restrain them with her weapons system, but she was outnumbered and outmatched. The Banshee had grabbed a hold of the ship and was going to tear into it when Kirby arrived.

Without any hesitation, the young one launched out with a Star attack, knocking the huge monster back. The blow was tempered, since he didn't want to injure Ribbon along with the monster possessing her, but it was still enough to force her to release the ship and turn her attention to him.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to make her stay down. As soon as she was able to figure out who it was that attacked her, the Banshee let out a guttural shriek and launched herself at the youngster. Long talons grew out of her fingertips, ready to tear him apart.

Before her attack could make contact, however, Meta Knight intercepted the attack. With a swift slice, he severed the claws and dealt a heavy kick, sending the Banshee backwards. Turning on a dime, he spun around and grabbed Kirby's paw. "Work to tire her out!" he instructed his son. "If she is unable to do what the monster wants her to do, he may release her!"

"Poyo!" the child responded with a nod.

While they were busy in dealing with the Banshee, the other beast turned its attention to them. Magolor Soul spread its arms wide, summoning up hordes of darkness and preparing to launch them at the Puffals.

Before he could launch his attack, however, he was interrupted as two arrows of pure, shining light sailed through air and slammed into him. This forced the monster to drop its attack and fall to the ground.

He tried to life himself up, but before he could regain his bearings, the monster was slammed by a metal hammer. Despite the fact that the weapon was a good deal smaller than he was, the power with which he had been struck sent the beast flying hard back into one of the honeycomb walls.

"Ha!" Dedede declared, shouldering his hammer and giving a broad grin. "That'll teach you! Great shot wasn't it?"

Next to him, Bandanna Dee examined the fallen beast, though he held his spear in a defensive position. "It certainly seems to be down, sire."

Behind them, Tiff and Tuff stood back in the entrance of the tunnel leading to the crown, pulling back on their bows to prepare another volley. Between them and the pengu, the two Halcandrian warriors and the Paintrian artists were rushing ahead, prepared to launch attacks of their own if the need came.

Despite the Pengu's confidence, the beast was far from defeated. Pushing itself up, the monster turned its one, huge eye and them and groaned. Raising its arms, rips appeared in the very air and pulled the attackers within. Only the Ebrum siblings were able to avoid getting pulled in due to the structures around them.

The fighters didn't disappear for long. Nearly as soon as they were pulled in, more rips appeared and spat them out again, slamming them into the walls and floors at all angles.

Magolor Soul then summoned up his huge sword and prepared to slam it down on the fighters. Thankfully, Ado and Adeliene were able to react just in time. Springing up as fast as they could, they painted up a barrier, which solidified just in time to take the brunt of the blow.

Upon coming in contact with the sword, the entire barrier shattered, but that didn't matter. As soon as the shards of the destroyed protection fell away, it gave the others the opportunity to attack. Viatal was the fastest, launching himself up at the beast and landing several cuts on the monster with his bladed staff.

The monster, though wounded by the attack, was able to react quickly, smacking away the young Halcandrian. However, this left him open to attacks from Jualon and Bandanna, who had both made their way behind the beast. They charged and attacked from behind, both getting in hard blows to the monster's wings.

At the same time, Meta Knight and Kirby's struggle with the Banshee went on. They both had speed to their advantage, Meta in the air and Kirby on the ground, and these they used to launch attacks from above and below, forcing her to split her attention between the two attack patterns.

From the sky, Meta Knight opened up with barrage after barrage of Sword Beams. He could have done more damage if he had actually used the blade in his attacks, but concern for the possession victim caused him to rein in the ferocity of his blows. Instead, he utilized the beam attack to keep her dodging and on the move.

At the same time, Kirby acted from the ground, swinging the Star Rod in a pattern less barrage. Like Meta Knight, he held his attacks back, lest he kill Ribbon along with Zero, but that didn't mean the beast couldn't feel the attacks. They were aimed with as much precision as the little one could muster, and every time a blow landed, a bit more of the monster's power was seeped.

Between all of these attacks, Zero's power faded. Since all Dark Matter's powers came directly from the monstrous parasite's connection to him, as every blow landed, both monsters grew weaker, and Zero knew this. The attacks by the Star Warriors and the Halcandrian army might not have fulfilled their intended goals of stopping him, but it had worn down the majority of his energy. He was running on fumes, and between the powered attacks of Galaxia, the Duciel Bow, and the Star Rod and the more typical attacks from the others, the Distort wouldn't be able to hold on for too much longer.

He could also, however, sense that his goal was near. The Master Crown, the long-lost source of his power, was near. He could sense its power radiating out from its hiding chamber, and if he could only summon up enough strength to make it past the last line of defenders, he would win.

In a last ditched effort, he made a decision. In an instant, he pulled out of his host. Immediately, the Banshee fell to the ground and began to shrink, reverting back into Ribbon. "These host bodies are failing!" he called out to the Dark Matter. "Release the host and come to me!"

With a grunt, Magolor Soul also released its victim. The hulking beast fell to the ground, and black ooze seeped out. There on the ground, lay Magolor, now freed from the insidious control.

Once both Zero and the Dark Matter had released their victims, the two converged on each other. Both figures of the eyes began to dissipate as Zero called the Dark Matter to himself, absorbing the parasite to take control of its strength. The whole figure of the monster than dissolved into a pile of black ooze, which then flew off into the honeycomb tunnel leading to the crown.

"Those of you who can fly, hurry after him!" Meta Knight called out. "He cannot be allowed to reach the crown! If he does, we are all doomed!" With that command, he gave an extra burst to his flight in desperation to catch up to the foe."

"Those of you who cannot fly, please tend to the injured," Jualon added before taking off to follow the Puffal knight.

"Come and bring them to me," The Starcutter said, now able to straighten herself up. "I have a medical bay where the victims will be safe. We will then follow as best we can."

Of those who could fly on their own power, the pursuit was on, but the attempt was in vain. Despite their best efforts, Zero was too fast to catch up to on the wing. While took the pursuers minutes to fly after him through the tunnel, he was rushing ahead, unencumbered by any resistance to wind or the rock formations in the tunnel. He just slammed through anything and everything, breaking apart and forming again feet away. Nothing would stop him from reaching his goal.

Indeed, of them all, Meta Knight was the only one able to reach the chamber before Zero had taken the Master Crown, and even then, he only reached in time to see the blob envelope the artifact. Horror filled the Puffal warrior, and in desperation he lashed out with Galaxia, no longer caring what reaction the attack might cause.

The blow hit its mark, but it was too late. The monster merely absorbed the attack. "Foolish mortal!" Zero cried out in a voice that was half-way between a shriek and a laugh. "You believe you can defeat me? Especially now? Gaze on watch me become the fate of this pitiful world: 02!"

As the others reached the chamber, they could only watch as Zero's form shifted and remolded. Soon, the familiar shape of a huge eye appeared, but it was different from the Distort's previous form. For one thing, this new form was bigger. More space was focused on the blood-red iris, which seemed to be leaking poison.

What's more, the changes were not finished. Two massive wings sprouted out from the back of the eye. They were twisted, bird-like wings, and like the iris, they seemed to drip with a red acid that dissolved the stones it fell on. A huge tail sprouted out from below the beast like a long, spike covered vine. This flailed around, smashing through the columns around it.

The final change came once the wings and tail were fully formed. At first, it looked like a simple golden halo, but it didn't stop there. Soon, a blue stone like the one that had been on the Master Crown appeared at the center, and huge spike like claws or fangs appeared around all the area of the halo.

Once the shifting was finished, the beast let out a victorious cry. "I have truly returned!" he cried out, stretching his wings out as far as they would go. "Gaze upon the true form of 02 and despair! The time of the Guardians is over! Now, it is my time to rule!"

When he had said this, he shot his tail right down through the floor of the chamber. This broke up the very ground of the volcano, and soon, magma was bubbling up through the cracks. "First, this world that dared to try to imprison my power will feel my revenge! Then the rest of the universe will taste my revenge!"

Seeing the arrival of the molten stone, both of the elders grabbed their sons and turned to run. "There's nothing we can do here right now," Meta Knight said. "Our best hope is to make it back to the Lor Starcutter and hope that she can do something against that monstrosity."

By the time they made it out of the honeycomb tunnel, the magma has already started flowing out of them. Thankfully, the others they had been forced to leave behind had already made it into the ship, so there wasn't any need to gather everyone together.

"Lor Starcutter!" Jualon called out as they reached the ship, "we need to leave right now! Not just here, but this whole volcano! It is in the process of erupting!"

"Erupting?" Lololo asked. "Why would it be-?"

Before the question was completely stated, there was a tremor, and magma began pouring into the chamber through the many holes lining the walls. Soon, the entire floor of the cavern was covered in the molten stone, and the landing pad could only be retracted in time to protect those within the ship.

"What the heck happened back there?" Dedede asked in panic as the ship jerked into a hasty rise. "I thought you were going to deal with that thing!"

"We weren't fast enough," Viatal answered as he gripped onto a panel. "The beast was too fast for us, and he reached the crown before we could get there. Where are the former hosts? Are they safe?"

"The fairy Ribbon and the Hacandrian Magolor are secured in my med-bay," the Starcutter answered. "They will be safe in there until we can deal with the monster Zero."

"Not Zero anymore," Meta Knight corrected. "It's 02 now. He's gotten bigger and, undoubtedly stronger. It will be a miracle if we're able to keep him from utterly decimating the universe."

As they raced upwards towards the crown of the volcano, they magma chased after them, keeping mere feet away. Their flight was successful, and they were able to break out of the volcano itself, just before a huge shot of lava burst out after them.

The Starcutter was able to maneuver the ship away from the spout, but the sight that greeted them was of no consolation. The area around the volcano was in waste. 02 had gone hard to work, spreading his venom over the whole region and unearthing underground tunnels with his tail. What's more, the lava that had just shot out of the volcano was now crawling its way down, coming closer and closer to the inhabited cities. In all the chaos and destruction, all were stunned and left without an idea of what to do.

All, that is, except one.

As Kirby gazed at the carnage, a familiar feeling started up within him. The small stars in his eyes began to flash with light, and soon the flashes were spreading out across his body. When he realized what was happening, a grim look of determination came to the little one's face, and he knew what he had to do.

Moving fast, so no one could catch him, he hurried to one of the emergency exits of the ship and opened it up, leaping out. As he fell through the air, he called out a single word. "Wa'pstah!"

Despite it having been in the Halberd when the ship had sunk, the little star heard its master's call, and without hesitation tore itself free of the wreckage and shot ahead. It caught the little Puffal just as the flashing colors finished spreading out across his body, and he then turned and flew straight at the lava flow.

Swooping low over the lava, he opened his mouth and began his Hyper Nova. As soon as he started inhaling, the molten stone flew up as if pulled in through a straw. At first, this affected only one area of the flow, but soon, more and more of the destructive wave was pulled up and into the little one. Before long, the entire burst that had been threatening the civilization below was completely sucked up, leaving that threat, for the moment, neutralized.

Once he had inhaled all the lava, Kirby closed his mouth and copied. In a flash of light, he took on the fire ability. The familiar coronet of twisted gold, adorned with an emerald and topped by a burst of flame, appeared on his head, but it did not stay that way for long. The gold flattened out, spreading into a more traditional helm. Out of that, four bars of red gold sprouted from the young Guardian's forehead, taking on an antler-like appearance. The jewel shifted, turning from a round emerald unto a star-shaped diamond, and the gem almost seemed to glow with a light of its own. Finally, the little burst of flame became an all-out torrant, covering the entire top and back of the helm, so that on the very front with the antler formation could be seen. He had become Monster Flame Kirby!

The transformation was so intense that even 02 was compelled to turn and see what it was that happened. When he realized it was the Guardian, he laughed. "So, you choose to challenge me after all?" the beat asked. "Then you chose your death!" He launched his tail at the youngster and intended to entwine the little Puffal up.

Before the attack could reach its mark, however, Kirby responded with an attack of his own. A huge burst of flames appeared. It took the form of a phoenix and letting out a cry, charged and met the vine-tail in an instant.

As the attacks clashed, the shape of the phoenix was lost, but that was not to the Guardian's detriment. When the figures dispersed, they climbed their way up the tail, burning and destroying everything along it. The tail did eventually reach Kirby, but by the time it was in range to try to hit him, it was so burnt up that it could only do a small fraction of its previous damage.

02 could hardly believe his eye. "What? You can't do this! Only Stellara could have defeated me, and she is long dead!"

Kirby didn't reply. Instead, he summoned up the fire phoenix again, sending it this time to attack the deformed eye. 02 attempted to defend against the attack, wrapping his wings around himself in the assumption that the little Puffal was trying to attack his body.

He couldn't have been more wrong. When the flame-bird made contact, it unleashed all its energy on the Master crown. Using 02's attempt at defense to get an opening, Kirby rushed ahead and opened up more attacks, adding to the already intense flame. As this carried on, the fire grew so fierce and intense that the sapphire burst from the intense heat, and the gold of the infernal device began to melt.

From the ground and the air, all who witnessed the battle could only stare in shock. Nothing like this had happened before, so the people of Halcandra had no way of understanding what was happening. As such, murmurs of fear and confusion was passed from person to person in rapid speed.

Even on board the Lor Starcutter, Jualon and Viatal were at a loss as to what was happening. "What is he doing?" the emperor asked, turning to Meta Knight. "Where has this young one gained this strength?"

"He has used his Guardian's strength, the Hypernova and Super Ability," the knight answered, and his eyes glinted bright blue with pride. "Using this ability, he will smite the monster where he flies."

The discussion was then interrupted by the Starcutter. "That statement is incorrect."

"What do you mean, that is incorrect?" Tuff asked. He crossed his arms. "Kirby's at his most powerful now! There's no way 02 could live through this."

"02 will live through the attack," the ship went on. "He is a Distort and they are deathless. The only way to finish a battle with a Distort is to open a rift to the Tartarus Dimension. Once the rift is opened, the Distort will be pulled back to his punishment."

"How can we do that?" Adeleine asked.

"He must use a weapon of Guardian origin while utilizing his Guardian's strength," Lor answered. "We have multiple ones right now, including the Star Rod he left behind."

The group then turned to see the Star Rod, which had been left abandoned on the ground. Shooting ahead, Meta Knight snatched it up. "I'll get this to him right now."

Outside, the fight had raged on. In anger and pain, 02 lashed out at Kirby, who was holding strong in his attacks. Strong though he was, however, the little one was not invulnerable. Even in the heat of the battle, he could only hold his attacks for so long. He was already suffering several burns from the Distort's poisons, and if he was hit too many more times, he would have fallen.

Before that could happen, he heard a call. "Kirby!" Meta Knight shouted out. "Use this!" The knight flew past and tossed the Star Rod to his son.

Kirby reached out and snatched the rod out of thin air. As the weapon came to his paw, a new image came to his head. It was not the time for a typical attack. He had to renew Stellara's victory.

Holding the rod high over his head, he charged his attack. Fire flowed from the child's paws into the rod, which seemed to grow with the power. It began to glow, first orange, then yellow, then white, and finally blue. When the intensity had been reached, he swung down hard.

At first, there seemed to be no attack. No burst of energy, no huge stars, not even a blow landed from the attack. Instead, the rod cut through the air, leaving nothing behind in its wake to signal that anything had happened. It appeared that the swing had been in vain.

That was when everything started up. First, a tear in the very air that had been cut appeared. The sky itself looked like it had been torn in two, with a huge rift appearing. Through the rift, an utter blackness could be seen.

Cries of shock and horror were uttered when the inky void appeared, but none were more terrified than 02. "Nooooo!" the great beast called. "This cannot be my end! I cannot be defeated!"

Despite his protests, the void opened up even more, and it began to pull at the monster. Oddly enough, nothing else was affected by the pull, only the monsterous eye. He fought against the pull, but this only had the odd effect of stretching him out as he was pulled into the hole.

"I cannot go back!" 02 yelled, and he made one last attempt to escape from the reach of the rift. His attempt, however was in vain. He was yanked back, and as soon as even one bit of him had been pulled into the rip, the rest was sharply jerked back. With a cry of rage and pain, he was engulfed by the darkness.

As soon as the monster entered into the void, the rift began to repair itself. Moving from top to bottom, the rip closed up. Soon, there wasn't any sign that the rift had ever been there in the first place.

When it had closed, all the observers watched on, too stunned by what they had seen to speak. Kirby alone seemed to retain his ability to move around, since he had been the one to deal the final blow. Moving the Warp Star to a nearby precipice that was jutting off the volcano, he settled down and stepped off.

When he was now on solid ground, the sheer energy that had powered his attack began to fade. The golden helm turned back into a circlet and the diamond shifted back into an emerald. Exhaustion filled the little one, so he slumped back against the wall. He glanced once back to where the rift had been, and content that the beast had been vanquished once and for all, he slipped down into a deep sleep.

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Once he had slipped into the deep sleep, Kirby found himself in the strange world of his dreams from before. He was not alone, as right in front of him stood two grown women. It was a fairy woman with feathered wings clothed in pink and a Halcandrian woman dressed in her white and silver robes belonging to her culture.

When Kirby saw them, he brightened. He wanted to call out a cheery greeting, but the serious atmosphere of the meeting seemed to catch the words in his throat. Still, the strong feeling of kinship and comradery were enough to convey his excitement.

Stellara spoke first. "Kirby, I thank you for your actions. Because of you, the beast Zero will forever be locked in the Tartarus Dimension, to the place of punishment assigned to him. No longer will he ever be able to harm another soul, and the source of his evil, the wicked Master Crown, had been locked away with him."

"I thank you also," Tchicalda said. Her voice was high and sweet, and Kirby enjoyed listening to it. "You have protected my people, and saved my own descendants personally. The planet of Halcandra, and the Royal House in particular, owes you a debt that will not be easily paid."

Kirby beamed at the praise. He was overjoyed to be with other Guardians, though he didn't quite understand what was being told to him.

The Halcandrian queen, however, was not finished. "You have now finished the defeate of Zero, and soon you will defeat your own enemy. The battle will not be easy, though, and you will have to hold strong to bring your foe to justice. Do not lose heart, young one. Allow others to help you, but acknowledge that in the end, this quest is yours and yours alone."

"Know that every step of the way, we will be with you," Stellara added. "Here, in the Unity of the Guardians, we who have come before you, are watching you and lending you our strength. Even when the time seems bleakest, all will not be lost unless you give into despair."

"It is now time for you to return," the fairy woman stated. She and her companion both raised and arm. "Go, and face the challenges that are coming your way." The whole area then dissolved into a bright light.

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When he woke up, Kirby realized he was lying in a bed. There were people running here and there in the room, and there were other beds one all sides of the room.

He didn't have too much time to process this, though, since as soon as he was awake, a call turned his attention. "Kirby! You're alright! Thank goodness!"

The little one turned to look at who was speaking, and he saw it was Ribbon. She was lying in the bed next to his, and though she looked somewhat weak, she who whole, alive, and clearly not possessed anymore.

Without waiting a moment, Kirby hurried out of his own bed and floated over to his friend's. "Wibbon! You 'kay!" he exclaimed with joy as he hugged her.

The fairy laughed and returned the hug. "We sure are. Thanks to you, Magolor and I were saved from the possession. It was a horrible experience, but we're alright now."

"Uggh, speak for yourself, kid," Magolor commented. He was lying in a bed on the other side of the infirmary room, and it was clear he was feeling worse for wear. "You aren't feeling cuts and bruises in limbs you no longer have."

"Mag'lo' 'kay, too!" Kirby commented with cheer. "We go home now."

"Well, not quite." In a nearby chair, Bandanna Dee was sitting with his spear in his lap. "The Halberd is down for the count at the moment, which means that until we can figure out how long it will take to get the ship fixed, we'll have to stay here."

"The ship was broken?" Ribbon asked.

The Waddle Dee nodded. "Sir Meta Knight is in council with the heads of the Star Warriors and the emperor right now. They're discussing what the losses were from the battle, as well as how we're going to deal with the coming trip back."

"Losses?" Ribbon expression became dismayed when she heard the words. "We didn't…you know…"

"There have been deaths, if that is what you are asking," Jualon said as he and the others entered the room, "but no, it was not your fault. It cannot be called your fault when you had no choice in the matter."

"Those who were killed or injured were harmed because of Zero and no one else," Viatal added. He moved over to a bed where an unconscious Halcandrian woman lay. "The pain he caused will linger, but it will fade with time. Now that the beast responsible for this damage has been defeated once and for all, good, honest folk can rest once again."

"Now, we have other business to attend to," Sir Arthur stated. "So you know, we will be staying on Halcandra for a few weeks. This will allow our injured to recuperate and damages to be repaired."

"The destruction done to Volcron will make it impossible for inhabitance for a long time," the emperor added, "but there are many cities who will assist in the rebuilding."

"We will help as well," Meta Knight agreed. "We will stay and rebuild until the Halberd is ready for the return trip to Dreamland. Until then, those who are not injured will attend to the repairs."

"For now, though, rest," Jualon said, motioning to the beds. "Especially you, young Kirby. The great help you have given us will be remembered for generations. You have earned your rest."

Kirby nodded and started back to his bed. Halfway there, however, he paused as a grumbling came from his stomach. Looking back up, he turned to Meta Knight. "Uh, can Kaabii haf snack?"

Hearing this, every adult in the room laughed. "Yes, I do suppose you have earned that as well," his father responded.

"Come, my friends. The Kitchens should have something laid out for you," Jualon said as they turned to leave the room.

To be continued…


	99. Patchwork Unity, Part One

"Come, men! We've almost got it!" Kit Cosmos shouted out. He was standing at the head of a troop of construction workers, who were hard at work pulling up an artificial pillar for the rebuilt city of Volcrona. "Where almost there! Once this is up, the ground layers can start building the roof of this place and make this city inhabitable again!"

It had been almost a full month since the attack Zero had made on the city. In the meanwhile, the people of Halcandra, along with the help of the Star Warriors and the Children of Erran, had been hard at work in rebuilding their city and their lives.

That work had done much, as in that month, Volcrona had been rebuilt past its former glory. The business center had been reconstructed bright, shining colors, and the homes were now built with a sturdier form of architecture to them. The palace, which had always been the crowning jewel of the city, was now reconstructed to act as a beacon to the whole area. Furthermore, all of the structures were given better evacuation system and defenses, in case such an emergency ever happened again.

With all that work done, all that was left was to make sure the city was buried once again. The harsh surface atmosphere of Halcandra made it the area inhospitable for long periods of time without protective suits. As such was the case, false columns were set up to support a new ceiling while new columns were grown over them.

At that moment, most of the columns had already been set up. The troops at work in the cave were setting up the last few of the needed pillars, and soon their work would be finished.

"The city is looking finer than before," Jualon said with a tone of pride in his voice. He, Sir Arthur, Sir Meta Knight, and Sir Ebrum were surveying the city, and the beauty of the region could not be denied. "It is all thanks to your assistance, my friends."

"We have much to thank you for as well, your highness," Sir Arthur said. "After all, without the help of the Halcandrian engineers, we would not have been able to get the Halberd back to its former glory. Because of your help, we will be able to undertake our trip home very soon."

"That leads me to another topic," Jualon stated. He motioned for the others to follow him into the palace as he explained.

"As you know," the Halcandrian ruler began, "when the attack happened, it happened so fast and all of a sudden that all other events were driven from my mind. As such, I had completely forgotten that a mere week and a half from now, there will be an important meeting of planets to renew the agreement between our worlds, the Multi-universal Unity Agreement."

"I have never heard if this Multi-universal Unity Agreement," Meta Knight commented.

"I wouldn't expect you had," Jualon said with a nod. "The MUA never really expanded its boarder past this Galaxy. However, considering all the trouble that has come to our universe, it has been decided to join with the Gamble Galaxy as well. The gather-leaders of your universe have agreed, and it decided that your meeting and ours would join. It was hoped that Pop Star would be represented by you and your wife, Sir Ebrum, and Ripple Star would be represented by Lady Ribbon."

"I can speak for myself and my wife when I say that we would be honored to attend, your highness," Sir Ebrum replied. "However, there needs to be contact with Queen Soleena over the addition of Ripple Star, and it is too far away to make contact by radio."

"True, but it would not be too hard to make contact from the meeting center of the newly decided upon meeting place," Jualon replied. "Musean is too far for us, but thankfully there is a place with an intensely powerful communication core there. It is close and can be used to contact any planet in the universe, though it is too bulky to make mobile."

After a moment of thought, Arthur smiled. "My men would also be honored to come," he stated. "The Halberd is almost finished in repairs. We can come with you to this meeting and then continue our journey to Pop Star."

"Excellent," the emperor replied. "A fleet of Halcandrian vessels will come as well."

"If you don't mind me asking," Meta Knight put in, "what planet are we going to? As you have said, Musean is a rather far distance from here."

"Oh, forgive my forgetfulness," Jualon replied. "I should have mentioned that beforehand. Our journey will take us to a small planet located on the edge of your Gamble Galaxy, the planet of Patch Land."

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"So, we're going to Patch Land instead of Musean?" Tiff asked. She, along with the other children, were helping to load supplies into the many ships that were to undertake the trip. One such ship was the Lor Starcutter, which was the ship they were aboard at the moment.

"Indeed," the Starcutter answered. "It is a proud and ancient culture. It is of no surprise that such an important meeting is being held there."

"But you've gotta admit," Tuff commented as he set a box down in the cargo hold, "Patch Land's kind of a funny name."

"It is not," the ship replied, and there was a tone of annoyance in her voice. "Like I said, Patch Land has a very long, proud culture to uphold. The name comes from the fact that the many lands of the planet resemble patchwork when viewed from space. Why, when I went into my long sleep, the planet was ruled over by the great King Coatton, victor of the great Fleecite War. His descendants, Aragyle, Crochetya, and their son Fluffip, are still in power today, and it is likely they will open the workings with a grand feast."

At the word "feast," Kirby popped up. "Fea't?" he asked. "Kaabii wike fea't! Kaabii wanna go!"

"Do not worry, young one," the Starcutter replied. "As you are the newest Guardian, it is highly unlikely that they would leave you out of the festivities. You will have your place at the feast."

"Poyay!" the little Puffal exclaimed, and he slumped back in delight against one of the boxes. He could already taste all the goodies that would be right there for the taking.

"Hey! You kids almost finished in there?" The three kids turned when they heard Magolor call. "We've gotta be shoving off soon, and your parents want you on the Halberd."

"Just about!" Tiff called back. "Come on, guys, we'd better hurry. Bye, Lor! See you at Patch Land!"

"Indeed, I hope to speak with you there," the ship replied.

Out in the launch bay, everything was a buzz as everyone got ready for the takeoff. Along with the Halberd and the Lor Starcutter, six Halcandrian vessels were going to be making the trip from Halcandra to Patch Land. Most of those who had come aboard the Halberd would be traveling in that ship, and while the Lor was capable of piloting herself, she would be receiving assistance from several Halcandrian pilots, including Magolor.

The Emperor would be the only member of the royal house traveling to the meeting, and he would be aboard the crown of the Halcandrian fleet, the Cygnet. As such, he was standing outside the ship giving instructions to Viatal, who would be governing over Halcandra until his return.

"Now remember," he stated, "no matter how eager you are, be slow in allowing people to return to Volcron once the construction has been finalized. It would do no good for the newly rebuilt city to be destroyed once again because it was overwhelmed before its time."

"I know, father," Vital said with a smile. "I have no desire to see New Volcron fail. Besides, if I do anything reckless, you can be guaranteed Mirita will be the first to correct me."

"I merely wish to see everything come back together without anymore loss," the Halcandrian woman said, a slight scold in her voice. She then smiled. "Still, everything has come together wonderfully, even when I was absent because of my injury. Everything should turn out well."

"I trust that the both of you will make certain of that," Jualon said with an approving nod.

At that moment, Sir Arthur and Sir Heavy Knight were passing by on their way to the Halberd. Seeing them, Jualon waved them down. "Ah! Would you two mind coming here for a word before we leave?"

Hearing the call, the Puffal and Boxin turned their course to join the Halcandrians. "Is everything alright?" Arthur asked as they approached.

Jualon nodded. "Indeed, everything is quite well. I just wanted to have a quick word with you before we boarded our ships."

The emperor then dismissed Viatal and Mirita before going to speak with the Star Warriors. "As you know," he said once the three of them were alone, "my nephew Magolor will be assisting in the piloting of the Lor Starcutter."

"Indeed," Heavy Knight said. "I did not know he had skills as a pilot, but I'll admit that I do not really know him that well."

"He is average, but has enough to work with a ship, especially one who is capable of piloting herself," the emperor replied. "However, there is another reason that I have assigned him to that ship." He took a deep breath before continuing. "You are aware that Magolor is a fugitive from Halcandra, correct?"

The two nodded. "Meta Knight told me that he had a record," Heavy Knight said. "I suppose it makes sense it would have started on his home world."

"Well, I'm afraid that punishment still stands," Jualon went on. "He was banished for direct disobedience to the previous emperor, my grandfather, which ended in destruction outdone only by what had been done by the Distorts. He was not, and will not, be punished for this return, as that was the doing of Dark Matter and not of Magolor's own choice, but the punishment still stands. He has done nothing to have the banishment waved, and once he leaves Halcandra, he is not to return."

"Understood," Sir Arthur said with a nod. "Now, what does this have to do with us? Or the fact that he will be traveling on the Lor Starcutter?"

"That would be because she is going to return to Dreamland with you," the Halcandrian answered. "On her own insistence, she will be accompanying you back to Stormholt, where she will stay to assist the Guardian."

"She will be more than welcome there," the Puffal answered. "I suppose this means she will need someone to assist in her flight on the way back?"

"And since all of my men will be returning to Halcandra once the meeting is finished, it seemed like the best option to have the one person who will also be going back to Pop Star." Jualon gave a small, bashful smile. "I hope this doesn't feel like I am asking you to take on my responsibility."

Here Heavy Knight gave a laugh and patted the Halcandrian on the back. "Not at all! That rascal was serving time back in Pop Star when the Distort took him. It would seem wrong not to take him back to finish his sentence."

"Very well." Jualon sighed and turned to head to the Cygnet. "It saddens me that it has to be like this. His mother was my only sister, but the law is quite clear. Until he has done something that redeems him past the damage he has caused, he cannot be welcomed back here."

"It is the burden of those who have authority," Sir Arthur said, placing a paw on the emperor's shoulder. "I know that weight well myself."

Giving a smile, the Halcandrian motioned towards the ship. "Come. Those who have gathered at Patch Land will not wait for us forever. Let us be on our way!"

"Let us," Arthur replied with a nod. "I haven't been there in years."

By now, most of the ships were loaded and ready to rise in the air. Only the last few people needed to board their assigned vessels, and then they began their launch. Many Halcandrian citizens gathered for miles around and observed the launch.

What a launch it was! The Halberd was no doubt the largest vessel, dwarfing even the Cygnet, which was its closest rival. All around both ships, a dozen smaller ships flew around the sides, guiding the behemoths on their way. At the lead was the Lor Starcutter, looking downright pixie-like in front of the huge vehicles. None the less, none could question why she had been sent to take the lead, since her star let off a bright, easy to follow light.

As soon as all the vehicles were in the air, the Starcutter turned her nose in the direction of Patch Land and sped off. She was followed by the smaller ship, and finally, the Halberd and Cygnet raced off in the direction. Before long, all were out of sight, and all the people of Halcandra could see was the multitude of stars.

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The trip to Patch Land went by without any incident. It was not a long trip, only about a day or so, and since nothing happened to stall or pause their journey, they were able to make it to the world in a pleasant amount of time.

By the time the trip finally reached its conclusion, things had begun to be rather rote. Everyone had their schedule, and since time couldn't be told by the sun in space, it was told by what you were doing. Such a schedule meant that everything was efficient, but at times, it was also boring.

When they finally arrived in Patch Land's space, it was one of Kirby's favorite time of the habit-day: second breakfast. He was seated in his room, scarfing down an amount of fruit that the kitchen workers had given him to get him to leave, when he heard an amount of noise in the hallways outside. Inhaling to finish off the rest of the fruit, he hurried to his door to figure out what was going on.

Outside his door, it was chaos. People were hurrying this way and that, some barking orders, others filling them out. Nothing in this huge rush was clear to the little one. As such, he scanned the hub-bub, hoping to find someone who might slow down long enough to give him an explination on what was happening.

He finally found his aid when he recognized Ado, Lololo, and Lalala, who were hurrying by. Waving his paws, he rushed to catch up to them. "Hey, wait!" he called out. "What goin' on? Wait fo' Kaabii!"

Hearing his call, the twins turned around and caught the little one's paws, pulling him along with them. "Haven't you heard?" Lalala asked while they flew. "We've made it to Patch Land!"

"We're going to the bridge right now so we can get a look before we land," Lololo added.

"Ohhhh," Kirby said, realizing just what that meant. "Kaabii wanna see, too!"

"Don't worry," Ado said with a laugh as she ran alongside. "We're going to get a good view."

When they reached the bridge, there really wasn't any place for the kids on the ground, since all the adults were hard at work preparing for the landing. Thankfully, there were several balcony levels that were open, allowing them to stay above the chaos of the decent and still get a good view of the planet below them.

And what a view it was! Patch Land was like no planet they had ever seen before! Just as the name suggested, the planet was split into seven equally sized patches. The patches were brightly colored, and each area hinted at what the environment was like. There was a purple area that seemed to be focused on technological pursuits, as it has ships and vehicles zooming along the surface. Next to the purple patch was a white patch that was filled with snow and trees. By that patch was a yellow and blue patch, where the planet's single ocean and islands were. Its neighbor was a bright pink patch, and the whole area had a look of cakes and other goodies to it. Nearby, an orange and red patch sat, filled with desert sand and active volcanoes. Unexpectedly, the patch next to that one was bright green and was filled with lush, vibrant plant life. Finally, the last patch was filled with so many bright colors that no one could be pinned down, and over it all, a bright red and white castle loomed in the skyline.

The kids looked on in rapt amazement, and Kirby focused hard in particular on the cake-like land. "We go t'ewe?" he asked, pointing out to that patch. "It wook good."

By that point, the remainder of their group had gathered at the window and gotten a good look at their destination. Hearing the question, Tiff laughed and patted the toddler on the head. "It does look good," she agreed, "but I think we're headed to the patch with the castle."

"Oh," Kirby said, giving a look of disappointment. The palace didn't look nearly as fun as the giant cake overlooking the pink land.

"I wouldn't feel too bad," Tuff commented. "I'm sure they'll have plenty of snacks there. After all, the Lor Starcutter did say that a feast was likely."

"Yay!" the little one exclaimed, as the idea of a feast cheered him immensely.

They continued the decent, coming closer and closer to the planet's surface. As they got closer, the sheer immensity of the palace struck them. The courtyard was huge, housing shops, houses, ponds, and even a park. It was like someone had built a wall around Cappy Town, though the village was even bigger than the one in Dreamland.

Nestled on the side of one wall was a landing area, which already had several ships on it. The Halberd was too big to land on that area, but the other ships headed in that direction. As they passed to go to a meadow outside the wall that would be more amenable to the battle ship's size, the passengers could see the other ships that were already sitting on the pad.

Kirby's heart skipped a beat as he spotted one of the ships. "It t'e Bastwon!" he exclaimed, jumping up with joy. "It t'e Bastwon! Ehwine gon' be hewe!"

"Maybe," Ribbon replied with a smile. "Emperor Jualon did say that Musean does come and interact with the meeting. Maybe Elline is here."

By now, they had come in for a full landing and the exiting hatch had been opened up. With the prospect of seeing a friend again clear in his mind, Kirby rushed to the door and hurried out. He was so eager to get out that he initially didn't watch his footing, and nearly as soon as he got off of the ship, he was sent sprawling on the green.

This led the little one to make an interesting discovery about the nature of the planet. The ground didn't feel like the ground he was used to on Pop Star, or even like what they had experience on Halcandra. He lay down flat on his tummy for a moment, just running his paws over the ground.

He was still in this position when the others caught up to him. "Kirby, are you alright?" Adeliene asked, moving in to help the little Puffal to his feet.

"T'is gwass fee' funny," he said, not turning his eyes away from the turf. "It fee' wike…pants."

"I see you're getting used to the unique feel of Patch Land," a man called out, and the newly arrived turned to see who had spoken. It was a man who appeared to have a shape similar to that of a Puffal. However, the resemblance ended there. He was round and appeared to be made of grey yarn, with a large black mustache (also made of yarn) and a pair of large, button-like eyes. He didn't appear to have arms or legs to speak of, and he moved in a series of hops.

"Excuse me," the man said to those who were leaving the ship. "Is one of you Sir Arthur of the Star Warriors?"

"That would be me," the green Puffal said, approaching the man.

"Pleased to meet you," the man exclaimed, holding out one side of his mustache in much the way one would a hand. "My name is Dom Woole, and I am the landlord for the living quarters in Patch Castle village. I was sent by King Aragyle and Queen Crochetya to welcome you here."

"We were more than glad to come," Arthur responded, hesitatingly shaking the mustache. "I'm sorry to tell you that it might be a while before we're all ready to enter in; there are quite a lot of us here."

"That's no problem," Dom said, making a gesture with his mustache. "We can leave the gate open for the others. Their royal highness's are quite eager to meet you, though. They became even more eager when they heard from Emperor Jualon that the Guardian was with you."

"We would be honored to meet them," the Puffal replied.

He then turned to Sir Galahad, who had been standing alongside. "Please keep watch over the work here and then bring everyone in when the preparations are finished."

Galahad gave a salute and turned to do his work. At the same time, Arthur motioned for Meta Knight to join him. "Mr. Woole," the green Puffal said, "this is Sir Meta Knight. He is one of our most trusted knights, and he is also the father of the Guardian, a young squire named Kirby."

"It is an honor to meet you," Meta Knight said with a polite bow.

The yarn man returned the gesture. "The honor is all mine, and please, call me Dom."

"Very well," the blue knight responded. He then turned to his son, who was still getting used to the planet's unique texture. "Kirby, come along. We must go to meet the king and queen."

Hearing the call, Kirby turned and hurried to follow. The other kids trailed along as well, eager to keep up with those hurrying inside.

In all the hubbub, no one noticed a yarn man standing behind a felt bolder a distance off. He was less knit together than Dom Woole was, with a semicircle body and a large button eye. He was also wearing a large green hat and had knitting needles in each hand. The knitting needles had a unique look to them as well. They both had faces carved on their heads to look like the faces of cats, and one had a pair of spikes shaped in the form of a pair of ears, while the other had a single horn on the top of its head.

"So, the king and queen have guests arriving at the palace?" he mused aloud. "They look like important guests, too. This could be just the opportunity we were looking for."

The knitting needle with the two ears moved suddenly, leaning toward the man and whispering something to him. "Huh, what is that, Knit?" the man asked, responding to the needle. "I didn't quite make that out."

The needle shook its head and leaned forward before whispering again. This time, the man heard, and he nodded at the statement. "Yes, I knew that this was the MUA, I'm not an idiot. While everyone's busy with the meeting, we can go in and steal all the food off of the ship!" He laughed at the plan, certain of its brilliance. "If they want to have any food for the return trips, they'll have to bow to the whims of me, the great and powerful Yin-Yarn!"

The knitting needled gave a look of annoyance at hearing that plan, and the one with the single horn whispered to Yin-Yarn.

"What do you mean that's a stupid plan?!" the man asked with indignation. "This is the most wonderful plan ever!"

The needle rolled its eyes and leaned in to whisper again. When he heard what was said, the man sighed. "Yes, I know, Purl, but really, this time its going to work! Well, yeah, it didn't work last time…or the time before that…or that one time with the girl scouts…"

The first knitting needle lost its patience here and gave him a head butt. Startled by it, Yin-Yarn jumped back. "Hey! What was that for?!"

Now having their opportunity, Knit and Purl leaned in and began to explain their plan to him. While the wizard was still upset that his food hostage plan had been ignored, the portions of the new plan did interest him.

Once he got the jist of it, Yin-Yarn gave a broad grin. "Yes, that's it! That the best plan ever! I'm so glad I thought of it."

Ignoring this looks of annoyance in his knitting needle's faces, he turned to the now nearly empty Halberd. "With this plan, I'll have mastery over all the planets that participate in the MUA! No one will be higher than me every again!" He then began cackling at his own plan.

A distance off, two of the last GSA members, a Puffal and a Boxin, were leaving the ship and heading into the palace. As they left, the mad cackle caught their attention.

"Huh," the Boxin muttered. "What's he laughing at?"

"Maybe he read a good joke book," the Puffal responded with a shrug. Without another word, they headed in.

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After making their way through the large gates, the newcomers came into the main square of Patch Castle village. At the moment, the whole place was abuzz with activity, as everyone was out mingling in the square. There were a lot of yarn people. A few of them looked like Dom Woole, but it seemed that the yarn people came in just about every shape and form imaginable. There were other people there as well. The Halcandrians had already left their ships and were out and about, and there were people from an assortment of other worlds to be seen everywhere. Add in that shops were all around, offering samples for the passersby to try, it all made for an exciting, almost overwhelming experience.

All of this was very exciting to the youngest members of the Star Warriors. Near immidately, they hurried around, getting looks at the market, the newcomers, and the sights of the village.

Everything was in such excitement that Kirby almost didn't notice it when his name was called out. "Kaabii! Hi!"

He looked up just in time to see Elline, who was waving to him. Without any moment's pause, he began returning the gesture with enthusiasm. "Ehwine! Hiii, Ehwine!" The little one then took to his paws and began running to his friend's side.

When he reached where the fairy girl was hovering, he reached out an hugged her close. "Hiii, Ehwine!" he exclaimed. "Kaabii miss'd yew wot!"

"I miss'd yew too!" Elline returned. She broke off the hug and took his paw. "Kaabii wanna go pway inna f'untin?" She pointed off to a fountain in the middle of the courtyard.

"Yeah!" the little one said with a bright nod. "Wet's go!"

As they rushed off to play, the adults followed after Dom Woole to the palace. "When we heard that you would be arriving, the king and queen were very excited," their guide commented as they got closer to the palace. "After all, it had been believed that the Star Warriors had been destroyed by Nightmare. It was a great relief to find that those rumors were not true."

"They almost had been," Sir Arthur stated. "After the destruction, it seemed that only Sir Meta Knight had survived it. Slowly, though, it more and more of us began to appear. We are still not quite the force we used to be, but it was a great joy to discover than even a small amount of our number is still around."

They soon arrived at the hall of the great castle. Inside, the rulers of many planets were talking to each other in a more casual setting. When the doors opened, all turned to see who the newcomers.

The reaction to the arrivals varied. Some, such as Emperor Jualon and Crown Princess Claycia, were already aware of the Star Warrior's survival and travels, and thus were not surprised by the arrival, though they were happy to see them there. Others, such as the High chieftain of Pippi and the ruler of Neo Star, had assumed the Star Warriors were still dead, and thus the sudden appearance caused a great stir.

"My good knights," Dom Woole said, motioning to the head of the room, "I am pleased to introduce you to their highnesses, King Aragyle and Queen Crochetya, of Patch Land, as well as their heir, Prince Fluffip."

As the introductions were being given, the royal family came closer. Aragyle was a larger yarn man with a jolly face, who was dressed in a long red robe. Crochetya was smaller than her husband and had a plump, pleasant look to her, and had a scepter shaped like a crochet hook in one hand. Their son, Fluffip, was built differently from his parents, having a build not unlike that of a Puffal, though he shared the same look to his eyes as his parents. All three were wearing gold crowns, as would be expected of their station.

When they came close, Aragyle let out a cheerful laugh. "Sir Arthur! I might had supposed you would be one of the survivors." He gave the Puffal a bear hug in greeting. "It's good to see you alive and well, my friend!"

"As it is to see you," Arthur replied. "Why, the last time I was here, I was still a knave and you a prince."

"Times have changed indeed," the yarn man said as he set the Puffal down. "I am pleased that you have decided to participate in the MUA." He then turned and motioned to his family. "I trust you remember my wife, Crochetya?"

"Indeed," the Puffal replied, giving a bow. "It is good to see you again, my lady."

"Likewise," the woman said giving a curtsy. "It was a great relief to learn of your survival."

She then motioned to her son, who has been standing quietly and observing the adults talking. "This is our son, Fluffip."

Responding to the introduction, the boy stepped forward and bowed. "It is an honor to meet you, sir knights."

"The honor is all ours," Sir Arthur replied. He then turned and motioned to Meta Knight. "This is Sir Meta Knight, one of our most honored warriors."

"And something of far more importance, I have heard," Aragyle said, and his voice grew serious. "Is it true, sir knight, that you are the father of the newest Guardian?"

"I am, your highness," the warrior responded. He stepped closer and bowed deeply. "I trust that you have already been informed of the situation by Emperor Jualon."

"We have," Crochetya replied with a nod. She lowered her voice. "With your permission, sir knight, we would like to bring up young Kirby's position during the meeting of the representatives."

"You have my permission," Meta Knight responded, "but may I ask why it would be a topic of interest?"

"It is a matter that should be known, at least to those who had worlds to defend," Aragyle responded. "The coming of a Guardian always happens after a Distort has escaped from the Tartarus Dimention, sometimes even years after. If young Kirby has shown on multiple occasions, as I have heard he has, that he is the Guardian, than it also means that there is a Distort that is on the loose."

"There is," Sir Arthur stated, "and it is none other than the beast who had previously cause out downfall: the monster Nightmare. I suppose he had some inkling that the Guardian was going to come from our ranks, and he sought to stop us before that could happen."

"This is grave news," the king of Patch Land said, "but we should save the details for when everyone is all together. Now, I have heard that the leaders of the Dreamlander tribe are also here, as are their heirs. I was hoping they would be able to attend as well."

"Memu and Parm will join us very soon," Meta Knight answered, "and their children, Fumu and Bun, are close friends of Kirby's I believe that they will be outside with him."

"Fluff," Crochetya said, turning to her son, "would you mind going out and calling the other children in?"

"Yes, ma'am," the boy replied. "I'll return once I've found them." With that, he hurried off to go find the other youngsters.

To be continued…

 


	100. Patchwork Unity, Part Two

As it was a warm summer day, it was not an unusual sight to see the Patch Castle Village fountain full of youngsters who were splashing around to cool off. By the time Kirby and Elline had made it to the structure, there were already children, both native to Patch Land and those who had accompanied their families for the meeting. They were pretty much all younger children, around the same age as the duo. Of course, this was only positive, since it meant that there were a lot of people to play with.

It didn't take long for Kirby to inhale and copy and amount of the water (even though, like the grass, there was something different about the water), and he began using the ability to send out sprays of water everywhere, splashing his companions and forming rainbows in the process.

As such, it also didn't take too long for the other Star Warrior children to join them. "Kirby! There you are," Ado called out, leading the group up to the fountain. "You need wait for us."

Hearing the call but missing the slight scold, the little one waved. "Come on!" he called out, waving so hard he almost dropped his water crown. "It fun!" He then looked down, letting out a spray of water that jetted him up into the air, sending droplets out everywhere.

"Kaabii! No spwash!" Elline said with a laugh.

Seeing the fun, Lololo, Lalala, Tuff, Adeliene, and Ado jumped in to join. Tiff, however, hung back and walked over to a tree.

"Hey, aren't you guys going to come?" Tuff asked when he noticed they hadn't come.

"Nah, you have fun though," Tiff replied. She sat with her back against a tree and began rummaging around in a bag she had brought. "I think I'll just read."

The boy shrugged at her response. "Alright, but you'll be missing out!" he called before going to join in the water fight.

"Sure, I will," the blonde responded. She then turned to the book, and she had been reading for a good fifteen minutes when she was shaken from her story by a question. "Excuse me, miss, but would that happen to be a Winds of Aradaylia book?"

Tiff was slightly annoyed by her reading being interrupted, but this was mitigated by the question being about the story. "Yep," she answered as she set in her book mark. "This one's Spring Breeze, the fourth book in the series." She then looked up to see who it was that was speaking to her.

In front of her was a yarn boy, who by the sound of his voice appeared to be about her age. He had a shape not unlike that of a Puffal, though his eyes had more defined pupils, and he was wearing a gold crown on his head.

The boy then gave a bow. "Please excuse my rudeness in interrupting you, but since that is not a Patch Land book series, it is rare to find someone else who has an interest in it."

"Don't worry about it," Tiff replied with a friendly smile. "It's always great to find someone else who is a fan. My name's Tiffany Ebrum, by the way, but most people call me Tiff."

"Welcome, Miss Tiff," the boy replied. "My name is Fluffip, but only my parents call me that. Most others call me Fluff."

"Fluff?" the blonde repeated, and the sudden recognition of who she was speaking to hit her. "Wait a minute! Are you Prince Fluffip? As in, the prince of Patch Land?"

"Indeed," Fluff responded. He gave a slight, awkward smile. "I prefer Prince Fluff if formality is necessary, though it still sounds uptight. In most cases, though, just Fluff will work."

"Now," he went on, "I happen to be on an errand. Would you happen to know where Kirby, Fumu, and Bun are? It has been requested that they come to join the meeting."

"Huh?" Tiff asked, still reeling from the surprise. She recovered quickly. "Oh! Yes, right. Actually, that would be me. Fumu, I mean." She gave an uneasy laugh, not used to feeling quite this awkward. "That's my Dreamlander name. Tiff's just my common tongue name."

"I see," the prince replied with a nod. "I had heard that was the tradition, but I have never met a Child of Erran before. I suppose Bun would be your brother than." He gestured over to the fountain, where the lone Dreamlander participating in the water fight could be plainly seen.

"Oh, yeah, that's him," the blonde answered. "I'll call him and Kirby over."

Standing up, she cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hey, Tuff, Kirby! Come on over here!"

The boys paused for a moment and glanced over. Kirby moved first, dropping his copy ability and hurrying over to where the two older children were standing. Tuff eventually came too, though he took his good sweet time in doing so.

"What do you want, sis?" the Dreamlander boy asked. "We were in the middle of a big war, and I'd like to get back to it."

"Kirby, Tuff," Tiff said, motioning over to her companion, "this is Prince Fluff. He had requested that we come with him to the main meeting."

"Wait a minute, you're the prince?" Tuff asked, looking over the yarn boy. "But you don't look any older than me. How do we know that's who you really are?"

"Tuff," Tiff groaned. "You know age doesn't matter what it comes to titles."

Fluff, however, was not as put off by the other boy's behavior as Tiff had feared. "I can understand your caution," he replied with an easygoing tone, "but I assure you that is only because that is how my species ages. I will look very different by the time I hit my growth spurt."

"Now," he continued, changing the topic back to the reason he had come, "my mother and father intended to open the first of the meetings soon, and they have requested that the three of you join us for the opening ceremonies."

"Aww, do we have to? Things were just getting good," Tuff groaned, and Kirby let out a whimper of agreement.

Tiff was about to get frustrated again, but the prince took hold of the situation fast. "Don't worry, this meeting is merely for the opening ceremonies. It never takes longer than half an hour, and they never want us children around for the longer meetings anyway. There will be time for relaxation later."

"Alright," the Dreamlander boy said, "but this better not be some sort of trick."

"I assure you, it is not," Fluff stated. "I find these meetings as tedious as you do, as necessary as they are. Of course, the boredom can be mitigated by the company you keep. Now," he said, offering Tiff his hand, "shall I show you where the main meeting hall is?" With that, the four children hurried in to join the adults.

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Out in the village, Yin-Yarn was doing his very best to stealthily tag the newcomers. As stealthily as a brightly colored man in a giant hat to feels the need to narrate his own actions can, that is.

"Yes! They have no idea I'm here!" he exclaimed. "Now, all I need to do is figure out which one I'll need to take hostage to get my way into the meeting!" He sat down and thought hard, racking his mind for a vague image of the perfect hostage to appear. "Now, he should probably be someone important, but not too important, or else people will know he's missing. Some high level knight, or a duke, or a baron, or-"

He was cut off as Dedede came marching through the area, running right into him. "Hey, watch where you're going, road hog!" the Pengu snapped. He then marched off, muttering under his breath.

"What bad manners he has," Yin-Yarn frowned. "I can't abide bad manners."

He was about to turn and leave when he heard another voice pipe up, and this one intrigued him. "Your highness, please wait up!" Bandanna Dee called out. The Waddle Dee was struggling to keep up with the Pengu, carrying armloads of large bags. "Aren't we supposed to be helping bring the supplies in?"

"We are," Dedede stated in a matter-of-fact voice. "You've got all that, and I'm absolutely at the limit with this." He motioned to a small, half-empty bag of food hanging on one arm. "This should be plenty; the others can take care of the rest."

"If you're so sure, your highness," the Dee said with a sigh. "Wait, wasn't that bag full when we left the ship?"

As he watched, a broad grin spread across Yin-Yarns face. "Why, the personal servant of a king!" he stated to Knit and Purl in what he was sure was a hushed whisper. "That would be the greatest of choices for a hostage! He would have access to many of the areas that no one else would, and he's so low and commonplace that no one would notice if he got replaced or went missing! It's brilliant, I tell you! Brilliant!" He let out a bout of loud laughter, completely missing the looks of annoyance on the two knitting needles' faces.

"Now, all I need to do is figure out the best way to get him! But first, I need to make my getaway before anyone notices me." With that, he tossed down a pellet, which exploded into a burst of brightly colored yarns as he ran away, giggling like a mad man.

At a nearby stand, a Dreamlandian soldier was buying some food from a yarn woman. He glanced over and motioned to the pile of yarn. "What was that all about?"

"Oh, him?" the woman stated as she packaged the soldier's food. "That's just old Yin-Yarn, the town crazy." She gave a laugh. "He fancies himself a major villain, but he's never done anything worse than petty vandalism. Why, he even started running around with those stupid knitting needles about a week ago, and he's taken to talking to them! You can ignore him; it's just easier."

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By the time the children arrived in the main council chamber, most of the other deligates were already in place. They were all seated around a huge, column-like screen, which took up the middle of the room. The seats were placed stadium-style, so that all who were present could view without much difficulty.

The seating structures had hierarchy built into them. The variety of kings, queens, emperor, empresses, and the occasional president was seated in the first two rows. Sir Arthur was there as well, since he was the head of the Star Warriors. Behind them, in the next five rows, sat the important nobles. Dukes, adult princes and princesses, duchesses, senators, and council members sat in these rows. Finally, child members and servants sat in the highest five rows.

As they were making their way in to one of the upper rows, the adults had just finished speaking with Stellara. "…and so, you see, your majesty," King Aragyle finished up, "we would be honored if the Princess Ribbon would be able to stand in for Ripple Star in the meeting."

"I would be an honor to have such representation," the fairy queen said with a nod. "If it is her will, then you have my blessing."

"I'll do my best, your highness," Ribbon said, and an amount of anxiety was in her voice. She was the lone child sitting in the front row, since she was the lone representative of Ripple Star, and she clearly looked out of place. However, she was determined to do everything she could to make her world proud of her, so she tried to project an air of confidence.

Hearing the statement, the queen gave a friendly laugh. "I'm sure you will do wonderfully, my dear." With that, the screen turned off.

Once the communications with Ripple Star was finished, Dom Woole stood up. He was only facing one side of the room, but the transmission pillar behind him projected an enlarged image. "Alright, everyone settle down!" he called out. "As you know, I will be acting as the Master of Ceremonies this year. Now, shall we begin by making sure everyone is here?"

He reached behind his back and pulled out a list. One by one, he began listing names off of it, calling out the names of every individual from every planet that needed to be in attendance. From the highest emperor to the servant who would be handing out refreshments, everyone was noted and had to respond.

This portion went on for a good amount of time, and by the time they were finished, Kirby found himself drifting off. Thankfully, he was wakened by the final announcement.

"There!" the yarn man declared, purposefully raising his voice so as to shake up anyone who had started to nap. "Now that we are certain that we are all here, we may begin the business of the meeting!"

"Now," he said, pulling out another list, this one even longer than the last, "we can start with the financial reports from every world, moving alphabetical order. Now, starting with Aalo-"

"Actually, Dom," King Aragyle said, cutting the MC off before he could go one farther, "there is some other business that is more urgent to address. Would you mind pausing for a moment to allow me to introduce that topic?"

The announcer was surprised by the request, but recovered quickly. "Of course, your majesty. Please, take the floor."

Once given the attention, the king of Patch Land stood up and cleared his voice. "My friends," he said, his voice echoing through the chamber, "we have learned a mixture of wonderful and terrible news. Some of you here are aware of what this situation is, and I have been given permission by those who it most directly affects to announce it to you tonight."

His tone then lowered, bearing the gravity of the situation. "My friends, a Distort has escaped from the Tartarus Dimension."

At that announcement, the chamber broke into a variety of responses. Some exclaimed in disbelief, unable to accept those old fairy tales as true. Others began to panic, certain that this was a signal of the coming end of the universe. Others still looked around in confusion, not knowing what a Distort or Tartarus Dimension was, but still unnerved by the reactions of those around them.

They were all halted into silence by the burst of a yarn-flare that had been sent up to near the roof. All eyes turned to see Crochetya, who had her crochet hook high above her head. When all had fallen to silence, she stood straight. "Now everyone, stay calm," she said, a tone of maternal scolding penetrating her voice. "No one will be able to do anything in such chaos. Now, if you wish to speak, please wait until it is your turn to speak."

Her speech now given, she smiled and turned to her husband. "Here you are, dear."

"Thank you, my love," Aragyle replied, giving his wife an approving nod.

Turning back to the crowd, he continued. "Now, I have only just been alerted to this discovery, so I am afraid that I cannot give as much information as you might want. For that purpose, I ask Sir Meta Knight of the Star Warriors to come and give his explination of what is going on."

Meta Knight, who had been seated in the third row of the middle segment, stood up and gave a bow. "Thank you, your highness," he said. He then spread his wings and flew down to take his place at the speaking podium.

"Now," the Puffal stated, "I understand this will not be all that easy to understand, but I suppose we must begin at the start for all to come clear. For those of you who do not understand what is going on, I shall begin with the legend of the Guardians and Distorts…"

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It was late in the afternoon when Bandanna Dee finally got a moment of rest to himself. Of course, after they had left the Halberd, there had been a lot of unpacking and placing the needed objects around their personal living quarters. Almost everyone had done their roles, but there had still been a lot of work. Now that he was free, Bandanna had decided to take a walk in the Garden realm, which was not too far away from the castle town.

It seemed like a rare occasion to the Waddle Dee that he would have a moment to himself, none the less in a place so peaceful and beautiful. Everyone was off doing something else, be it playing, attending that big meeting thingy, or napping off the near three pound of food they had inhaled, so no one was around to request anything of him. Of course, there were a few yarn people who were also in the garden, but they were a distance off and minding their own business. For the most part, it was just him, the breeze, and the relaxing sound of the garden's fountain, and he couldn't be happier.

So, of course, that state of peace wasn't meant to last.

He had been sitting at the edge of a pond, gazing at the little yarn fish swimming within, when he saw the reflection of yarn man approaching him. He prepared to get up to make room for the newcomer when the man ran at him. Before Bandanna knew what happened, he had been shoved into an oversized sock.

"Hey!" he shouted out from inside the sock. "What was that for? Let me out!"

"Ee hee hee!" the man, who was Yin-Yarn, laughed, completely ignoring his captive's cries. "I've got him! Now I just need to sway him to my will, and all my wonderful demands will soon be met!"

"Wait, what?" the Waddle Dee asked. "Sway me to your will? What they heck is going on?"

Once again, Yin-Yarn completely ignored the fact that his hostage could speak. "On, to my wonderful hidden lair!" he exclaimed, and his shouts caused a few of the people around to turn and look. When they saw who it was that was speaking, however, they just shrugged it off and turned back to their business.

After a five-minute trip, they came to a stop and Bandanna Dee was tossed out of the sock. As soon as he was out, however, strands of yarn came out and tied his arms to his sides.

"I have you know, my little serval," Yin-Yarn said, facing Bandanna to gloat. "I have you captive here in my dungeon! Now you must do as I say!"

The Dee was afraid at first, but as he got a look at his surroundings, that fear faded fast. "Dungeon?" he asked. "This looks like someone's attic that was converted into a bedroom. Are you living in your mom's attic?"

The yarn man stood silent for a moment. This wasn't supposed to be how captives react to being kidnapped. "No," he finally said. "I'll have you know this is not my mother's attic. It's my nephew's."

The Waddle Dee gave his captive a look. "You are living with your nephew?"

"Look," Yin-Yarn said, growing more and more annoyed, "after the last couple of yarn-bombing incidents, it was either this or with my mother-in-law, and goodness knows I don't want that."

"But that's not what's important right now," the yarn man said. "What is important is that you, my little captive, are going to give me control of the Star Warriors, and then, the universe!"

"Okay, just a few questions about that plan of yours," Bandanna said. "First of all, how will I give you control of the Star Warriors? I'm not a Star Warrior myself; my brother is, and we kind of look alike, but even so, that wouldn't get you any sway. Sir Arthur is the head of the Star Warriors. Secondly, I'm just a Waddle Dee. How would having me give you the universe? Third, even if I could do all that you apparently think I'm capable of, just how am I supposed to do anything when I'm tied up like this."

"Those are-!" Yin-Yarn declared, but then he paused. "Actually, you know, those actually are some pretty good questions. I'll have to think about answering those later."

"But for now, just don't question those details!" The yarn man sniggered before continuing. "Right now, my orange friend, you will gain me access to the meeting. You are the servant of a king, are you not? That blue tubby one who can barely waddle?"

"Well, yes," the Dee answered, "but he's not so much a ki-"

"Silence, serval!" Yin-Yarn snapped. "Do not dare to talk back to your betters!"

"'Serval?'" Bandanna asked, but his question went ignored.

"Now, you will go to the meeting hall," the wanna-be villain continued, "and from there you will request entry into the hall. Because you are a servant of a king, they will have no choice but to allow you entrance. Once you are inside, you shall open up and entryway for me to get in so that I can take every member there hostage!"

"Alright, first of all," Bandanna said, not believing how stupid his captor was, "there's no way I'll be able to get into that meeting. Like I was trying to say before, King Dedede isn't so much an actual king as some rich guy who earned the loyalty of us Waddle Dees and was rich enough to have a castle built. He's not royalty, he has no authority, and I doubt the MUA council would ever allow him to play a role.

"You lie to try to protect your king!" Yin-Yarn exclaimed. "It is of no matter! I will not believe your untruths!"

The Waddle Dee sighed. "Alright. You don't have to believe me. But even if King Dedede was a member of a council, there's still one gaping hole in your plan: I refuse to do anything."

"Why that's a-wait, did you just say you refuse?" the wizard asked.

"You heard me right," Bandanna replied. "I refuse. Nothing you can do can make me follow your plan."

Yin-Yarn paused for a moment before turning to have a private council with his knitting needles. "Can he do that?" he asked. "I thought captives had to do everything their captors asked."

The two knitting needles sighed and shook their heads. Without saying a word, they sprang out of his hands and started hard at work on something.

"Hey, can I go back now?" Bandanna asked. "I'm kind of hungry."

"You can go when I say you can go!" the wizard snapped back before turning back to the project. "First, you must see my greatest creation!"

He stepped aside when they needles had finished their work, giving Bandanna Dee a clear view of what they had prepared. "As you see," Yin-Yarn said as his prisoner gazed at the construct, "my plan can go on, with or without your cooperation."

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Inside the council room, Meta Knight was finishing his speech about the Guardians and Distorts. "As you all can see," he said, pointing to some video imagery from Kirby's battle with 02 that had been recorded by the Lor Starcutter, "we have no doubt that we are experiencing a time of Guardians and Distorts. We have now even been given a glimpse of the Tartarus Dimension. This is a subject of great importance that must no longer be secret."

"But, Sir Knight," the president of Markelan, a planet of a furry sheep-like race, "we have just seen the footage. Did the young Guardian not already defeat the Distort Zero?"

"He did," Meta Knight said, "but that was not the Distort he was born to defeat. Zero, while a dangerous Distort, was weakened and unable to reach his true amount of power. Even with the Master Crown, his defeat by Kirby's ancestress Stellara left Zero with only a fraction of his power."

"So, do we have any idea of what we're facing here?" a knight from a race of fish people, known as the Pesci, asked. "Are we going into this with no knowledge of what is going on?"

"We do know," the Puffal warrior answered. "The Distort who is the current danger has already been well known, though his identity as a Distort has only been recently discovered. The monster we will have to deal with his Nightmare."

There was a murmuring around the room again as members of the council began to talk among themselves. Despite the din, questions still were thrown left and right at the Puffal.

"Nightmare? But I heard he was already defeated."

"Wasn't that the Nightmare who supposedly caused the 'downfall' of the Star Warriors?"

"Did he every actually attacked a planet? I've never heard anything about any attacks?"

"Nightmare? What's that?"

The clamor went on for a while, but were soon silenced as Meta Knight slammed his gauntlet against the metal side of the podium. As metal clashed against metal, the ringing sound echoed through the room. When all had died down for the moment, the warrior went on.

"I will try to answer the questions I heard to the best of my ability," he stated. "Nightmare is a monstrous warlock who has been terrorizing the universe since the time that many of us, myself included, were only small children. It is true that his tactics do not focus on an initial invasion, but his plans of enslaving people through magical deals has already corrupted entire systems and rendered their planets uninhabitable. He wished to do the same to the Star Warriors, but because we did not bend to his typical strategy of making deals, he turned instead to attacking us directly. The war that followed caused high causalities among our ranks and brought about what was initially thought of as a downfall. Even though it has recently been discovered that was not the case, the fact still remains that thousands of us are dead, including members of the friends and families of those who still live. Nightmare was temporarily defeated when he was locked away in the Fountain of Dreams on Pop Star, but that trap failed when a local of the area accidentally released him. Ever since them, the attempts to defeat him permanently have been weak at best, and he is even now building up the power he needs to take over the universe. Are there any other questions that have yet to be answered?"

There was silence for a moment, but it was broken when a single hand went up. It was the princess of Pippi, Princess Rona. "Sir Meta Knight," she said as she raised her hand, "Is Squire Kirby here today? I believe I speak for myself and others when I say I would like to see him in person."

Hearing the request and his own name, Kirby sprang to his feet. "Hiii!" he exclaimed in as loud a voice as he could muster. "I's Kaabii! Hiii!"

At the sound of the response everyone turned to look. Despite the fact that they had all seen the little one on the video, it was still rather shocking to see him standing right there in full view. He seemed so young and innocent; it was hard for them to imagine that this was, indeed, the one who had defeated even a weakened Distort.

Ignoring their confusion, he took a breath and floated down to the podium. Moving over by Meta Knight, he took the microphone of the stand and held it right up to his mouth. "Hi, I's Kaabii," he repeated. He then began to point to individual. "T'is Kaabii Papa, an' Kaabii fwiends back t'ere. O' in t'e cas-ah. Kaabii have wots of fweinds. An' Kaabii Mama and bwuddahs and sistah on Pop Stah! Pop Stah have Kaabii otah fwiends, too."

There was a moment of stillness as everyone took in just what it was they were seeing. After that moment, however, the place broke back out into chaos. Arguments and cries of concern were tossed this way and that, and it seemed that this time is was going to take more than a loud sound to regain control.

To be continued…

 


	101. Patchwork Unity, Part Three

"Did Kaabii do bad?" Kirby asked. He and Meta Knight had been set up with a within the Patch Land palace and were getting ready for bed that night.

Hearing his son's question, Meta Knight sighed. "No, Kirby. You didn't do anything wrong."

"T'en why t'ey ah staht getting woud?" The little one placed his paws on either side of his head. "It make Kaabii head hu't."

The warrior gave a slight chuckle at the pup's comment. "Yes, they did get rather raucous."

"Wa-kus?" Kirby asked.

Meta Knight shook his head, silently scolding himself for not using more understandable language. "It means loud and uncontrolled." He went over and patted his son on the head. "It wasn't your fault, Kirby. It's just that Nightmare is very scary, and when people get scared, they don't know how to react, so they all start yelling."

"But Kaabii gonna beat Ni'tmewe up!" the toddler declared. He held his paws in a defensive position. "Kaabii weally stwong an' tough! Beated up Zewo ah wone, no' nee' he'p!"

"Yes, you have become very strong," the older warrior replied. "I have no doubt that when your time comes, you will be ready to take Nightmare on. However, not everyone has heard of your achievements, so when they see something like a Distort, they think that there's nothing anything they could. That makes them afraid and they start to yell."

"Kaabii don' like wellin'," Kirby commented.

Meta Knight shook his head. "No one really does. Now, don't think about it right now. It's time for bed, and tomorrow you do not have to attend the meeting. You let me worry about what goes on there. Alright?"

"Ah-wite," the little one commented as he crawled into his hammock. "Nigh'-nigh', Papa."

"Goodnight, Kirby," the warrior replied before shutting the light off.

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"This is it!" Yin-Yarn exclaimed in delight. He turned to the bag where he was carrying the new creation. "Once my servant get in there, I have the perfect opportunity!" He then dumped the contents of the bag onto the lawn.

It was a yarn Waddle Dee, modeled to look like Bandanna Dee. As soon as it was dumped out, the yarn construct stood and then waited, keeping stock still.

"There is the palace, my marvelous construct!" the wizard declared. "You will need to get into the palace and then, when no one is looking, you will let me in! That will give me the opportunity to take over those oblivious fools!"

Hearing the orders, the yarn golem turned and began moving towards the palace. However, when it came to the wall, it did not make a turn to get to a gate. Instead, it kept walking and repeatedly bumped into the wall.

Seeing this, Yin-Yarn frowned. "No, you can't get in through the wall," he stated. "You need to go in by the gate."

This instruction didn't seem to do any good, as the yarn Waddle Dee continued bumping into the wall without making any progress. In frustration, Yin-Yarn picked it up and carried it around the wall to where they gate was. "There you go," he said, pointing to the gate. "Now go in and get me the palace."

The yarn Dee stood for a moment, giving the wizard a blank look. It was clear that the instructions were not quite understood.

"Go!" Yin-Yarn snapped. "Go there, through the palace gate!" He motioned aggressively to the gate, his temper rising with every movement.

That seemed to get through to the golem, which turned and began walking to the gate. When it reached the entrance, however, it bumped into the gate and fell down. It got back up and ran into the gate again, falling down once more and hitting itself.

In a fit of temper, the wizard went up to the yarn Waddle Dee. "Do I have to do everything for you?" he asked in a huff as he picked it up. He scrunched the yarn creature up into a ball and tossed it over the wall. "There! Now get me the palace!"

It took a moment for the creature to right itself after being tossed over the wall. Once it had done so, it went over to the gate and prepared to open it.

Before it could do so, however, it was cut off by a call. "Hey! Bandanna Dee! There you are!"

The golem was forced to stop what it was doing as Dedede grabbed it and yanked it backwards. "I was looking everywhere for you!" the Pengu snapped. "You were late for dinner and I have to fix everything for myself! It was so exhausting! I aughtta fire ya for that! What do you have to say for yourself?"

The yarn Dee could only stare silently at Dedede with its button eyes.

After a moment, the Pengu noticed that there was something off. "Hey, Bandanna, you're looking kind of different. Did you do something while you were gone?" When the question received no answer, he waved it off. "Oh, I'm sure it's nothing. Well, come up. You might have been late for dinner, but you can still serve me my midnight snack. If you do that right, I might consider not firing you." He then marched off, pulling the yarn Waddle Dee with him.

Outside the gate, Yin-Yarn leaned against the wall as he waited. "Soon, the whole realm of Patch Land will be mine!" he said to himself with a laugh. "And shortly after that, the universe! All that I need to do is wait for the golem to get the gate open! Ee hee hee!"

From within their bag, Knit and Perl looked at each other, exchanging looks of annoyance. It was going to be a long night.

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The next morning was to be the first official day of business for the MUA. As this was the case, only those who would be working on the most intricate details of business were attending the meetings. Everyone else was allowed to go out and about on their way.

As this was the case, the children were given the opportunity to go out and play, provided the older children stayed near the younger ones. They had gone out to the garden realms of the planet, which were located not too far away from the palace.

While the littler children ran around, wading in the ponds and playing hide and seek in the foliage, Tiff stood off to aside speaking with Fluff. They had a Winds of Aradaylia book set out in front of them, and they were engaged in a discussion over the contents.

"So, I know I was blown away by the revelation that Jermon and Breren are brothers!" Tiff declared. "It makes no sense! Jermon has always worked to try to kill Duke Everclear, and Breren is so sweet and shy. You'd think that would make it impossible for them to be twins."

Fluff nodded, but gave a shrug. "I'd suspect it was set up to supply a bit more tension to the former love triangle. The fact that Gymnatia ends up with Breren in the end made quite a few people upset."

"I'm not against the twist, but I am annoyed with all the fanfics that popped up," the blonde said with an eye roll. "Especially the ones where Breren is suddenly evil. They're usually not even creative; his only evil act is typically pointing out that his brother is a terrible person for, you know, murder. And that's sooo horrible. What was Gymnatia thinking, preferring the sweet, kind mage to his necromancer twin?" she added sarcastically.

"Though, there was some hints to the truth, even before the love triangle," Tuff said. He leaned across to turn some of pages of the book, but as he moved, a ball sailed right towards him, forcing him to jump back as the toy flew between him and Tiff.

The girl looked up and followed the path the ball had taken. "Kirby! You need to be more careful! You almost hit Fluff."

"Sowwy," the little one said as he rushed over to get the ball. "Kaabii be ca'fah."

Having retrieved the ball, the little Puffal hurried back to the game. "Kaabii kick weally good, huh?"

"Yeah, that was some kick," Ribbon replied with a nod. "It almost went over the garden wall!"

"It was pretty good," Tuff said with a shrug, "but just watch my kick. I will make it over, and several miles away, too!"

Kirby and Elline looked at the older boy with amazement, but Ado shook her head. "Tuff, you know you can't kick something for miles; that's just too far. Don't tell the littler kids that you can do things you can't."

"I can, too, and I'll prove it," the Dreamlander boy replied. "Just watch me! Here, Kirby, give me the ball." When the toy was handed over, he took several steps back before taking off in a run. When he reached a pleasing speed, he tossed the ball up and kicked it hard.

Just as he predicted, the ball sailed through the air over the garden wall. It then got caught on the roof of a greenhouse not too far away from the wall.

"And now it's stuck," Ado pointed out, crossing her arms.

"Oh, oh! I get it!" Elline called out. She flew off to go retrieve the toy, followed not too far behind by Kirby.

"You really should have been more careful," Lalala pointed out. "What would have happened if you had broken that greenhouse? We would have gotten into a lot of trouble."

"We're fine," Tuff responded with a wave of his hand. "That ball wouldn't be able to break glass. It getting stuck up there was the worst that could happen."

Before any more discussion over the dangers of kick the ball could happen, there came an out burst from the direction of the greenhouse. Kirby and Elline were returning from their retrieval mission, and panic was printed on their faces.

Since neither of the little ones were speaking in a coherent manner, it was their tone of fear that attracted the others' attention rather than what was said. "Kirby, Elline, what's going on?" Tiff asked as she and Fluff went over to join the younger kids. "What's wrong?"

"It…it t'e palwace!" Elline panted out.

"It go'd blooey!" Kirby practically shouted. "An' awwah co'wahs! An' it awwah covuh'd up!"

"We can't understand what you guys are saying," Adeleine pointed out. "It might be better if you took a moment to calm down."

The tots didn't have a moment to calm down, however. In a moment of impatience, Elline took her paintbrush form and painted up a platform for the others to climb on. "Come on!" she shouted as she finished. "Look!"

The older kids were still a little confused, but they obeyed, climbing onto the platform. They never expected what was waiting for them.

When they had reached the top of the platform, they looked out in the direction of the palace. However, they could not see the palace because the entire area had been swamped by huge walls of black yarn! The walls reached up into the sky, blocking even the birds from making it into the area.

"What the heck?" Ado commented. "Fluff, is this normal?"

"Quite the opposite," the prince said, and his voice was filled with fear. "It means someone other than my mother has reached the magic yarn."

"Magic yarn?" Ribbon asked.

By the time she had asked her question, the yarn boy was already on the move. "Come, we do not have much time," he said. "I will explain once we make it there."

The other children glanced at each other to figure out what to do, but eventually decided not to question him. They took off after the desperate prince, not knowing what to expect once they made it to their destination.

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20 minutes earlier

Yin-Yarn lay asleep outside the palace wall, still waiting for the gate to be opened. Unaware that his golem had been hijacked upon arrival, he had stayed there the entire night. Even though his patience had been quickly worn thin, he still had fallen asleep.

He was in such a deep sleep that he still did not wake up when the gateway creaked open. Noticing that the wizard wasn't responding to the sound, Knit got up and jabbed him in the side.

"I'm up and I have the rent!" Yin-Yarn exclaimed as he shot awake. He then blinked, trying to figure out where he was. "Oh, yes, that's right."

Getting up, the yarn wizard turned toward the gate and spotted his yarn Waddle Dee, who was leaning out of the door and waving at him. Straightening his poncho, he shot a glare at the golem. "It's about time you got here," he snapped. "Now, move aside."

He shoved past the Waddle Dee, getting into the palace grounds. Thankfully for him, it was still so early in the morning that no one who was supposed to be there was up and about yet. He peered around to make sure no one was watching and pulled the two knitting needles out. "Alright, show me where the magic yarn is."

The living tools nodded before getting hard at work. They flew up and hurried across the threshold to the palace, before shooting around a corner. Yin-Yarn had to work hard to keep up with the needles, and it wasn't long before they come up to a small dead-end alley in the palace wall.

"What? This is it?" he asked with some annoyance. "There's nothing here!"

Knit and Perl glanced at each other before shaking their heads. They then got to work, making a knitting motion over the blank wall. Before long, a black doorway appeared in the wall, and when the knitting motion was finished, there was huge gateway allowing them to move through.

"Yes!" the wizard declared. "I have found it! I, the great and magnificent Yin-Yarn, have mastered the great challenge! Come, my pets!"

The needles glared in annoyance at the comment, but jumped into their carrying sack anyways. Where they would be going would be worth some mild, albeit repeated humiliations.

They moved down the darkened hallway. The only illumination for the whole area was a few orbs of glowing yarn, which lay every couple of steps down the hall. "My, this certainly is a gloomy place to keep an ancient treasure, isn't it?" the yarn man said aloud. "No matter. I don't need proper aesthetics or lighting to find what I want!"

As they walked, the passage remained static at first. However, the deeper they went in, the brighter everything became. It wasn't that there was a change in the lighting fixture, but that wherever they were headed to was naturally lighter. When they finally came to the end of the tunnel, the whole area was illuminated by a bright light coming out of a door at the end of the passage.

When he saw the doorway, Yin-Yarn gave a bright smile. "There it is! The magic yarn! The very fabric of Patch Land!"

Sure enough, in the center of the room was eight strands of glowing white yarn. They were stretched out between eight columns in the room, interweaving in with each other forming a beautiful pattern. It was these strands that had been giving off the light, as they had been for eons.

Seeing the strands, the wizard's grin broadened. "Go, my pets!" he yelled out. "You know what to do!"

Not needing any more invitation, the knitting needles sprang out of the bag and set to work on the strands. Immediately, the room began to creak and groan in stress as the yarn was forced to take new forms. The columns cracked and shifted, and the strain began to have physical effect.

The results of his actions now becoming clear, Yin-Yarn gave a nod to the needles. He set down a walkie-talkie. "I'll leave you two to your work. Wait for my call and I will tell you what you do next." He didn't wait for a response from the needles, knowing that one wasn't coming.

…

In the council room, the members of the MUA had been at work discussing the problems of the various worlds when they world seemed to crack in two. The light drastically dimmed and the walls cracked in strain.

"What is going on?" Claycia called out.

"It must be an earthquake!" Meta Knight replied. He turned to Aragyle. "Where must we go for protection?"

It wasn't Aragyle, but Crochetya who responded. She had turned white when she felt the tremors, and it was clear she was having a bad reaction to the event. "It's not an earthquake, we don't have those," the queen said. "Someone's reached the magic yarn."

"Magic yarn?" Daroach asked as he gripped onto his hat.

"You must have noticed now that our world is rather different than others," Aragyle said as he supported his wife. "We can live like this because the very world itself is supported by the magic yarn. The yarn must be tended too, but only by a member of the royal family and using a specific tool. In this generation, that is Crochetya, and she uses her hook to mend the yarn."

"Someone else is tampering with the yarn," the queen said, though her voice was so soft that it was difficult for others to hear her. "We must hurry to the repository."

At that moment, the tremors stopped, allowing the members of the council to regain their footing. However, whatever had happened had caused all the lighting to fail. Those who could set up forms of illumination and held them aloft.

The king and queen of Patch Land then hurried to the door, along with several guards, to be able to hurry to the repository. When they made it to the door, they were met my a horrible surprise.

"I can't get the door open, your highness's," the guard who had preceded them said. "It feels like it's blocked by something."

"Let me have a try," Meta Knight said, stepping forward. He lifted up Galaxia, letting the ancient blade build up power, and attempted to slice the door down.

The strike was successful, but as it turned out, was not enough. The door fell down along the long slices, but outside the doorway, pressing right against it, was a wall of black yarn. The yarn was so thick that not even light was coming through it, and it was clear they weren't going to be able to tear it with much ease.

This did not stop the warriors who were armed from attempting. Sword, spear, knife, and fire were all used in an attempt to break through the wall of thick, black yarn. However, their attempts were in vain. Every slash, stab, and burn was only a temporary setback to the infringing invader; as soon as the tool that dealt the blow was withdrawn, the wound closed up, and occasionally, the yarn would advance even further into the room.

As the warriors fought on, there came a dark, wicked chuckle. "So," a voice stated over the intercom, "the mighty have now fallen into the web."

"Where are you? Show yourself!" Aragyle demanded.

"Tisk, tisk, so impatient," the voice repeated. "Still, I suppose this portion of the plan would be easier if you know who it is you are addressing."

In a moment, the monitor in the center of the room, natural light flooded in as yarn tendrils tore open a hole in the roof. From this hole, Yin-Yarn flew in, dodging through just in time for the dark strands to close the opening up once more.

"There is the villain!" Jualon yelled at several of his soldiers. "Take him!"

The Halcandrian soldiers rushed to do their orders, as did the soldiers of Musean, some of the Star Warriors, and the guards from a few other worlds. Soon, the wizard was vastly outnumbered and surrounded by the soldiers.

This, however, did not seem to faze him. "Oh, so you're not going to place nice, are you? Very well. Neither will I." Bringing out a walkie-talkie, he spoke into it. "Alright, boys, you know what to do."

The guards prepared themselves for some sort of attack from the wizard, but none was forthcoming. Instead, the black yarn shot out and entwined the soldiers. They struggled and fought, and those around them attempted to assist, but it was all in vein. In a few moments, all of the guards were pulled in and encased in cocoons of black yarn.

There were cries of shock from the witnesses, and several of the woman who had chosen to wear tighter fitting clothing swooned. Yin-Yarn, however, seemed quite pleased by the results. "That's just the ticket!" he said into the walkie-talkie. "Good job, boys!" he then paused. "You are boys, right? I never thought to ask before."

Of course, no answer came from the two knitting needles, so the yarn wizard shrugged it off. He turned and saw that, in the meanwhile, the rest of the hostages were attempting to free those who were entrapped. "There's no use in trying to cut them out," he said with a mocking smile. "There not getting out of there any time soon. Don't worry, though. They're in no danger of death. At the moment, that is. You can keep it that was, provided you all follow orders."

There was a pause as the captive looked at each other. It was clear no one was happy with what was going on, but they had no choice. Until a time when they could resist without it being suicide, they would have to play along. "Alright," Sir Arthur said after a moment of silence. "We will listen. What is it that you want?"

"I'm glad to see you have some common sense," Yin-Yarn commented. "What I want is…uh…what I want…uh…huh." He turned and walked a few paces. "Huh, I guess I didn't think this far ahead."

His face changed as an idea came to him, and he spun around and motioned with one hand. In an instant, the cocoons opened up, spitting out the hostages. "I'll tell you what," he continued. "You all sit tight in here, and I'll come back and make my demands once I've decided what they're going to be. Got it? Good."

With that, he summoned over a pillar of yarn to carry him back up to the opening in the roof. "No one try anything stupid. Unless, of course, you want to end up trapped in a yarn cocoon. If that's the case, be as stupid as you want. Chao!"

The captives could only watch in dismay as the one opening closed up and they were left once more in the gloom of their prison.

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As the kids rushed through the gardens back to the village, changes began springing up everywhere. Terrain changed, monsters formed out of the yarn of the ground, and soon they were fighting just to make it past all the obstacles alive.

"Fluff, what's going on here?" Ribbon asked as she ducked away from a series of green bee-like creatures that were following her.

Before answering, the yarn boy looked around the area before finding what he was looking for: a large zipper that was tucked into a garden wall. "Come into here, and I'll answer everything." He then opened the zipper up and dodged inside.

One by one, the others followed him in until all of them were safely through the passage. Once they were all inside, Fluff zipped the compartment back up. "There," he said once he had finished his handiwork. "That should keep us safe for a time."

"You still haven't answered out questions," Ado pointed out. "What's going on out there."

Fluff motioned for the others to follow him before answering. "This is a passageway to get back to the palace. We need to go there to get in to check on the Magic Yarn."

"You mentioned that Magic Yarn stuff before," Lalala said as the group started their trek. "What exactly is the Magic Yarn?"

"The Magic Yarn is the very substance that holds Patch Land together," the boy answered. "It is stored in the core of the world, and each of its strands stretch out to the corners of the planet. My family has been tasked to keep guard over it to keep our world whole. Currently, it is my mother's job to care for the yarn with her magic crotchet hook. One day, it will be my job as well."

"So why alla bad now?" Kirby asked.

"I don't know," Prince Fluff answered. "The best guess that I have is that someone who was not from my family line started messing with the Magic Yarn. If that's the case, then we might need to get down to the yarn's repository so that I can try to mend things. That's why we're headed down this path; it'll take us right to the hidden doorway of the repository at the palace. That's the safest entryway to the repository."

"Uh, guy, I think I see a problem with that plan," Tuff said, and he pointed out in front of himself.

Sure enough, right in the path they were walking, blocking off the entire tunnel, was a huge wall of undulating black yarn.

To be continued…


	102. Patchwork Unity, Part Four

"It's worse than I thought," Fluff said as he examined the wall in front of them. "It's spreading out. There will be no way was can make it to the repository by this path."

"So there's nothing we can do?" Adeleine asked.

"There's gotta be something," Tiff said. "You said the Magic Yarn stretches out to all the areas in Patch Land. By that logic, there should be other entrances into to the repository, right?"

Fluff nodded at the comment. "That makes sense, and I wouldn't be surprised if that is the case." He closed his eyes and thought hard. "Yes, I think I have heard of places where that might be possible."

"You have?" Ado said. "That's great! All that means is that we need to find one of those places, and then we can get to the repository and fix everything."

"So, where are we off to?" Lololo asked.

"Well, every land in Patch Land has an important centerpiece," Fluff replied as they began walking back to the entrance. "For the village, it's the palace, and that's where the primary entrance is located. There other locations depend on the land. There is a beanstalk in Grass Lands, a volcano in Hot Land, an underwater grove in Water Land, a giant cake in Treat Land, a snowman in Snow Land, and a Flying Saucer in Space Land. Considering our situation, positioning, and what is happening, we should probably make our way to the closest first."

"That would be the beanstalk then," Lalala said with a nod. "That doesn't sound too hard. We've faced worse things than a beanstalk."

"Still, do not become overly confident," the prince said as they reached the end of the tunnel. "With the upheaval of the Magic Yarn, there are bound to be monsters everywhere. We will need to be prepared. I have my own yarn-whip one me at all times, and I am aware that a Guardian like Kirby is never unarmed, but we will need defenses for the rest of you."

"If that weird yarn-gunk hasn't overtaken the Halberd yet, then we have a source of weapons," Tuff replied. "Tiff and I have our bows stashed aboard there. We're not supposed to use those except in the case of an emergency, but I'd say this qualifies pretty well."

"Lalala and I can pick up weapons there, too," Lololo added.

"Adeliene, Elline, and I have the power of our paint," Ado piped in. "Just as long as we don't use it up too fast and we have time to recharge, we'll be set."

"And I'll get the Star Rod when we go back to the Halberd," Ribbon stated. "I suppose you won't mind if I borrow it, Kirby."

"Kaabii not mind," the little Puffal replied.

"Then it is decided," Fluff said with a smile. "We make our way to the Halberd to get those weapons and then we go to Grass Land and the beanstalk entrance to the repository. From there, we'll figure out how to set the Magic Yarn to right."

The plan decided on, the grouped opened up the entryway they had come through and hurried out. Thankfully, the monsters that had chased them in the first place had lost interest and were nowhere to be seen.

Still, that didn't mean that that kids were willing to risk all-out attack. Opening the zipper cautiously, Fluff peered out. "It looks like we're in the clear," he said, pulling out his yarn whip as he spoke. "Kirby, Ado, Adeleine, we'll take the lead since we are in the position to fight back if we need to. The rest of you, stay close. Things might look like there alright, but you never know when something might come out."

The group stuck close to each other as they came up to the Halberd. Thankfully, the ship was primarily untouched by the effects of the black yarn.

What it wasn't, however, was unguarded. Multiple brown yarn monsters with a single horn on their heads were wandering around the entrance, and several of them were carrying weaponry. It was clear this wasn't going to be as easy as they had hoped.

Seeing the famed Star Warrior ship being invaded by the monsters made Kirby's blood boil. "P'yu, you get away!" he shouted out before anyone could stop him, waving his arms in an attempt to frighten the monsters away. "T'is not yews!"

The golems, in reply, turned to face the little Puffal. They didn't seem to process him as a danger, and the ones holding melee weapons didn't even bother to do anything to deal with him. Several of them had bows and arrows, however, and the fired off several bolts at the youngster.

In response, Kirby stopped in his tracks and began to inhale. The arrows were pulled in, and in a moment the little one copied them. In a flash of light, he changed and took his new ability.

When the light had vanished, he was now wearing a purple feathered cap with a white lining. A large yellow feather was tucked into it and curled over the edge. In his paws was a bright purple bow with a huge yellow star at the center of it, and on his back was a quiver full of arrows. He had become Archer Kirby!

In a moment, the battle had begun. Snatching an arrow from the quiver, Kirby raced ahead, launched it off at the monsters. He hit one of the monsters' bows, causing it to shatter into pieces of yarn. Enraged by the action, the monster charged at him and prepared to ram him with its horn. This move doomed it, as it sent the beast right in the path of an arrow.

While this all was happening, the Puffal's friends, watched in dismay. They had been unable to stop him from starting his charge, and were now helpless to do anything but join in on the charge.

Fluff, who was the closest behind Kirby, lashed out with his whip. The blow was good and caught the sword of the nearest monster. With a yank, he unraveled the yarn sword and reformed it into a ball. This he flung at the monster, which shattered the beast into more fragments of yarn.

Ado and Adeleine moved next, painting up bolts of lightning. The lightning let out a crash as they became real, and they streaked out at the monsters. The bolts hit their marks well, and the few remaining of the brown monsters were torn apart by the strikes.

"The way is clear now!" Adeleine called back to the others, who had hung behind until it was safe. "We can go in now."

Those who had something to claim from the ship hurried in to do so, with a few who were already arms hanging around at the entrance to make sure no more monsters jumped them. As they waited, Fluff looked anxiously at the pieces of brown yarn that were laying on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Ado asked, noting the yarn boy's tension.

"It's nothing major," the prince replied. "Those things disconcerted me, that's all."

The girl looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out what he meant, when a horrid idea hit her. "Those things weren't people, where they?"

"Oh, goodness, no," Fluff responded with a laugh. "I can say with confidence that they weren't. You see, whenever you use a yarn whip on a real person, they will keep their mind and form. They will only change slightly. Even when we die, we keep our same form; 'once a person's shape is woven, naught can unweave it,' as the old saying goes. If something can be unwound, woven, or shattered, then it was never real to begin with."

"That's good to know," the artist responded with sigh. "So if those things weren't real, what were they?"

"Golems of some sort," the prince answered. "Any Patch Land magic user has the ability to make them. I've seen my mother make quite a few to run errands for her, so that's not what bothering me."

"What is bothering me is how many these things appeared, and how fast it happened," he went on. "You see, a golem takes time to weave. At least five minutes is needed to make a fairly robotic copy; it's even longer if you want one that can take orders." He glanced down at the strands again. "If whoever caused this was able to make golems capable of acting as guards in so short a time, then we are dealing with a powerful enemy indeed."

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Inside the great hall, an uneasy silence hung over the prisoners. Those who were still armed made occasional attempts to slice through the yarn holding them prisoner, but their attempts were in vein. Even Queen Crochetya's attempts to use her hook to manipulate the prison ended in disaster, as the yarn responded by attempting to snatch the tool away. She was only just able to pull it back to keep it in her possession.

To make matters even worse, every couple of minutes, the number of prisoners increased. Apparently, the black yarn was spreading out across the village, and when it had an opportunity to grab someone, it did so, pulling them through its system and depositing them in the hall. As this was the case, the room was starting to feel cramped as well as enclosing.

As he usually did when anxious about such a situation, Meta Knight was pacing. He wandered through what little amount of room he had to wander in, and when that space grew limited, he spread his wings and paced in the air. Still, nothing that could help came to mind, no matter how hard he tried to come up with something.

Unfortunately, he wasn't afforded even this luxury. As he was flying through his sheer anxiety, one of the prison pods appeared and deposited Dedede right on top of him. They were both then sent crashing to the ground.

"Hey, ouch!" the pengu declared, practically vaulting up once they landed. He rubbed his rear and glared at the blue Puffal. "Watch where you are! That mask is sharp."

"I am so sorry that falling on me inconvenienced you," Meta Knight responded sarcastically.

The tone was completely lost on Dedede. "You should be! If I broke a tailbone, then it would be all your fault."

It was at this moment that the Pengu seemed to process where he was. "Hey, what's going on in here? Why's it so crowded?"

"Unfortunately, we can't tell you all that much," Sir Arthur said once he had helped Meta Knight to his feet. "All we know is that a sorcerer calling himself Yin-Yarn has tampered with a powerful magical item of Patch Land, and that is what is holding us hostage."

"So that's why I'm missing my midday snack?" Dedede crossed his arms with annoyance. "Why of all the- I was on my way to the kitchen to make a sandwich when that black slime yarn grabbed me and brought me here!"

He stomped around a bit, grumbling as he did. "I outta give that Yin-Yarn a piece of my mind. Where is he?"

"Unfortunately," Claycia responded, "we haven't heard anything from him in hours. He stated he was going to come up with our ransom and then come back."

"Well, if he won't come to me, then I'm gonna go out and find him!" With that, he stomped over to where the yarn-covered door stood and started to push into the material.

"Dedede, don't-!" Meta Knight, along with several others called out, but their warning came too late.

The moment the Pengu had touched the yarn, he was pulled into the mass. He struggled against it for a few moments, and for a while it seemed like he'd get away by sheer force of will. It was, however, for naught; he eventually lost the struggle and was pulled completely in. In a moment, the pod returned and deposited him once again in the same way it had before.

 

Getting up, Dedede scowled at the yarn. "Swallow me up, will ya? I've got a had lesson to teach you!" He then withdrew his hammer and charged it up, running at the yarn and striking it hard with the weapon. The hammer's head got stuck in the mass and pulled him in once more.

Once he was deposited again, the Pengu sprang to his feet. "Being a tough guy, huh? Well, I'll show you!" Raising the hammer once more, he charged.

Seeing what was happening, Meta Knight sighed. "Everyone, move back," he called out, motioning to the other prisoners to back up. "He's going to be at this for a while."

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Inside the less yarned-up area of the palace, Yin-Yarn was vastly enjoying himself. He had never had anything like the success he was having on that day, and was determined to live it up as much as possible.

He was seated on one of the palace's thrones, eating an amount of food and wondering what he wanted as ransom. "I could ask for all the worlds' body wash! Then I'd never have to remember to go to the store for it ever again! No, wait, then all the planets would start to stink, and that would be no fun at all."

It was at this point that his ruminations were broken by the sound of his walkie-talkie chirping. Picking it up, he switched it on. "Knit, Perl? What do you want? Hurry it up; I was in the middle of a very important decision making session."

The sound that came over the device were borderline inaudible whispers, but Yin-Yarn could apparently understand them. "What do you mean, I don't have the royal family imprisoned?" he said in an irritated tone. "I saw them myself down in the corridors."

There was more of the buzzing whispers, and the wizard touched his chin. "A prince, you say? That can't be right; I don't think the king and queen had a son. They did have that short, blue boy who kept following them around…"

The whispering became more intense and irate after this pause. "What? You mean that was the prince?" Yin-Yarn asked. "I always assumed he was the court comedian. Man, they had an ugly child."

Once again, the knitting needles started up their whispering. "Alright, I hear you," the wizard responded. "Now, what is it? He's going to try to take back the Magic Yarn with several other children? He can't do that, can he?"

Knit and Perl answered in the affirmative, and Yin-Yarn bit his lip. "That won't do at all. He can't get into the palace, can he?" He then paused to listen to the response. "He can't, oh, good. Wait, there are other entrances?"

Both knitting needles gave a buzz of affirmation. "Well, then do something!" Yin-Yarn exclaimed. "You can't allow him to break into the main sanctuary! If he gets in, than all our plans will be ruined!"

There was another buzzing as the two devices asked a question of their own. Hearing it, the wizard nodded. "Yes, yes, that will work. Just make sure that troublesome prince isn't able to do anything to." Having given his orders, he ended the call.

Now once more on his own, Yin-Yarn grinned and turned back to his thoughts. "Maybe I can demand all red jellybeans in the universe! Only the red ones, though. The orange ones are gross."

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Having been able to retrieve the weapons, the kids were able to immediately start out on their quest. There was the occasional dealing with monsters along the way, but none of them were too difficult to deal with now that everyone was prepared to deal with them. As this was the case, they made good time and were back at Grass Land Gardens before too long.

"Hey, Fluff?" Ribbon asked. "Once we get to the bean stalk, is it very far to the repository?"

The young yarn man shook his head. "Not really. The repository is the very core of the world, but due to expert construction and the yarn magic of imbued by the Magic Yarn, we should be able to make it to the repository without too much struggle." He tried to force a smile, but it wasn't fooling anyone. The anxiety was very clear. "Providing everything is as it should be, of course."

Seeing her new friend's reaction, Tiff reached over and put her hand on his back. "Hey, it's going to be alright. We'll make it to the Yarn and figure out what's happening."

Kirby grinned and twirled his bow. "We fighted wots and wots o' monstahs befo'! It not gonna be bad."

Fluff gave a small laugh at their response. "I do hope you are right."

"Oh, oh! Wook!" Elline called out. "It t'e beanstalk! We almost t'ewe!"

Sure enough, when the others followed her gaze, they could spot exactly what she was pointing out. In the distance was a huge green beanstalk that dwarfed everything else in the garden. There was no doubt that was their destination.

"Nice! We're almost there!" Tuff cheered. He put his bow in its carrier on his back. "Come on, guys!" he called out as he took off running.

The kids took off after him, eager to arrive at their destination. Adding to the fact that they were on a hill, the beanstalk appeared to be racing towards them rather than the other way around. Soon, they were almost at the very base of their destination.

Before they could reach it, however, an ear-splitting roar ripped out through the air. It was so loud that the adventurers were forced to halt and place their hands over their ears.

"What goin' on?" Kirby tried to yell out.

The answer arrived before anyone could vocalize it. A mighty wind was stirred up and was so intense that the kids were blown back several feet. It took them a few minutes for them to regain their footing so that they could look up and see just what it was they were facing.

There, in front of them, was a bright green yarn dragon. The beast stared at them with malice and let out another roar before taking a deep breath.

Prince Fluff realized what was happening before anyone else. "Hurry!" he called out, shooting up and away from the dragon. "We've got to keep out of reach of his fireballs!"

"Fireballs?" Lalala asked, and as if in response to her question, a huge ball of fire zipped past her, singeing her ribbon in the meanwhile. "Oh, like that!" She then shot up, grabbing her brother's wrist in the meanwhile and flying off.

Seeing an opportunity, Kirby ran out, pulled back his bow, and fired off a stream of rapid-fire arrows. Unfortunately for him, the dragon took notice of this move and launched another stream of fire. The fire caught the arrows in it midst, and by the time they reached their target, they were mere piles of ash and cinder.

Kirby reached up to reload, but when his paw reached his quiver, he found to his dismay that it was empty. To make matters even worse, as he was stalled by his lack of ammo, the dragon changed its tactic. This time, it shot out a long, barbed tongue, which nearly pierced the little Puffal through.

Thankfully, before that could happen, Ribbon flew out. She swung the Star Rod, and the projectile shot out, catching the dragon's tongue. The barbed tip was completely severed, and the beast was forced to fall back as it recovered from the injury.

"Serves you right, you big bully!" Ribbon called out as she got Kirby out of harms way.

"I wouldn't be celebrating too soon," Fluff warned. "Take a look."

Sure enough, the Star Rod had not caused any lasting damage. Though the barb had been severed, nearly as soon as It had backed down, the barb regenerated. It was as if there had never been an injury in the first place.

"Hey, what is that thing?" Tiff asked as he let off several laser arrows, which didn't seem to do any more good than the wooden once had done.

"I can't say for certain," the prince answered, "but from the looks of it, it is a golem modeled to look like Fangora, the dragon of the ancient myths. But I don't have any idea how he could be here; Fangora was just that: a myth!"

"I'd put my money on it that was made by the same thing that got into the Magic Yarn," Ado replied. Moving fast, she pulled out her paint brush. "So, let's see how this dragon likes some water?"

With the speed of urgency and experience, the artist painted up as big a tidal wave as she could muster. Once the pic was made, she pointed it in the direction of the dragon. As soon as it was positioned, the wave turned into a true wall of water and crashed into the intended target.

The kids started to cheer when the attack made its hit, but they soon learned their celebration was premature. Even though the attack had hit its mark, the water did less than they had hoped. All the fires set by the dragon's breath was put out, but the beast itself was not hindered by the water at all.

It let out a roar before flapping its wings and taking to the sky. The children watched on, confused by the beast's course of action.

"Is it running away?" Lalala asked.

Before anyone else could answer, the dragon wheeled around, going into a free-fall and diving after them. They kids were forced to scatter to keep from being hit by the beast as it swooped.

When it had missed on its first dive, the yarn dragon angled itself up into the air and gained momentum, preparing for another dive attack. "Looks like he's coming around again!" Tiff called out as she loosed an energy arrow from her bow. "Let's see if we can't get that thing ground bound. Kirby, see if you can't find any rocks. It might be helpful if you can keep that thing pinned down."

"Poyo-kay!" Kirby called out in agreement. He dropped the archer ability and searched the terrane until he had found exactly what he was searching for. Taking a deep breath, he inhaled several large stones and copied them, becoming rock Kirby.

While he was doing this, the others turned to their mission. Tossing every projectile they could find, the children aimed for the wings, hoping to cause damage and keep their enemy on the ground. Their hopes were not in vain; several of the arrows and gunshots hit their marks, and Fangora's wings were too damaged to keep the beast up in the sky.

The damage done to the wings combined with the beast's own weight brought it plummeting to the ground. Once it was there, Kirby moved fast, taking his heaviest rock form and slamming heavily on its back to keep it down.

"We have it now!" Fluff called out. "Look for the focal point; that's the area of weakness on every golem. If we can find and take out the focal point, then we have a hope against this monster!"

"What does the focal point look like?" Ribbon called out as she unleashed several bolts from the Star Rod, only to barely avoid getting slashed by the monster's claws.

"It's usually the largest button," the yarn boy answered. "That's why smaller golems are usually pretty easy to unravel; there's no way for them to hide their focal point. On big ones like this, though, the focal point can be hidden pretty well!"

While the answer was being given, Tuff lunged at the monster's head to get a shot in with the sword part of his bow. He missed his shot and was forced to back down in haste, but his attempt was not completely fruitless. "Hey, I think I found that focal point thingy!" he called out. "It's at the back of the monster's throat!"

"Of course it is," Tiff said with a sigh.

Fluff frowned, but gave a nod. "Good spotting. Now, we need to figure out a way to get the beast to keep its mouth open. Once that's been done, I can use my whip on the focal point, and the battle will be won!"

"I got it!" Elline called out. She painted up a chord of rope, which she whipped around the moster's upper teeth. She then pulled back, joined by Lololo, Lalala, and Ribbon to force the dragon's jaws wide open.

The task of opening the beast's mouth now finished, Ado and Adeliene painted up one more wave of water to make sure there would be no more attacks with fire breath, and then Fluff went in with his whip. The button was at the back of the monster's throat, but it wasn't too difficult for the young prince to get the whip at its target. Once it was hooked on, all he had to do was pull.

The beast, however, had one more trick up its sleeve. Though it couldn't stop its eventual destruction, it could hinder the questers' goal. As Fluff pulled hard to yank out the focal point, the dragon swept its tail at the great bean stalk. With one hit, the plant was destroyed, and even though the monster shattered into thousands of strands of yarn, the way to the repository was completely destroyed.

The fight now over, the kids looked on in dismay. Going over to the toppled bean stalk, Kirby picked up a leaf. "We sti' go?" he asked, turning to the older kids.

Fluff was especially dismayed by the destruction. "It's destroyed," he said, almost more in a trance than speaking directly to anyone. "One of Patch Land's greatest landmarks, gone. Just gone."

"So there's no other way to get to the yarn?" Ribbon asked.

That seemed to shake the prince from his shock. Frowning deeply, he straightened up and turned. "No. There are other ways, and we are getting to that yarn. I will not sit back and watch as my kingdom is ripped apart and my people threatened."

"Alright, so we're still on!" Tuff cheered.

"Where are we off to next?" Tiff asked.

"The next entryway isn't likely to be easily destroyed," Fluff answered, "but it's also more dangerous. That would be the volcano at the heart of Hot Land. I will be journeying there; it is my duty as prince to protect my kingdom. However, if you do not wish to accompany me, none will think badly of you for waiting here."

"Hey, we came with you this far," Lololo said.

"We can't just drop off like that," Lalala agreed.

There was a clamor of agreement as the rest called out assurance of their assistance. Hearing this, Fluff nodded and gave a smile. "I thank you, my friends," he said. "Your assistance will be of great aid. Come, we go to Hot Land!"

To be continued…


	103. Patchwork Unity, Part 5

Episode One Hundred and Two: Patchwork Unity, Part Five

"Oof!" Dedede groaned as he was tossed out by the yarn for the hundred and twenty-sixth time. It had now been about an hour and a half, and he had still not given up in the hope that these charges would eventually get him out. By this time, everyone else had settled in to try to figure out their situation without fighting, and the Pengu's stubborn attempts were starting to get on their nerves.

He sprang up to his feet to prepare charging again, but was halted by Meta Knight. "Please, just sit down, Dedede," the Puffal said with a weary tone. "You're starting to make some of us dizzy."

"I'm just about to break him!" Dedede exclaimed.

"It's not going to work," the warrior warned. "You'll just get caught and spat out, just like before."

"Shows what you know!" the Pengu snapped. He flashed a cocky smile. "I'll tell you what: you give me one more shot. If what you says happens, then I sit down, but if I get us out of here, than you all have to do as I say!"

Hearing this and knowing exactly what was going to happen, Meta Knight sighed. "Fine. Give it one more run."

Hearing this, Dedede smirked, charged up his hammer, and broke into a run. Swinging his hammer with every ounce of his strength, he gave the wall of yarn the hardest blow he had ever made in his life. If he had any chance to break them out, this was it.

The hammer connected with the yarn…and sank right into the mass of black, just like before. Dedede was pulled in along with it, passed along in a cocoon of the stuff, and was then unceremoniously deposited right back into the room.

"You were saying?" Meta Knight asked as the defeated Dedede slumped against the corner.

"You can wipe that grin off your face," the Pengu said with a scowl. "I know you have it."

All through this encounter, Queen Crochetya sat and moved her crochet hook in a nervous manner. A number of smaller golems and items appeared, though none of them were very strong or large. "Whatever made it to the Magic Yarn, it's draining the power of the planet," she muttered with an uneasy tone.

"If you don't mind me asking," Claycia asked, "what exactly does the Magic Yarn do, and how could someone get to it?"

Crochetya seemed to be in too much distress to answer, so Aragyle took the position. "As we said earlier, the Magic Yarn is the source of all of Patch Land's power and magic. It needs to be tended by someone, who is usually of the royal line. Usually, that person is of the royal line, like my wife is. When they reach adulthood, they are brought to the yarn and trained in what they need to do. No one else is allowed to even touch the yarn, only the tender and the one they train. Even I would not be allowed to."

"It's a little bit more complicated than just that," his wife added. "It's not that someone else wouldn't be allowed to, it's that no one else would be physically capable of it. I can't explain everything, but what you can know is that you'd need special tool to work with the yarn." She held up her crotchet hook. "This one is mine, and I was getting ready to make Fluff his soon."

"Make his?" Sir Arthur asked. "Then they are prepared by a master for their apprentice?"

The queen nodded. "Exactly. Since Fluff is our eldest child, he will be the one who will tend to the yarn one day, just like I took over from my father. But that's not my concern right now."

She took a deep breath before continuing. "What I am concerned about is how this Yin-Yarn has figured out a way to manipulate the yarn. As I said earlier, he would not have been physically capable of doing so without a tool. There is only one explin-"

"Talking about me, I hear." Yin-Yarn gave a laugh as his hostages jumped in shock. "That doesn't surprise me in the least. I am an interesting fellow, after all."

Seeing the wizard, King Aragyle stood up to face him. "I suppose you have come to announce your demands."

"Indeed I have," the wizard said, giving a grin. He turned to the monitor system and activated it, sending out a signal to every connected system across the galaxy.

"Alright, everyone, listen up!" the warlock stated. "My name is Yin-Yarn the Magnificent! I have pulled off my greatest scheme ever! Here on Patch Land, I have taken the entire MUA council hostage. If any of you worlds wish to see your kings, knights, presidents, or their servants ever again, you will had over to me your entire planet's supply of chocolate!"

As the wizard paused to let the weight of his demands sink in, the hostages glanced at each other in dismay. It was now clear they were not only being held captive by a mad man, but an idiotic mad man on top of it.

Not noticing the reaction to the demand, Yin-Yarn continued. "I, the great wizard of Patch Land, will be patient with you. You may make your delivery at your pace, but understand that no one will be released until the entire shipment is made. That is all!" With that, he shut down the transmission.

Turning back to the hostages, the wizard gave a malicious grin. "You have now heard the demands that I have made. Is it not an appropriate price?"

Almost all of the captives were struck wordless by the sheer inanity of the demand. However, one individual did have a reaction to make.

"You monster!" Dedede exclaimed in horror. "How dare you demand all the chocolate in Dreamland! That's all my chocolate!"

"Not anymore," Yin-Yarn taunted. He then turned to leave, toss back one more taunt before he left. "I hope for your sake that your subjects respond fast. Otherwise, you will all be in here for a very long time."

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The trek from Grass Land to Hot Land was not a difficult journey. Grass Land was, itself, a relatives small area with easily laid out paths, multiple gardens, and little areas that one could work through from one side to the other without too much difficulty.

Getting through Hot Land itself, however, was another story entirely. It was one of the largest territories in all of Patch Land, and the prime majority of it was desert. Around the edges, leading both to Grass Land on one side and Water Land on the other, there were vast, lush jungles that were, in and of themselves, a chore to work through. In the very center of it all was the volcano they were making their way too.

"We've been rather lucky so far, don't you think?" Adeleine asked as they rested in one of the few cool caves that provided shade.

"What do you mean?" Tuff asked. "I certainly don't feel very lucky."

"At least we haven't run into any more monsters yet," the girl explained. "I mean, we saw dinosaurs in that jungle, but they were pretty nice. We haven't really had to bother with anything that actually wanted to kill us since we faced Fangora."

"My guess is that's because we're pretty far away from the Magic Yarn," Tiff hypothesized. "Think about it. All of the dangerous monsters originally sprang up around the palace; that's because whoever was taking control was focusing there. Thus, the village was overrun by monsters. Grass Land had monsters, but they were pretty much only located around areas where the yarn could seep out, and they were strongest around the entryway."

"I would agree with that guess," Fluff said with a nod. "That, however, doesn't bode well for us. The volcano here cannot be demolished as easily as the bean stalk was, which means the guardian is likely to be much stronger than before. We will have to have every precaution set before we go to face our foe."

There was a slight silence as they children sat in the caves, the topic of their impending fight not exactly being the most desired of conversation topics. Finally, Ribbon broke the silence.

"These caverns are really beautiful," she said, glancing around at the glowing, multicolored crystals that seemed to bloom from the walls and ceiling. "Have they always been like this?"

"For at least five hundred generations," the prince answered. "These tunnels were formed when the magma that used to flow through them drained out. These crystals started forming right afterwards. No one knows why they glow, but I think it might have had something to do with the natural mineral deposits being super-heated for so long."

Hearing the conversation, Kirby got up and walked directly under one of the larger crystals and looked directly at it. For a moment, the little Puff stood mesmerized by the kaleidoscope of colors that beamed off of the jewel, and was only shaken from his amazement when a drop of water dripped off of the stone and onto his face. The older children laughed as they watched him scramble to wipe the droplet off his face.

"You know," Lalala said, "they kind of look like the crystals back at Stormholt. They don't glow, but when the torches are lit, they kind of look like they could be."

"You've been to the Fortress Stormholt?" Fluff asked, a look of amazement printed on his face. His expression soon changed to one of self-annoyance. "Oh, how foolish of me. Of course you have; how else would you have found the Halberd."

"Oh, don't worry about it," Tiff commented. "I can hardly believe we discovered it myself, and I was one of the first people there. It's kind of amazing to think we found an ancient fortress that people have been searching for since before we were born."

"Of course, we did have a bit of help," Tuff said, digging in his pocket to pull out the Topaz Star.

Seeing the artifact, the prince looked amazed. "Is that really the Flight Star of Sir Erran? I never thought that I'd ever see that!"

"Well, it's half of it, anyway," the Dreamlander boy responded.

"I have the other half here," Tiff said, pulling out her Ruby Star. "We were able to fuse it back together with the help of Kirby's Warp Star, and that brought us right to Stormholt's doorstep."

They talked about these happenings casually, since it had only been a recent happening for them. Fluff, however, looked on in shock and wonder. "This is fantastic!" he exclaimed. "It's like a fairy tale! If you two are in possession of the Flight Star, and young Kirby has the Warp Star, then that would mean that you are the descendants of Metian and Erran!"

Tiff nodded at the statement. "That's what we suspect. We don't really have a way of knowing 100% for sure, but that's the guess we've made."

"You know about Metian and Erran?" Ado asked.

The yarn boy nodded quickly. "Indeed. I should hope any proud Patch Lander would know about the founders of the Star Warriors. After all, it was their actions in the fight against the Haltmann Works that lead to our kingdom being formed in the first place. Why, legends of them have been passed down through ages, though, admittedly, we hadn't heard much from the Star Warriors in recent years."

"I guess word got out to the universe faster than it did back at home," Tuff commented with a shrug.

"To the public, at least," Tiff pointed out. "Remember, the Children of Erran have always remembered; it's just that, until recently, it hasn't been safe to talk about such things out in the open."

As they were speaking, the ground beneath them began to tremble. There was a loud roar that split the air, and huge explosions ripped through the air.

"What happen t'ewe?" Elline asked once silence had fallen once more.

"It sounds to me like there was an eruption," Lololo replied.

Hearing the suggestion, the older kids hurried to the entrance of the cavern and took a look. Sure enough, just like predicted, the volcano had blown its top.

"This is bad." Fluff turned around and began walking to the deeper portions of the cavern. "Come, we must hurry. This trail will take us to where we want to go the fastest."

Seeing his response, the others turned to follow. "Wait!" Kirby called out. "What goin' on? Why sca'd?"

The prince continued to walk as he answered. "That volcano is supposed to be extinct. If it's erupting like that, it means that something's going on over there that shouldn't be happening. We've got to find out what it is and stop it, and within the hour, if possible."

They hurried on through the cave passage for the most part in silence. However, the farther along they went, another question grew heavy on them. When they had almost made it to the cavern's end, Ribbon spoke up, giving voice to all their concerns.

"If we're going to need to get there fast, how are we going to get there by foot?" the young fairy asked.

For the first time since this disaster had started, Fluff gave a confident smile. "Who said anything about going there by foot?"

…

Within ten minutes' time, the group was racing over the desert dunes in dune buggies. Each vehicle was equipped to carry two passengers each, so each vehicle was driven by an older child with a younger child in the passenger.

"This was such a great idea!" Tuff called out, fully enjoying the experience. "How did you know these would be in that old shed?"

"Every year, the residents of Hot Land hold their Dusky Dunes desert race to celebrate the first day of summer," Fluff answered. "For the rest of the year, the vehicles are stored in those storage sheds, with only a few mechanics visiting every now and then to make sure everything is in working order. Lucky for us, too. At this rate, we'll be at Lava Landing in no time!"

Sure enough, just as he predicted, they soon pulled up to the huge volcano that was the centerpiece for the whole land. Despite the earlier eruption, the area of Lava Landing, which was the entrance into the interior of the volcano, was clear, allowing them to approach.

Outside the door, there was a small pool of water. Spotting it, Kirby inhaled some of the liquid and transformed into water Kirby.

Seeing his actions, the older children nodded in approval. "Good idea," Tiff said, pulling out her own bow to be ready for what awaited them inside. "That'll probably be the most useful ability once we get in there.

"Everyone, stay close," Fluff instructed. "As I said earlier, this volcano is usually extinct. I've never seen it with active magma before. We don't want to split up and end up meeting whatever it was that reignited this place on our own."

They moved through the huge cavernous mountain, keeping their eyes open for any enemies while they did so. While the trip was no doubt eerie, it was, at the same time, quite beautiful. Gemstone mosaics, set up in the times when the volcano had been inactive, twinkled on the walls. The faint glow of the recently reignited magma only enhanced their beauty, giving them an almost angelic glow. All around the cave were carved stalagmites and stalactites, shaped to look like heroes of old. It would have been a breathtaking trip, if it wasn't for the monster they had no doubt they were to meet.

There was a raised pathway that kept them above the level of the magma, that still did not totally protect the group from the heat of the area. More than once did the Paintrian girls paint up a barrier of ice between the molten stone and their friends; not to cool off the offending magma, of course. That would have been a lost cause from the start. However, the trickle of cold water that came from the melting barrier did provide enough of a relief from the magma itself to allow them to travel on. Unfortunately, it also formed a lot of steam, so by the time they had come to the end of their journey at the volcano's caldera, huge clouds had formed around them, making it difficult to see.

When they came to the entrance into the caldera, the littler ones needed to be restrained, lest they rush out of the cloud only to be attacked by something waiting out there. "Be quiet," Tiff warned as she pulled Kirby back. "If you go out there and the monster's already there, it could take you out in a moment!"

"Sowwy," Kirby replied, rubbing the back of his head.

When they had settled down, Tuff peeked out to get a look at what they might be dealing with. "I see it!" he called back. "It's this really big bird! It's just as big as the dragon was!"

"Never mind how big it is," Fluff whispered with a slight tone of scolding to his voice. "What is it doing? Can you see it's focal point?"

"Oh, yeah, right," the Dreamlander nodded before turning to peer out again. "It looks like it's sleeping; it's sitting on this big stalagmite in the center of the volcano, and it has its head under its wing. I can't see the focal point, but it does have its back to us."

"If we're lucky, then the focal point might be on the front," Lalala stated.

"Yeah, and then we can just defeat that thing before it even wakes up," her brother added.

Hearing the plan, Fluff nodded and got his whip out. "That plan sounds sensible. Just remember, we don't want to have another battle if we can avoid it. Everyone can come out, but unless you are absolutely needed, stay off to the side. We don't want to wake this thing up."

The other kids nodded in agreement, and then they all crept out of their hiding place. Thankfully, the caldera itself was huge and full of a variety of boulders and depressions that the kids could hid in while giving the bird a wide berth. Just as Tuff had described, it was sitting a stalagmite that was at the very center of the caldera, and it had its head tucked under its wing in sleep.

The children crept around it, not eager to wake the huge bird up. Thankfully, it seemed to be in a pretty deep sleep, so it took no notice as they moved around it.

They kept their eyes trained on the beast, and to their surprise, fortune still seemed to favor them. As they moved around to the front of the creature, they could see a bright green button on its chest, clearly the creature's focal point. It wasn't even slightly covered up the way the dragon's was. It would be child's play to hook the huge button.

Seeing this, Fluff grinned and moved ahead, his whip prepared in one hand. Keeping to the rocks, he crept forward, slowly but surely, towards the huge beast. He'd just need to make it right in front of the creature and hook it once. After that, all would be finished. They would be able to make their way to the Magic Yarn. Then they would set things right, returning Patch Land to the state it was supposed to be in. It would be so easy. All he had to do was make it there while the bird was still asleep.

He had almost made it to the bird when it happened. Despite their caution, there had been on detail that they had not noticed about the bird from their observations. Living in its feathers were a myriad of smaller, symbiotic yarn golems, and it was these that kept watch for the large bird while it slept. It was one of these small birds who caught sight of Fluff coming up, and it sounded the alarm.

In an instant, the great bird was awake. Snapping its head around, it caught sight of Fluff and charged at him, spreading its talons to tear him apart.

Thankfully for him, the other kids were faster. Tiff and Tuff had already gotten their bows ready for the attack, and as soon as the bird struck at the yarn boy, the unleashed their arrows. The attacks struck the bird hard in the body, but they were not strong enough to slay their enemy. The blows did, however, knock it back long enough for Fluff to make it to shelter.

"Alright, it looks like we're on for round two," Ado said as she and her twin painted up a temporary shelter. "What's the game plan?"

"We already know where the creature's focal point is this time," Fluff responded. "That is easy enough to tell. However, it seems like the bird is keeping to the air this time. We'll have to figure out a way to knock it from the sky if we're going to have an opportunity to attack."

"So, we bring the flyer to the ground," Tuff repeated. He gave smile. "How hard could that be?"

The moment the words had come from his mouth, a flaming meteor tore right through the painted barrier and crashed among them. Kirby acted fast, dousing the flames with water so that they posed no threat to his friends, but the damage to the shelter had already been done.

The kids moved fast, dodging out of the damaged shelter and rushing around to find where they might be of most help. They didn't have too much time to think about what they were going to do, since the onslaught came nearly as soon as they were out in the open.

Like Fluff had predicted, the big bird kept itself in the air, far out of reach of where many of the kids could reach it. However, it had the ability to launch flaming meteors at them, along with the smaller birds from before. These had set themselves alight, and the kids had to fight tooth and nail to keep themselves from catching on fire.

At one point, after defeating around six of the little birds by himself, Kirby turned and looked at the great bird, which was flying overhead. Channeling all his strength, he shot out the largest ball of water he had ever shot in his life, and aimed it directly at the bird.

The liquid projectile sailed true and struck its intended target hard in the chest. It was clear that the bird had not been expecting to be hit by an attack, and the cry it let out was ear splitting. It mixed with the intense hiss of the water evaporating from the heat, and was followed by a thunderous crash as the bird hit the crater.

Seeing the fallen bird, Fluff hurried over to try to get at the focal point with his whip. However, the smaller birds, seeing the bigger one fall, flew over to it and settled in, drying the big bird's feathers at a break neck rate. By the time the prince had made it over, the huge bird had already regained itself and was back up in the air.

"That thing is weak to water!" Tiff called out. "Everyone who has a water attack, aim at the bird. Those that don't, take out the little birds so they can't help!"

In a moment, Kirby and the three Paintrians were focusing all their power and getting large balls of water up at their enemy. Unfortunately, the big bird was now aware that they were utilizing water as am attack, and thus it was going to be harder to make a proper blow the second time around.

At the same time, the other children focused on getting rid of the little symbiotic birds. Sword slash, arrow fire, gun shot, projectile star, and whip strike were all used to scatter and destroy the little pests. They hoped that if they could get rid of a good amount of little birds, then the next time the big bird was brought down, it would be much easier to dispatch.

The fight had gone on for at least fifteen minutes, and the battlers were beginning to feel its effects. In particular, Ado, Adeleine, and Elline were feeling the decline of their paint magic. "I'm starting to run on low," Ado called out to the other two Paintrians. "How are you doing?"

"I tired!" Elline called out, slumping againist the rock she was hiding behind.

"I'm not really doing well either," Adeleine called back. "If this goes on for much longer, we'll be completely out!"

Hearing the responses of her compatriots, Ado scanned the field. A little distance away, Kirby was still standing, firing water shot after water shot at the great bird. It was clear he, at the very least, wasn't low on power, and he was determined to knock the enemy right from the sky.

That gave Ado an idea. "Hey, Kirby, over here!" she called out, summoning the little Puffal to join them behind the rock.

Kirby turned and hurried over when he heard the call. "What goin' on?" he asked when he arrived.

"We're running out of paint," Ado explained, "and if things go on like they have been, we won't be of much help pretty soon. However, I've got an idea that might help us get ol' Hot Wings there down before that happens."

Leaning out, she pointed at the monster with her paint brush. "Now, we know we're going to need to get a big water ball up there if we want to knock it out, but that's a bit too far away for one of us to do that on our own. However, if Adeleine, Elline, and I all channel our power into a water ball you form, it just might give it enough power to take that thing out once and for all!"

Hearing the recommendation, the other three nodded. The plan sounded like something that would give them the advantage they needed, so they were willing to give it a go.

Springing up on the rock they had been hiding behind, Kirby charged up, summoning as large a water ball as he could manage. At the same time, the twins shot out the remainder of their paint magic from their brushes, and Elline did the same in her brush form. The water ball swelled up, and soon it was shot out. The energy from the shot was enough to toss Kirby back off his perch, and the Paintrians collapsed in exhaustion as the last bits of their magic left them.

Their final attempt proved successful. The water projectile sailed up through the air and caught the bird hard in the torso. The beast was thoroughly drenched with water, and was so completely soaked that all of its fire power, as well as some of the few smaller birds that had been hiding in its feathers, were completely washed away. It fell to the ground with such an impact that it caused a shallow crater to form.

Lololo and Lalala had been near the place where the bird had fallen, and they were able to see something they could do to help. While the foe lay on the ground, they opened fire on some loose rocks that had been located above the mammoth bird. The blasts were enough to cause the rocks to come loose and tumble down into the crater, trapping the monster within.

Seeing his opportunity, Fluff rushed in on the trapped monster. Before it had enough strength to break itself loose from the rubble, he cast out with his whip, which wrapped itself around the monster's focal point. With a hard tug, he pulled it out, and the monster shattered into pieces of yarn, along with all the smaller birds it had been using.

With the monster now dead, the children could now pause to take a look at their surroundings. "It looks like the volcano's starting to calm down a bit," Tiff commented. "That, at least, should help us a bit."

It was Kirby, however, he found what they were looking for. "Ovah hewe!" he shouted out. He was hopping excitedly by one of the caldera walls, pointing at something that was obscured by a rock. "I founded a doo'! Is t'is t'e doo'?"

Hearing the call, Fluff went over and nodded. "That's the one, and it's still here." He patted Kirby on the back. "Good searching, little guy."

Turning to the door, he pressed on it, and it swung open without too much resistance. "Alright, this is the final leg of our journey," he said, turning back to the group. "It's pretty straight forward from here. I can't say what we'll find once we reach the repository, but we're going to need to be ready for anything."

"Don't worry about us," Tuff said, giving a confident grin.

"Yeah," Ado piped in. "This is far from the first adventure we've ever gone on."

Hearing the call of confidence, Fluff smiled and gave a nod. "I appreciate your help. We'd best be on our way."

The doorway was rather narrow, so the kids were forced to enter the passageway in single file. Fluff went first, followed up by the artist twins, Kirby, Elline, Lololo, Lalala, Tuff, and Tiff taking up the rear. All held their weapons out, ready in case an enemy tried to come upon them from as they behind as they walked.

They needn't have feared. As soon as all of the children were inside, the door swung shut with a resounding bang, and they were left in the passage, now illuminated only by several balls of glowing yarn.

To be continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, announcement time. Life has changed for me, and my update schedule is changing along with it. From now until further notice, Dreamland Chronicles will update on Sundays. This will start on Sunday, September 16th. I hope to hear from you all!


	104. Patchwork Unity, Part Six

"We've almost made it," Fluff called back as the group tracked down the hallway. He had one of the yarn balls at hand and had been leading the group through the passage for about fifteen minutes.

"We sure are lucky this place is pretty straightforward," Adeleine commented.

"Yeah," Lalala agreed. "It would have been awful if this place was a maze."

"Mazes are usually built because the entrance is easy to get into," Tiff pointed out. "I'm guessing there's usually not a lot of fear of someone getting into here, is there?"

"No," there isn't," Fluff agreed. "As you saw back there, you need to be able to use a tool to open up the doorway. My whip will work for now, but when I'm older, I'll use the tool my mother will make for me for the same purpose."

"That is also why I'm so anxious to get down there and see what is happening," he went on. "For someone to break in to the Repository, they would have to have a tool of some sort. Maybe they stole a tool from the crypt of my ancestors, or maybe there are darker forces at play. Either way, I want to find out before things get any worse."

"Uh," Tuff said, as two words mentioned made him anxious. "What do you mean by 'darker forces?'"

Fluff paused for a moment before answering. "I don't really know for certain, but there is a rumor that, years ago, one of my ancestors attempted to manipulate the Magic Yarn into something he could use for war. The attempt went bad for him, and in the ensuing struggle, his tool, which was a set of knitting needles, came to life. They attacked and killed him, but his son caught on to what was happening and locked them away."

"So you're afraid those knitting needles may have come back?" Ado asked.

Once again, the prince paused for a moment before answering. "Like I said before, it's only a legend, so I don't even know if it's true. It's more likely that someone broke into the royal crypt and stole a tool."

As they came closer to the Repository, more and more signs of damage caused by the shifting of the Magic Yarn became apparent. The halls grew darker as the yarn balls were fewer and further in between; had Fluff not been carrying one with him, it might have been impossible to see at all. There were also long scars lining the walls, and tendrils of black yarn crept out of these cracks.

Creeping up to the door at the end of the hall, Fluff set the yarn ball down and readied his yarn whip. "Alright, this is the final step," he said, turning back to the other kids. "Once we make it through here, it's now or never."

The other children nodded and readied their weapons. They were going to fix this problem and free this planet.

Taking a deep breath, Fluff pushed open the door, and the group rushed in.

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Within the prison room, the adults were forced to watch helplessly as their worlds attempted to negotiate with the mad man. The problem was that, even with the demand being so frivolous and silly, none of the worlds seemed to collect the amount that pleased Yin-Yarn.

"We're gonna be here forever!" Dedede cried out in panic. "We're gonna have to stay in here, and I'm never going to have that pizza I hid in my pillow back home!"

"Quiet, Dedede," Meta Knight scolded. "We've got to-wait, you put food in your bedclothes?"

"Well, where else am I going to store it?" Dedede asked, crossing his arms. "Don't judge me."

Meta Knight sighed and tried to shake off his disgust. "It might not look good now, but we can't be held here forever. There's got to be something that can be done for escape."

"There may be one hope," Aragyle commented. "There's not much we in here can do, but have you noticed? None of our young ones are in here."

"That is true," Arthur said, musing over the statement. "I had assumed they would be held hostage elsewhere, but they might still be free."

"If they are, then we have hope," Aragyle said, his voice becoming more hopeful. "Our Fluff is out there, and he's already started his training with the Magic Yarn. I'd bet my buttons that he's out there, trying to figure out how to get things set to right."

Hearing her husband's words, Crochetya turned and looked harder at the yarn that was holding them imprisoned. "I believe that is a bet you'd win," she said as she spotted just what she was hoping for.

The others looked closely at the strands and realized why she had seemed so pleased. While the black yarn was still too strong for them to be able to cut themselves free, signs of wear were begging to appear on the strands. Many of the strands were frayed and weakened, with fly aways of broken cords twisting this way and that. Some of the thinner strands were broken entirely, and thicker ones were desperately reaching out to try to tie them down.

"Could this damage be caused by the children?" Meta Knight asked.

Crochetya shook her head. "No, this is what naturally happens to golem yarn over time. However, it is still to our benefit. You see, if you want to keep it thick and good for use, you need to constantly replace it with newer, stronger strands. That's why the yarn kept moving around at first; whoever took this place over with it was replenishing it. However, this yarn is old. That means whoever is in control of the Magic Yarn can't focus on replacing the yarn here to keep us in. It has something more pressing to be concerned with."

"And that something may be the children," Jualon said.

Crochetya nodded. "I don't see who else it could be. Only Fluff and myself would be capable of freeing the Magic Yarn of unnatural control, and I'm trapped in here. My son must have seen what was going on and went to try to fix the problem."

"If that's the case, then it's likely that Kirby went as well, and perhaps some of the other children, too." Meta Knight closed his eyes before continuing. "It would certainly be in their character to pull such as stunt."

"Then we have hope," Arthur said. "Let us pray that the children are not in over their heads."

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When the kids entered in to the Repository, they had expected to charge in to fight the enemy as they had with the previous two golems. However, they were forced to break and scatter near immediately by what they saw in front of them.

The Magic Yarn was in a complete tangle. Strands of it turned here and there, wrapping over columns and under railing, turning in on itself time and time again until it was an unrecognizable rat's nest of yarn. They children had been forced to scatter because the knotting took over the majority of the room, making it nigh impossible to maneuver within.

"Ugh, this place is a mess!" Ado declared. "Can anyone see what did this?"

"Up t'ewe!" Elline called out. She was pointing to one of the higher regions in the room where, sure enough, Knit and Perl were hard at work doing their damage.

"I see 'em!" Tuff called out. He reached out to grasp hold of the yarn to climb up.

"No! Do not touch the yarn!" Fluff called out, but his warning came too late.

As soon as Tuff's hand had landed on the yarn, there was a burst of light and energy that threw him back out the opened doorway. Pushing himself back up, the Dreamlander hobbled back into the room. "What gives?"

"I told you earlier, none but the Patch Land Royal house and their tools can touch the Magic Yarn," Fluff reminded him. "I'll have to go up to deal with those vermin by myself. While I do that, the rest of you can provide support from below." Having given his instructions, he began climbing up the yarn to reach where the miscreant knitting needles were.

Unfortunately, the enemy was prepared for them. Briefly letting go of the magic yarn, the needles began knitting up wave after wave of small golems and dropping them down on the kids. Even Fluff, who had made it about a fifth of the way up, had to pause in his trek to face the monsters.

The beasts were all smaller golems, with none of the endurance the bigger monsters had. However, there were soon hundreds of them swarming the area. The children were forced to fight with everything they had just to keep their enemies at bay. Even then, as soon as one fell, another six were dropped down to take its place.

"There's too many of them!" Adeleine called out. "What are we going to do?"

In his fight, Fluff lashed out with his whip. He missed his intended target, which was a yarn bat, but instead hit the focal point of one of the knots in the Magic Yarn. In an instant, the whip caught the knot and unraveled the whole pile, leaving clean strands in its place.

Once this happened, Knit and Perl paused, noticing that a bit of their handiwork had been undone. They stopped in their making of the small golems to turn their attention to the Magic Yarn, which gave the kids enough time to clear out their enemies and give them time to catch their breath.

"That is it!" Fluff declared. "They can't focus on fighting us and controlling the Yarn at the same time! They have to choose one or the other!"

"I see where you're going with this," Tiff said, giving a grin. "You focus on undoing those knots; we'll keep any monsters off you from down here!"

Their strategy underway, the kids took to the fight with a renewed amount of energy. Of course, they were soon swarmed by monsters once more, as Knit and Perl turned their attention back to the fight, but this time the children were ready.

Fluff sprang up, hooking a nearby knot with his whip and unraveling it in an instant. At the same time, Tiff, Tuff, Lololo, and Lalala gave his cover on the ground, shooting away with gunshot and arrows at the creature that were raining down. Kirby and the three Paintrians helped as well, dealing with the monsters that made it past the protective volleys and onto the ground.

Using this strategy, the kids started to gain ground on their enemy. It was a struggle at first, but before long, they came to a rhythm in the fight, allowing them to deal with the foe in a strong, consistent pattern.

The knitting needles, on the other hand, started to struggle with their end. With every knot that the young prince undid, the needles were left with a little less power. That power could be regained by them causing a new knot to form, but to do that, they needed to turn their attention from developing another wave of golems, which gave Fluff more time to climb up the web closer to them.

As the battle wore on, it became clear to the needles that they were fighting a losing battle. Without a way to turn that would allow them a winning blow, they decided on one last desperate move. Selecting a particularly large knot, they dug themselves in and started pulling the Magic Yarn into it as strongly as possible.

Fluff saw immediately what they were up to. "No!" he called out, springing up to reach the vortex of yarn as fast as he could.

The reason for his concern came clear to the others very soon. As the needles were yanking the yarn back, they were creating stress on the fixture the yarn was connected to. The columns all around had already been cracked by the damage the knotting of the yarn, and the new strain caused them to start to buckle and bend inwards. If the needles weren't stopped soon, the entire repository would collapse soon.

Thankfully, Fluff had already been close to where the evil tools were doing their work when they had begun. He had to fight to get right at the eye of the storm, but with a great amount of effort, he made it to where the villains were doing their damage. Lashing out with his whip, he was able to hook it around Purl, he began to pull with all his might.

"Kirby!" he called out. "I'm getting this villain out! Please, keep him down!"

Purl, for its end, was not about to give in so easily. The knitting needle did what it could to bury itself deeply in the yarn, though for every centimeter it succeeded at getting, Fluff was able to pull out another three. Before too long, the victor of their struggle became apparent as the knitting needle was pulled out of the knot.

In an instant, the needle was air born. Seeing his opportunity, Kirby sprang up and seized his opponent, grasping onto the needle and taking a stone form with it still in his paws. As a result, the needle was trapped in a statue's stone grip, and no matter how it thrashed, it could not get itself free.

At the same time, the great vortex of the yarn was stopped. Without its partner, Knit was not able to keep up the damage. Soon, it too was caught by Fluff, who yanked it out and was grasped hard in one hand.

The enemy now captive, Fluff jumped down. "Kirby, hand me the other needle," he said. "We'll need to keep these two trapped in a way that they won't be able to cause any more damage."

"Poy-okey," Kirby said as he turned back into a Puffal and handed over the prisoner.

Grasping both the knitting needles, Fluff attempted to manipulate them. However, they were resistant and fought himself every step of the way.

Seeing the struggle, Kirby then got an idea. "Kaabii have t'e Stah Wod?" he asked, turning to Ribbon. The fairy nodded and handed the weapon over to Kirby.

"Ho'd t'e up high!" Kirby called out. "I gotta pwan!"

Hearing the call, Fluff complied, holding the prisoners above his head so that the heads of the needles were in the air. Once this was done, Kirby took aim and swung the Star Rod, sending out two star projectiles at the villains.

The attack struck true, hitting the knitting needles right in the faces. The moment the hits landed, the needles went stiff and still. This gave Fluff the time he needed to access their power, knitting up a stiff basket, which he then shoved the needles into just as the basket was knitting shut. There was a moment of pause, then the basket began to shake and jump as Knit and Purl woke back up. However, it was too late for them; their prison was finished.

"There," Fluff said with a sigh. "It is finished."

"They won't be getting out of here any time soon," Ado said, cracking a smile and leaning against the basket. She was knocked back as the basket leapt up, but it could do no worse that that.

"We'll have to bring this back with us when we get back," Tiff commented, seizing the basket as she spoke. "I'm sure everyone will be very interested to know what the cause of all this trouble was in the first place."

"Agreed," Fluff said with a nod. "First, however, there's something I need to take care of."

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Within the prison space, all was silent as the captives waited to see what was going to happen. It seemed, with every passing moment, that their hopes would be fulfilled, as the yarn holding them in with every passing moment was becoming more and more damaged. Soon, it became worthwhile again for those with weapons to begin cutting at the wall of black, and this time, their efforts were not in vain. While the wall did still fight back, its attempts were vastly less potent, and the captives were soon able to make their way out of the chamber and to freedom.

Once the doorway was opened again, all rushed out and hurried out to see how things were outside. There was a few monsters still roaming around, but these were by far weaker than they had initially been, and with a few quick swipes, they were easily dealt with.

It was thus that the warriors were able to make it to the main throne room, where they caught Yin-Yarn in the middle of a nap. A Patch Land soldier went up to him and gave him a heavy shove, knocking him out of the throne.

"Agh! What is it?! I'm up! I'm up!" Yin-Yarn shouted out. He then adjusted his hat and looked up to see who it was. "Oh! Uh, hello there," he said, jumping in shock when he realized who his opponents were. "You made your out of the council chamber. How wonderful."

Two Patch Land guards came up on the yarn wizard and seized him by either arm. "Yin-Yarn," Aragyle said in a harsh voice, "You are under arrest for treason against the the throne of Patch Land, and for waging war against a myriad of other worlds. You will await trial and sentencing."

Yin-Yarn looked anxious at the turn of events, but he then gave a smile. "Wait, if you take me in, you'll never find where my prisoner is!"

"All of your ill-gotten prisoners have escaped," Sir Arthur responded. "You have nothing to hold sway over us anymore."

"Oh, but I do," Yin-Yarn replied. "I took a prisoner before I took over, and only I know where he is! You'll let me go now, or you'll never-"

"Oh, man, was it crazy out there!" Bandanna Dee exclaimed as he entered into the throne room. "I thought I was never going to be able to make it back here. At least those monsters stopped popping up out of the ground."

Yin-Yarn looked horrified as he stared back at the Waddle Dee. "You! I left you tied up! How did you escape my masterful plan?"

"It really wasn't that hard," Bandanna replied. "Your nephew just let me out when he came home. I would have gotten here sooner, but everything was bananas out there."

Seeing that his prisoner was no longer a bargaining chip, Yin-Yarn sighed. "Fine, I surrender. Just finish it already.

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After the defeat of Yin-Yarn, the rest of the council's meetings went off without too much struggle. Crochetya and Fluff made several trips to make sure the Magic Yarn was back in its proper order, which in turn set to reversing the damage caused during the whole debacle. Before long, it was time for everyone to return home.

"Thank you again for everything your young ones did," King Aragyle said as the Halberd and the Lor Starcutter were prepped for the return to Dreamland. "If it wasn't for their courage, our world would have been certainly torn in two."

"We are certainly proud of our children's efforts," Sir Ebrum replied. "I do hope our worlds can stay on good terms."

"We may have need of your assistance in the near future," Meta Knight added.

"Simply ask, and our aid is yours," Aragyle assured them.

For the kids, farewells were taking a little bit longer. "Farewell, my friends," Fluff said with a bow as the other children boarded the Halberd. "I shall surely miss your companionship. Especially your's, Miss Tiff."

"We can still write to each other," Tiff assured. "After all, the new Winds of Aradaylia book is set to come out soon. That, at least, will give us a lot to write about."

"I shall await your letter," he replied with a smile. He then stepped back as the boarding peer for the ship began to raise. "Goodbye, and my your journey home be swift and safe!"

The kids called out goodbye from a window as the ship began its ascent. Before long, Fluff was lost to their sight, and before long, even Patch Land was just a speck in the distance. The last leg of their journey home was nearly complete.

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In the darkness of his kingdom, Nightmare grew concerned. He had sensed it the moment that Zero had escaped his power, and he had also sense the moment the other Distort had been sent back to the Tartarus Dimension. It was not that he had any friendship lost with Zero; he didn't and couldn't care less about what had happened to the eye. However, if the Guardian had grown strong enough to defeat one Distort at his full strength, then perhaps it was coming close to the time when they would have to face each other, one on one, once and for all.

Getting up, Nightmare stalked over to a book of evil spells that was lying out. The last thing he wanted was to have to fight the Guardian personally; that had already happened once, and the Distort had not come out on top of that battle. No, he had to find a way to wipe the Guardian out of existence, and preferably without having to face him in combat.

That was when the warlock spotted it. "A time ripple, huh?" he mused when he saw the page. It wasn't a spell, par say, but the description of a natural event where a natural time dilation event was disturbed, allowing for travel to the past as well as the future. A time ripple could be controlled and manipulated to one's end, but you would need a lot of power, and you would need to find the ripple itself before it would be of any use.

"Gathering the power necessary will be nothing for me!" Nightmare declared. "My servants, to me!"

In an instant, the room filled up with all sorts of nasty things. Monsters of all shapes and sizes appeared, gnashing teeth, waving claws, splaying wings, and generally rearing for something to do. Several of them fought among themselves, but these brawls were quickly dispelled by the few captain creature that were in the mix.

"The time for the end of the Guardian is almost at hand!" Nightmare called out to the assorted riff-raff. "There is but one attempt left to be made, and if this fails, then it is all out war!"

There was a loud cry, formed from the blended squeals, shrieks, growls, yowls, and roars of the beasts. All in all, it did not sound as if they minded the idea of a war that much at all.

"First, you must go out and bring me news of a celestial event." Nightmare threw up his hand, conjuring up an image of a time ripple. "Find this for me and bring me it's location. Do not do anything else with it; just find it, and deal withing anyone who gets in your way. Do I make myself clear?"

There was another mixture of cries, and Nightmare was content that his orders were understood. "Then go! Go and bring me news of the time ripple!"

The monsters all hurried out, those who could fly in space going out immediately and those who could not working their way towards ships. All were eager to go out and do their master's bidding.

Before one figure could leave, Nightmare called him over. "Galactic Knight, wait for a moment."

The Demon Beast stopped when he heard the order and bowed. "You have orders for me, master?"

"Yes," Nightmare nodded. "You are not to leave quite yet. Once the time ripple has been found, I will need you to carry out the mission that I have in mind."

"As you wish, my lord," Galactic Knight replied.

Turning back to the scene of the rushing monsters, Nightmare grinned. Even if this did fail, he was not overly worried. Either this way, or with the war, the Guardian's end was nigh.

To be continued…


	105. Journey Into the Past, Part One

The idea of space travel is so amazing to those beings who live their lives on the ground because it seems to different from what they are used to. For one who has lived all their lives with their feet planted firmly on the ground of their home world, traveling up past the clouds and into the stars seems to be beyond possibility, and thus, more wonderful than could be imagined. As this is the case, there is one little secret about space travel that is firmly hidden until one is actually experiencing it.

It can be more boring than anything else.

This was a realization that was hitting those travelers on the Halberd harder than they could have ever imagined. It was about three weeks after the travelers had left Patch Land for Pop Star, and now that there wasn't even the excitement of a new world to see and explore, the tedium of the routine on the ship was starting to become unbearable.

"Do you think we're too far away from home?" Lololo asked as he, his sister, and several other of the kids worked on the laundry detail.

"It's like the last time you asked," Tiff replied as she shook out an undershirt. "It'll still be a while, provided we don't hit some sort of natural space/time warp."

"It didn't take us this long when we came up this way," Ado commented.

"That's because Queen Soleena gave us a spell to shorten the trip, and it only worked one way," Adeleine replied.

Before the conversation could go on further, Kirby surfaced from the water, splashing the other workers in the process. He had inhaled and copied the laundry soap for amusement sake, and was determined to make the chore more enjoyable using the bubble ability. Unfortunately, that also meant that all the laundry he was supposed to be washing was trapped inside his bubbles, clean but stuck on the ceiling.

"Uh, Kirby," Lalala said, catching the little Puffal's attention. "you might want to get those down. It might be a bit hard to dry those from up there."

Kirby followed where she was pointing, noticing the path the laundry had traveled. "Oh, sowwy. Kaabii get t'ose down." Taking a deep breath, he floated up and began to pop the bubbled using the wand.

He failed, however, to also catch the laundry as it was freed from the soapy prison, which meant that it was soon raining soggy shirts, dresses, and socks over the other workers. "Hey, Kirby! Watch where you're dropping these things!" Tuff called out, barely dodging a dress, only to wander right into the path of a sock. The sock hit him on the top of his head and draped in such a way that it was hanging in front of his face. It looked so comical that the other kids couldn't help but burst into laughter.

It was at that time that Kit Cosmos came into the room. "Well," he said with a huff. "I'm glad to see you young'uns are taking your time to amuse yourselves rather than do your part for the ship."

Hearing the disapproval in his voice, the children immediately stood to attention. "Sorry, Sargent Cosmos," Tiff said. "We'll get back to work right away."

Seeing the contrition, Kit sighed. "Quite alright, Private Tiffany. Just make sure it doesn't happen again. Right now, however, you're going to need to get everything together and tied down, before heading to the landing room yourselves."

"The landing room? Why are we going there?" Ado asked. "I thought we wouldn't be landing on another planet until we reached Pop Star."

"We aren't," Kit replied, "but the navigators have caught sight of something in our trajectory that looks bad. At the least, we're going to have turbulence, and it'll be best not to be wandering around the ship when we hit it."

"We'll be sure to get there as soon as we can," Adeleine assured as they set to putting everything away. Once the half-laundered clothes were secured for the time being, they hurried off to do as they were told.

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"Do you know what it is?" Lady Rosalyn asked as she and the other adults were gathered in the cock pit of the Halberd.

"I'm not certain," Sir Galahad replied. He had a holographic map of the known universe up on one of the tables, and he was busy studying it. "None of our records have any off phenomenon marked down for this quadrant. Admittedly, it might be something new, but if that's the case, then there's no telling just what it might be."

"Is there any chance that it could be a danger to us?" Meta Knight asked.

Galahad shrugged. "I hope not, but like I said before, there not really a way to tell. The anomaly is too large to just dodge, and even if we tried to halt our course right now, the special drift would send us in anyway. The Halberd is a powerful ship, but she wasn't designed to move backwards at the thrust necessary to avoid it."

"So, we have no choice," Sir Arthur said in a low tone. "We are going in, whether we want to or not."

The group looked out the window at the odd phenomena out in front of them. It was barely visible in the darkness of space, but if one looked closely, they would notice that some stars seemed to have an unnatural overlapping quality. Some of them would disappear for a moment and then reappear, as if some body had crossed in front of them, blocking them from view and then moving to allow the view once more. These movements shifted between happening slowly and gently and quickly and violently, and there was no sign of what was causing the disturbance.

"I've never seen anything like it before," Meta Knight said. "Are you sure we've never heard of anything like this before?"

"I have," Sir Daroach commented, "but I never thought I'd see one with my own eyes."

"What do you mean?" Meta Knight asked.

Daroach used the Triple Star as a pointer as he explained. "Watch the stars closely as they vanish and reappear and you'll see what I mean," he stated. "Look at that one in particular, the bright blue one."

The others in the room did as he directed. The star was particularly bright and easy to notice, so it was an ideal target to keep watch over. After a moment, a wave came over the star, causing it to flicker out of existence. After a second, another star appeared, but it was a smaller yellow star, and it was sever centimeters to the right.

"See what I mean?" Daroach asked once the incident had happened. "The stars that disappear and the stars that reappear in their place are not the same."

"How could that be?" Sir Ebrum asked. "Stars don't just up and move themselves to other positions."

"You're right, they don't," Daroach replied. "If I am correct, then the stars aren't moving, space itself is. I suspect that this, at the very least, is a space anomaly, and it may very well be a space/time anomaly or ripple."

"I remember hearing something about time anomalies," Meta Knight commented. "It was right after Nicholas and his band joined up with us on Ripple Star. Queen Soleena said it was likely that they had hit a time anomaly, to explain why they appeared to have traveled seven million years through time."

"True, but this doesn't appear to be just a time anomaly," Daroach responded. "If that were the case, we wouldn't be able to see it. Remember, Nicholas couldn't remember seeing anything that signaled the rift. That would be because stars last so long. Even if an anomaly were shooting you into the far past or future, the stars would likely be the same. However, we can see where the rippling is occurring as the stars are changing position. That would suggest that this is either a space/time anomaly or, more harmlessly, just a space anomaly.

"So, we'll either be flung to another corner of space, or to another corner of space in a different era entirely." Heavy Knight crossed his arms. "Just wonderful, that was exactly what we needed right now."

"It shouldn't be all bad, though." Daroach hurried over to the map. "The one nice thing about these anomalies is that they tend not to close in a moment's notice. While we might not be able to avoid running into the warp, can turn around right away and head right to it." He touched several of the buttons controlling the map, causing their current position to be marked with a red X. "There. Now we'll know where the anomaly is. We'll need to figure out where we are and mark it on a new map once we're through, but once we are, we should have no problem turning around and getting back here without any trouble."

At that moment, the communicator went off. "Lor Starcutter to Halberd, please come in," the Starcutter called out. "What is going on in there?"

"We're here, Lor Starcutter," Sir Arthur replied, answering the radio. "What are you asking?"

"My sensors indicate there is some sort of dangerous anomaly over there," the living ship replied. "Why do you not turn around to avoid it?"

"We would if we could," Sir Arthur answered. "Unfortunately, we're not as maneuverable as you are, so were not able to keep from avoiding this trajectory. We'll have to go through and then turn around once we get out."

"That doesn't sound like a safe course of action," the ship replied. "The turbulence caused by that sort of distortion wouldn't be safe for me to go through, which could cause our party to be separated."

"Understood," Sir Arthur replied. "If that happens, continue on to Pop Star. We'll make it out on our own and catch up with you later."

"But sir," the Starcutter replied. "Isn't there another way?"

"Unfortunately, no. There's nothing we can do but weather it out." Sir Arthur's voice made it clear he didn't like the set of circumstances. "If you cannot make it through without significant damage to yourself, you'll need to head back without us. So I make myself clear?"

"As clear as can be, sir," the Starcutter replied, though it was also clear she didn't like what was going on. "Please be careful."

"We always are," Arthur said.

Before anything else could be said, there came an alarm. "What's going on?" Heavy Knight asked. "This shouldn't be set off by the anomaly."

Meta Knight hurried over to one of the primary control monitors and activated it. "It's not the anomaly. We are under attack!"

Sure enough, as they had been discussing their course of action, they had been approached by a fleet of new ships. As these ships drew closer, the mark of Nightmare on them became apparent. When they were close enough to now see individually, the newcomers opened fire on the Halberd, which was what had set off the alarms.

"Blast!" Sir Arthur exclaimed. "This is the last thing we needed right now." Hurrying over to the radio systems. "Everyone who knows how to handle a ship's weapon, to your stations! We are under attack!"

In response, every available hand hurried to do as ordered. Men and women hurried to their posts, preparing both shields and cannons for the fight. Those who could not fight strapped themselves in even tighter, getting ready for the rough trip that a battle always signaled.

In the fight, the Halberd had the advantage in that it was so much larger and more powerful than any of its foes. None of the enemy ships even came close in size or firepower. The advantage, however, was bought at the price that the ship wasn't very maneuverable. Dodging blasts was simply out of the question, so the defenders could only take the blasts and hope that the shields would hold out.

The Lor Starcutter, however, had the great advantage that, though not as large as the Halberd, was still well armed and was much faster and more maneuverable. She was able to weave in and out among the enemy fleet, shooting down the attackers as they came too close and making sure that her larger companion still had an area of retreat. She wasn't as heavily armored, but her speed and fighting abilities meant that, as long as she was on the move, she didn't really need to be concerned with getting hit.

Unfortunately, the advantages these two ships had were outweighed by one simple fact: they were vastly outnumbered. While the defenders had advantages in speed, strength, and firepower, they were only two, while every time an enemy ship fell, it appeared that three came to take its place. Nightmare, it appeared, had prepared for the fight by sending in hundreds upon hundreds of small ships, and didn't care how many of them had to fall for his foes to be vanquished.

The struggle became even rougher as the Halberd was forced into the anomaly. The ship quivered as its hull was forced into the rift, and the expected turbulence of the rift was only made worse by the fire the ship was under. To make matters worse, since the ship had entered the rift, it was forced farther and farther away from the Lor Starcutter, who had to dodge away lest she be pulled in as well.

Her fear was well grounded. The Halberd was capable of surviving the trip, as it was so strong and expertly crafted, but the smaller enemy ships surrounding it were not. These ships, which had been swarming the Halberd's hull as it entered, was pulled in by the anomaly and shredded in the process. Seeing this, the other ships mostly tried to stay away, but a few of them were not successful in this attempt.

As she saw her companions pulled away, the Starcutter made one last attempt at a call. "Come in, Halberd! What's happening? Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Not at the moment," Sir Galahad answered, as Sir Arthur was to busy to at the moment. "We'll be fine. It seems these annoyances can't handle the anomaly. We'll go through as planned, which should deal with them, and then slingshot around continue on. Go on to Pop Star; we'll meet you there!"

"Alright, then," Starcutter responded. "See you there. Over and out!" The ship then maneuvered away from the rift and hurried off to do as ordered.

Due to the size of the ship, it took a few moments for the Halberd to make it through, but once they did, Sir Galahad's prediction appeared to come true. Most of the enemy ships, noting that their prey had gone through a patch that was too dangerous for them, turned around and headed back to Nightmare's fortress to report back.

All but one, that is. A black and red ship, smaller than the others but much more sturdily built, zipped past and hurried into the rift itself. It didn't have any fear of being detected by the Halberd, since it was a smaller, personal ship, but that didn't matter. It had another mission to fulfill.

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Once they were through the rift, a sense of relief echoed in those on board the Halberd. The turbulence of the trip ended after a few minutes, and everyone stood stock still, waiting to see if there were any more attacks on the way. However, there were no more tremors or blows that would signal firing. They were alone and, for the most part, uninjured. It appeared that the worst of that trip was over.

"We're now through," Daroach said. He got up and began working with the map again. "Let's plot these stars out and see where we are, shall we?"

"There's no need," Galahad responded, and his voice lost some of it's tone. "Come here, everyone, take a look." He pointed out the window to the planet they were near. "I don't expect you youngsters to know what that is, but of those of us who had been around longer, don't you recognize where we are?"

The elder members of the group followed the trail he was pointing out, and in a moment, there were cries of shock.

"How could this be?" Rosalyn asked. "I thought it was destroyed?"

"If we went through a time portal, it could be that we went to a past there the destruction had yet to occur," Arthur said.

"Still," Heavy Knight commented, "I never thought we'd ever see it again."

"So you know where we are?" Meta Knight asked.

"If so," Daroach commented, "it would be helpful if you let everyone else know where we are are what we're dealing with."

"That planet," Galahad replied, "is Popopo."

There was a moment's pause before anyone could speak. "Popopo?" Meta Knight asked when that time wore off. "Are you quite certain that this is the place?"

"There's no doubt," Heavy Knight replied. "It looks just like it did the day I found your egg."

"If that is the case, then it is imperative that we not land there," Sir Arthur said. "We've gone through enough without having to set foot on that death world." Turning to the command center, Arthur pressed a button to call up the engineers. "Fire the engines in reverse," he ordered. "We want to make it back through that ripple and to our own time as soon as possible."

"There's going to be a bit of a problem with that," Doc replied. The mouse engineer had been hard at work on that level, and he was the one to answer the call. "Engines one, three, and six were all damaged to being useless, and the remaining engines were weakened. We'll need to land to make repairs if we have to turn around so soon."

"Is this something that needs to be done now, or can it wait until we get back to Pop Star?" Arthur asked.

"If we go through that rift again like we are, we aren't making it to Pop Star," Doc answered. "Best case scenario, the turbulence rips the remaining engines into shredded cheese and we float out in space until we reach a planet or all starve to death. Worst case, we are all ripped into shredded cheese."

"Of course, this had to happen now," Arthur muttered under his breath. "Doc, do you have what you need to repair the engines on board? Could you repair the ship on orbit?"

The mouse shook his head. "No can-do. We've got the supplies we need, but the engines need to be running to even stay in orbit, and we can't do repairs while the engines are running. Like I said before, we need to land, and the sooner the better."

Arthur sighed when he heard that response. "It looks like we don't have any choice. There is a habitable planet nearby that we will land on. Once we are there, we'll land for a short time to make repairs, and more experienced warriors will gather supplies. Everyone else should stay on the ship."

"Got it!" Doc called out before ending the call.

"Meta Knight," Arthur said as the younger Puffal made a line for the wheel, "move to land on Popopo."

"Any specific area?" Meta Knight asked as he grasped the wheel."

"The Eye of Macunel," Arthur replied. "It's that huge island over there. It's an area that's rich in resources and more well known."

"All the same," Galahad said, "we should only let those who have had experience in defending themselves leave the ship. There isn't any place on Popopo that is truly safe."

"I defer to your judgment, my friend," Sir Arthur said. "You have more experience on this planet than anyone here; you pick who you think can handle the trip."

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"Left out of the loop and back on laundry detail!" Tuff declared after the ship had landed. "After what happened in Patch Land, you'd think they'd give us a little more credit than this."

The children were sitting in a side area of the ship, back again to folding the laundry. They had been told to get back to the chores at hand once the ship had landed, and once more, the sensation of boredom was starting to get to some of the kids.

"I don't think it's us," Adeleine replied. "It's just that this planet is so dangerous."

"Weren't there a few pages on Popopo in Sir Heavy Knight's journal?" Tiff asked. "I think I remember something or other being mentioned there?"

"I remember that, too," Ado answered. "It's just that we skipped over those parts because they weren't very interesting."

"They would have been interesting now," Tuff grumbled under his breath.

Through this whole conversation, Kirby had remained silent. He had intended to say a piece at first, but then view from a nearby window caught his attention. He floated over to get a look and hadn't been able to pull himself back since.

As he gazed out, he couldn't help but be amazed by the world that was unfolded in front of him, even if it was only small portion of what this world truly had to offer. They had landed in a clearing, and not too far away from the ship was dense foliage. It looked a lot like the environment the Collector had kept him and the others in when she had kidnapped them, but much lusher. It was more real, and the look of the place almost seemed to call out to Kirby.

He was shaken from his trance by a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, Kirby, you alright?" Ribbon asked. "You've been over here for a while."

Kirby glaced over to her, then turned back to the window. "Wook at alla pwants," he said, pressing a paw against the window.

"Yeah, it's pretty neat to look at," Ribbon replied. "You have got to remember, though, as pretty as it is, this is still a dangerous world. There's lots of stuff out there that could hurt you. We've got to stay in here."

"Yeah," Kirby said with a sigh, but he still sat on the windowsill.

"Kirby…" Ribbon started, but she couldn't think of anything to say that might help.

"Don't be too worried about him," Tiff called over. "Remember, even if this is dangerous, this is Kirby's home planet. It'd be like you seeing Ripple Star for the first time, or me and Tuff seeing Pop Star. Dangerous or not, this is his origin, so whether or not he stays here, there's going to be a bit of curiosity."

"Alright then," Ribbon responded. "Just as long as it doesn't go anywhere dangerous."

While the other kids sat and finished up with the laundry, Kirby looked out on the surrounding territory, keeping an eye out for anything and everything that was available to see. For the most part, not much happened. A few plants swayed with the wind, or a bird or bug would flutter in and out of view. If he was lucky, a small reptile or furry creature would run into view, only to dodge back into the undergrowth a moment later. It was a strange mixture of oddly fascinating, yet at the same time, horribly boring.

Kirby was beginning to lose interest in the view when something caught his eye. A dash of blue passed through the undergrowth. At first, he dismissed it as another strange animal, but it came back a moment later, and he had to look again. It was a royal blue Puffal.

In an instant, Kirby was certain that he had seen Meta Knight. However, something seemed to be wrong. The Puffal wasn't wearing any armor and there was no mask. The little one shot up as soon as he realized this, certain that this meant that Meta Knight was in trouble. Jumping up, he hurried over to a small loading door that had been opened for the scavengers and dashed out, determined to help his father.

The others saw what he was doing and hurried after him. "Kirby!" Ribbon called out. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Medikni in twubah!" he shouted back, not pausing for a moment.

Not seeing any other option, Tiff, Tuff, Ribbon, and the artist twins grabbed their weapons and hurried after him. Lololo and Lalala were going to come, too, but Tiff held them back. "You stay here," she instructed. "Someone's got to tell the adults what's going on."

"But we want to help!" Lololo stated.

"Yeah, just like last time," Lalala insisted.

Tiff just shook her head again. "You'll help the most by staying here and making sure someone knows where we got to," she said. "I've got to go. Just please, hurry!" With that, she ran off.

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As soon as he had run off the ship, Kirby scanned the area for the blue Puffal. Thankfully, they hadn't gotten too far, and he spotted his quarry after a moment of searching. Without hesitation, he ran to catch up to the figure. "Poyo, wait!" he called out. "Kaabii gonna he'p!"

This attempt, though valiant, proved to be more difficult than he expected. For some reason, as soon as the blue Puffal heard his call, they took off running. Rushing through the trees, they kept ahead and didn't slow down for even a moment. Kirby had to struggle to keep them on his sights, and while he was able to do this task, it also meant he wasn't watching where he was going in the meanwhile.

At the same time, his five followers also struggled to keep up with him. Ribbon had the easiest time, since she was able to fly as opposed to having to watch her footing. Still, due to the plants that cluttered the area, she still had to struggle to keep up with Kirby. The four behind her had an even tougher struggle, and every couple of minutes, the Ebrum siblings were forced to pause so they could cut through the thick foliage to make a pathway they could travel through.

The chase went on for several minutes, with no end in sight that any of the pursuers could see. However, it all stopped in a moment. They reached an area that was relatively clear, and as soon as the blue Puffal broke into this area, an arrow whizzed out of nowhere, striking them in the side.

Once the arrow had landed, two more Puffals appeared, a brown one and a green one. The green one had a bow in his paw, and they approached the blue Puffal. Their manner did not suggest that their intentions were good.

Seeing this, Kirby fumed. "Stop!" he called out, charging the two new Puffals. "No hu't! Stop!"

The Puffals looked up, and for a moment it looked like they were going to attack Kirby. However, once they got a look at him, their expressions changed. They cried out in horror and turned to run away, the green one dropping his bow in the process. In a moment, the kids were alone with the injured blue Puffal.

Kirby kept at his run, reaching the fallen Puffal's side in an instant. He turned the figure over, desperate to help Meta Knight. However, once the Puffal was turned over, he could see it wasn't Meta Knight.

Though she looked a lot like Meta Knight, the Puffal's deep purple cheeks and markings by her eyes marked her as a female. What's more, her feet were purple, unlike Meta Knight's brown. He paws were clutching something tight to her body, and it was clear she didn't want to let it go.

Seeing Kirby, the female Puffal paused, as if amazed. She was shaken out of her shock, however, as the other kids broke through the foliage and arrived. Seeing the newcomers, she jerked back and attempted to get away.

Her wound kept that plan from being enacted. As soon as she had moved a few inches, she fell down again with a cry. The children hurried over to her side to try to help her up, but she was already loosing too much blood.

When they reached her, she looked directly at Kirby. "Kaabii?" she said, sounding amazed and confused.

"I's Kaabii," Kirby said in affirmation. "Kaabii gonna he'p."

The woman paused, as if in thought. Tears welled up in her eyes, and finally, she moved her paws. Reaching out, she handed Kirby the items she was holding. She then said something in a language the kids couldn't understand and leaned back against a near tree.

The kids looked to see what she had handed over. There were two items in Kirby's paws. One was a tight bound scroll of some sort with markings on the side, probably detailing who the scroll was to go to. The other was a small, deep blue egg.

Recognizing it as the same sort of egg his siblings had come out of, Kirby practically beamed. "'Sa eggy!" he exclaimed in delight. "'S yew eggy?" he asked turning back to the woman.

His question, however, had come to late. The moment after she had handed Kirby the bundle, the woman had died. Her wounds had just been too severe.

Kirby seemed unable to understand this. "Miss," he said, going over to try to wake the woman up. "Miss, yew okey?"

"I don't think that's going to work," Ribbon said.

Realizing what he had been told, Kirby looked on in distress. This was the first time someone that wasn't a monster had died in his presence, and he wasn't quite sure how to process it. He clutched the egg closer as tears began to pour down his face.

Seeing the effect this was having on the little one, Tiff nudged Ribbon. "You'd better get him out of here for a moment," she said. "We'll take care of the burial." Ribbon nodded in response and turned to lead Kirby off.

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Back at the Halberd, Lololo and Lalala were at a loss as to what to do. Like Tiff had said, they had attempted to get the attention of the adults to alert them as to what had happened. However, it seemed like everyone was too busy to listen to them. There was work to be done on the engine or supplies to prepare for. As such, the twins got swept under the rug more times than they liked.

They were just about to give up when they spotted Sir Galahad. "Sir! Sir, wait!" Lololo called out.

"We have something important to say!" Lalala added.

Turning to see the youngsters, Galahad nodded. "Oh, good afternoon, children. What is so important?"

Restraining a squeal, Lalala spoke up. "Sir, Kirby was looking out the window at the forest, and he spotted something out there!"

"Oh, that is nothing to be concerned about," Galahad began.

The twins, however, were not finished. "When he saw it," Lololo said, picking up from his sister, "he ran out to go deal with it!"

"Well that sounds-" Galahad began, but he cut himself off when he processed what he heard. "Wait, what? Kirby went out into the forest?"

"Uh-huh," Lalala responded. "He said that Meta Knight was in trouble and that he needed to help."

"The others went out with him," Lololo said. "We're not sure where they went, but Tiff sent us to go find help."

"Oh, this is very bad," Galahad said. "They couldn't have seen Meta Knight, because Meta Knight is helping in the command center. That means that, whatever they saw out there, they're now alone with it." He turned to run back to the command center. "You two find Sargent Cosmos and tell him what's going on. Stay put and whatever you do, do not leave this ship. Am I understood?"

"Yes, sir," both twins called back.

To be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Silver: Alright, announcement time. As of next Monday, I will have started the last chapter of Dreamland Chronicles. There will be this arc, and then two more, including the finale. Don't worry, it'll take some time to get there, but I just wanted to announce this milestone.
> 
> Wolf: On the other hand, after Dreamland Chronicles has ended, I will be starting to post my webcomic, Hidden Star, on Deviant Art immediately. While it will have a different plot from Dreamland Chronicles, a lot of elements from DC will come into play in this webcomic. As of this posting, it has 17 completed pages and I plan to post one page a week. I plan on continuing this project like Silver has worked on Dreamland Chronicles.


	106. Journey into the Past, Part 2

It was late afternoon by the time the kids were able to get back on their way. It had taken a while for them to give the woman a respectful burial, and they were rather exhausted, both physically and emotionally.

As they trekked back in the direction they thought lead to the ship, Tiff went over the scroll the woman had given them. She frowned as she went over the writing on it. "Some of these letters are familiar," she said, "but I can't read it. It's like someone took the lettering from common tongue and mixed it with another alphabet entirely."

"Maybe someone will be able to read it once we get back to the ship," Adeliene commented. "After all the Star warriors did make trips to Popopo in the time before the Downfall; it would make sense that they'd know the language."

"Maybe," Tiff agreed, tightening the scroll back into a roll and tucking it into her pocket. "At the very least, there will probably be a way to decipher it. I still can't help but wonder why she gave it to us."

As they were walking along, Kirby kept his attention firmly on the little blue egg. By this time, he had recovered somewhat from the death that had occurred before him, and he was now focusing on the little orb. After all, it was up to him to make sure nothing bad happened to it.

Seeing his focus, Ribbon flew over to his side. "Hey, Kirby," she said, "do you need a break? I could take that egg for a while, if you'd like."

It took a moment for Kirby to register her suggestion, but when he understood, he shook his head. "Uh-uh," he replied. "Kabbii a good big bwovah. Take good ca'e of eggy."

Ribbon smiled. "Alright then, but if you need it, don't be afraid of asking for help. Everyone here can assist you, and it doesn't make you less responsible to ask for help."

"Kaabii know," he replied. Still, he hugged the egg tight to keep it warm.

They walked on for a few more minutes, but a sense of foreboding filled the kids. "I don't think we walked this far before," Tuff said. "We should have reached the Halberd by now."

"It'll be around here," Tiff replied. She gave a frown and pushed ahead. "Just beyond this shrubbery, I'm sure of it."

"Really?" Ado glanced around her surroundings, not quite sure of her friend's confidence. "I don't recognize anything around here. Maybe we're lost."

"We're not lost!" Tiff responded in a huff. "I made sure to keep an eye on the path we were taking before! I'm sure if we just keep on for a while, we'll be back at the ship in no time!"

The others didn't argue, since it wouldn't make a difference, but they did not share her confidence in her path-finding abilities. Still, just sitting still and doing nothing wouldn't help with anything, so they followed after her and hoped that she was right and they were wrong.

Unfortunately, after walking aimlessly for about twenty-five minutes, it became clear that wasn't the case. Everyone had to admit they were lost.

"Uh, alright, I can handle this," Tiff said, though she sounded less confidant than she wanted to. "I remember that the Halberd was in a clearing, which means we just need to find a clearing and then we'll be golden."

"We've been looking for a clearing for at least an hour," Tuff retorted. "I don't think this is the right direction."

"We should get in a tree," Ado recommended. "Maybe if we get a higher perspective, we'll be able to find our way-"

Before she could finish, the roar of engines could be heard in the distance. Turning towards the source of the sound, the kids spotted a plane landing in the distance. It was a tiny plane, like those sent off for scouting trips.

"That must be the adults!" Tiff declared. "Come on! Once we reach that ship, we should be home free!"

The group picked up speed, racing over to where the ship had landed. They hoped upon hoped that the ship was a Star Warrior scout ship sent to look for them. However, as they go closer, they could tell that the ship was not a Star Warrior line.

It was a rather angular ship, small and triangular to make it move fast and silent. It had a red and grey coloring pattern, and the window of the cockpit was tinted so that the investigators couldn't see inside it. It was vastly clear that, whoever this ship belonged to, it wasn't the Star Warriors.

They still approached, however, since they hoped that whoever was inside could help them to get back to the Halberd. Reaching the wing of the ship, Tuff knocked on it. "Hello!" he called out. "Is anyone in there? We could use some help!"

There was a pause as the kids waited to see if the call would bring any help. In a moment, the cockpit opened up, and the children leaned in to see who it was that was inside. When they saw, they immediately jumped back and took off running into the forest.

Seeing their response, the pilot gave a grin. So, they were trying to get away, were they? It was of no matter. The Galactic Knight was on the hunt.

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Once news got out that several kids were lost in the Macunel forest, fear spread out among the crew of the Halberd. There was no one among the older crew who had not, at the very least, heard of the dangers that lurked among Popopo wildlife. If children were lost, then their very lives were in grave danger.

Still, they could not leave without trying to find them. After instructing the mechanics to continue with their work on the engines, Arthur gathered together a group of the most experienced Star Warriors to form search parties to look for the kids. Of course, all the present parents were among the searchers, and the each group of two kept together with the others through radios.

Meta Knight and Daroach were one team. They moved through the forest fast, though not at a run. The infamy of the Popopo wilderness kept them cautious, as a misstep step could lead to disaster.

"I can't believe they'd pull something like this," Meta Knight grumbled. "Everyone was warned to stay onboard the ship. How could they think something like this would be alright?"

"They are young, and if those twin's report is correct, they believed they were going to help someone," Daroach responded. "Not like anyone else I know."

"That was different," Meta Knight replied with a huff. "I was younger than even Kirby at the time. I hadn't even had my first copy ability yet. And, if you remember, that little incident didn't end well for you."

"True." Daroach gave a small shrug. "However, you can't play it off like you don't know what's going on. Kirby is your very image. Or, at least, the image of you before the Downfall."

"Not entirely true," Meta Knight said. "Kirby's far bolder than I was." He shook his head. "I've tried to teach him about strategy, but he leaps right into the thick of things when he thinks he's going to help."

"So, just exactly like Jecra," Daroach commented.

"Yes," Meta Knight answered. There was a pause after this statement, as neither of them could think of something to say once the name of their fallen compatriot was brought up.

They didn't need to carry on the conversation, however, as they soon came up to a clearing. There were signs of a minor battle in the area, and at the base of a great tree was a freshly dig grave.

Wandering over to the grave, Daroach examined it. "They were here," he said.

"How can you tell?" Meta Knight asked, joining his friend by the small mound.

"Look at the patterns here," Daroach replied, running his paw over the mound. "And the markings left on this tree. This is a Dreamlander tradition for marking graves. Parm and Memu were generous enough to let me research into the customs of their people, and I found out quite a few details of interest."

"For one thing," he continued. "The style of burial here is unique to Dreamlander culture. The way the dirt runs in an almost zig-zag pattern is used as a way to honor those who have been slain. The markings here, too, are significant." He ran a claw over the scratches in the tree bark. "They mark that this is the grave of an unnamed grown woman. These signs both show that the Ebrum children, probably Tiffany, headed the burial, and that is was not one of the children themselves who died."

"Still," he said, straightening up and brushing off his coat, "this only tells us they were here, not where they got to. We had best get to looking for a-"

"Shh!" Meta Knight said sharply. "Be quiet for a moment. Can you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Daroach asked, twitching his ears in such a way as to seek out sound.

They stayed still and silent, waiting for the sound to become clear. It came after a moment, an odd sound, like a rustling of leave. After a moment, the sound became louder and louder. A few more minutes of listening, and it became clear that what they were hearing was the flapping of wings.

That was when they could see just what it was they were facing. A flock of brightly colored bird-like creatures was flying right for them. Each of them was a different color, but they all had the same build. A bird like body with a reptilian head, and a pair of feet that each had one razor sharp claw at the end.

"It's a flock of flappies!" Meta Knight shouted out. "Run, before they reach us!"

The duo took off, racing to escape from their winged pursuers. The flappies, however, had noticed them already. They flock dived right at them, and some in the lead of had opened their mouths in anticipation, revealing three or four rows of sharp teeth.

Run though they might, Meta and Daroach were nowhere near fast enough to keep ahead of their winged pursuers. The flappies had the advantage, due to the speed they could generate in the air. After a minute, the cries of the monsters could be heard loud and clear. After two minutes, the winds caused by their wings could be felt without any difficulty.

Not wanting to wait until their teeth could also be felt, Meta Knight scanned around for an area to provide shelter from the approaching animals. Spying an alcove in a nearby hill, he turned to head to it. "Come on! This way!" he shouted out, motioning for Daroach to follow him.

The mouse said nothing, but he did as he was instructed. He knew well his friend's ability to seek out places of shelter and thus trusted his judgement of the situation.

Thankfully, they were able to reach the alcove before they flappies could reach them, but the beasts did not stop their pursuits. They dived, swooping at the duo as they squeezed into the shelter. The small cave, however, was covered over and the entrance was rather small, so the beasts could not make it in there in flight. They could, however, swarm the area surrounding the cave, blocking it off and keeping the two Star Warriors from any chance of escape.

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The kids ran as fast as they could, knowing full well that there was a madman on their tail. They ran without any caution, more willing to take their chances with the flora and fauna of the forest than with the known agent of Nightmare.

Behind them, the Galactic Knight pursued them, but not at full strength. No, let them exhaust their energy thinking they were his primary target as he tended to other matters. He would kill them, eventually, if Popopo didn't do it for him. He had another, more important mission, but not one that would make him forget the relaxing side pursuit.

Unaware of their pursuer's nonchalance, the kids plunged through the woods. Before long, they noticed that they were left alone and were able to take a breath.

"What is he doing here?" Adeleine asked.

"Well, we were just chased here by a bunch of Nightmare's cronies," Ribbon pointed out. "He must have been among the attackers outside the time ripple."

"But I thought they were all torn up by the anomaly," Ado said.

"We must have been wrong." Tuff straightened up. "That creep's not going to give up hunting us that easily. We might have lost him now, but we're going to need to push ahead and get back to the Halberd before he can catch up to us."

Tiff nodded. "Good idea. Does anyone have any idea where the ship is?"

"It's that way!" multiple voices cried out. Unfortunately, for everyone who spoke, a pathway was being pointed out in a different direction. It was clear that they were still miserably, hopelessly lost.

Before any more arguing over which way was the right way, the sound of giggling broke through the air. It was a light, airy sound. "There's someone there," Ado stated after the laughter had been heard. "I'm going to ask for directions."

She hurried off in the direction of the laugh and the others pushed through the brush to follow. When they came out of the undergrowth, they found that the source of the sound was a flower. It was a flower about the same height as Tuff, with bright yellow petals and a widely smiling face. It seemed to be swaying in the wind in a sort of dance, and the eyes turned this way and that, as if scanning the area for anything that might approach it.

Kirby took one look at the flower and backed down. "C'mon, wets go," he said, clutching the little egg tight and inching away from the flower.

"Kirby, what's wrong?" Ado asked. "Maybe that flower knows the way back to the ship, or at least can give us an idea of what we need to do."

"No," Kirby replied, backing up. He cast a weary look over at the flower. "It bad. We go now."

"This isn't like you, Kirby," Adeliene commented. "You're usually happy to meet new people."

"Not peopah, monstah," Kirby said. He took a few more trotting steps away from the flower. "We gotta go, it gonna eat us."

The flower giggled but said nothing, either to agree or disagree with the Puffal.

"Kirby, it's fine," Tiff replied. "It's just a flower. Look, if you don't want to go near it, you don't have to. I will, and you can stay back there."

"No! Don' go!" Kirby cried, but his warning wasn't heeded.

Tiff took a few steps closer to the flower. "Miss…mister…uh, we're kind of lost here. You see, we're looking for a giant ship that landed somewhere in this forest, and we were wondering if you could direct us to where our ship might be."

The flower said nothing, only giggled again. However, that was not the only response that happened. More flowers of the same kind began creeping out of hiding. They snaked their way out of undergrowth and down and out of the great trees. Soon, where there had just a single flower open and visible, hundreds of them crept around the group so that they were surrounded.

"Is anyone else majorly creeped out by this?" Tuff asked as the kids bunched up together.

"Just because they're really, really creepy doesn't necessarily mean their dangerous," Tiff said, though her voice shook and she was just as eager as the others to get away from the strange flora.

The group started to make their way away from the creepy smiling flowers, but it was too late. As they attempted to inch away, the flowers moved quickly, blocking off their rout of escape. They reared back and bunched up, several of them gathering their petals around their faces so that their images were obscured.

"Kirby," Ribbon said as they kids gathered together away from the flowers, "I think you are right about these things."

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Within the small hollow, Meta Knight worked to protect himself and Daroach from the swarm of flappies that was still plaguing the entrance. He had the better chance between the two of them, as he could still get a portion of Galaxia outside of the cave to ward off the offending creatures.

Unfortunately, however, this was not enough to get the flappies to leave. When he struck out, there was always a beast that was felled, or at least injured, but once one was dealt with, another swooped down to take its place.

It seemed as if they would never be able to escape from the shallow cave, as the predators refused to let up. Things were looking bad when, all of a sudden, a loud, yowling-like screech rended the forest. The sound caused the two Star Warriors to freeze where they were.

They weren't the only ones effected. As soon as the screech range out, the flappies too heed, too, and took to the sky. They hurried as fast away from the area as they could. Meta and Daroach waited for a moment, not eager to rush out if there were any of the flappies left, but when it became clear that their pursuers had all fled, they came out.

"That was a stroke of luck in our favor," Daroach commented, looking over the bodies of several slain flappies. "Whatever it was, it scared away the beasts for the moment."

"Yes, but do we want to take our chances with whatever it was that made that sound?" Meta asked.

"We had best get a move on, then," Daroach replied, giving the Triple Star a playful twirl. He adjusted his hat so that it would better shield it from the sun. "Perhaps it would be wise for us to seek the company of some other band?"

"Good idea," Meta Knight replied. He pulled out his radio. "Meta Knight here. We've just had a run-in with hostile local wildlife. We've made it out alright, but we'd rather not risk another danger if it is avoidable."

"We hear you loud and clear," Sir Ebrum replied. "From where your radio is transmitting, we're the closest to your location."

"We'll come to meet you," Meta Knight said. "We have some good news, but some troubling news as well, and it would not be good to stay around the area."

Having sent their message, he adjusted a small map-computer so that it was locked onto the Ebrums' location. Making haste, the journeyed out to meet the leaders of the Children of Erran.

They found the couple out in a small grove of fruit trees. When she looked up, Lady Like spotted the newcomers. "Hullo! Over here!" she called out, waving for them to join her and her husband.

Meta and Daroach were quick to comply. "Good to see you," Daroach commented. "You two haven't had any difficulty with the local fauna, now have you?"

"Not as of yet, thankfully," Sir Ebrum replied. "We did see a massive flock of birds, but they didn't come near us."

"That was because they came near us," Meta Knight responded. "We were just about swarmed by them, until something else scared them away."

"Oh, how dreadful," Lady Like replied. "You aren't hurt, are you?"

"Thankfully, no." Meta Knight gave a small smile as he shook his head. "We were able to get to shelter in time before they could truly hurt us, and we made it away before the creature that scared them off turned up."

"We do have a bit of good news, though," Daroach added. "We do know that the children came by here."

"You saw them?" Lady Like asked, hope clear in her voice.

Daroach shook his head. "I'm afraid we weren't that lucky. No, we found markings that the children had been around. There was a burial left in the style of your people. No doubt it was Tiffany and Humphry's handiwork."

"A burial?!" Sir Ebrum exclaimed. "You wouldn't think that one of the children were killed, do you?"

"No, the markings were for a grown woman, not a child," Daroach replied. "Likely some native the children ran into. Still, as there are many dangers that abound in these areas, it would be best not to sit on our hands and wait to see what happens next."

"Quite right," Sir Ebrum replied. "So, we know the children went by that clearing, though it would be best not to go back that way. Do we have any idea of how we might find what path they may have taken."

"I will take a flight up, and see if there aren't any signs," Meta Knight said. "I probably won't spot the children themselves because of all the tree cover. Still, there might be signs of their travel that would could use to track them down."

"Please, do," Lady Like responded, giving a quick nod.

Meta Knight spread his wings in an instant and took to the skies. Once he broke through the cover of the trees, he made a mental note of where the others were so that he wouldn't lose them before taking off to look for the children.

After flying for a short while, he spotted the clearing where he and Daroach had been attacked by the flappies. It was now empty, save for a large beast with sickle like paw. He recognized it as a beast he had been warned of before, the kirasakin. "Glad we got out of there when we did," he muttered to himself, happy to be safely out of reach of the creature.

He flew on a bit further before he came upon another area. It was a clearing, but a smaller one than before. It had clearly been disturbed recently, so that was a better option than anywhere else to look for signs of the children.

He dropped a tracking device into the clearing so they would be able to find it once more. That task completed, he turned and flew back to the area where Daroach and the Ebrums still sat, waiting for him.

"Did you find anything?" Sir Ebrum asked.

Meta Knight nodded. "Yes. About a mile and a half away from here, there's a clearing that had been disturbed by movement. I planted a tracker so we could find it again."

"Well, we had best move on, then, now shouldn't we?" Lady Like asked. She pulled out her knife-fan and held it at the ready before moving into the forest. The men, likewise, readied their own weapons and hurried after her.

They were careful to avoid the larger clearing from before, since none of them had any intention to deal with the kirasakin, but that proved easy enough to do. Moving around, they were able to make it to the clearing without too much difficulty.

When they arrived, however, the entire area was empty. There were a few footprints left over, as signs that there had been someone there, once upon a time, but those were the only signs that the area wasn't totally abandoned.

"You said you saw movement in here, right?" Daroach asked.

"This is the place," Meta Knight responded. "And this is the place where I left the tracking device. I don't know where it could have gotten to."

Sir Ebrum wandered around. "Well, someone was here, that much is clear. There must be something around here that will tell us who they were." He continued walking around, and would have kept this practice up if he hadn't run in to something invisible and been knocked back. He fell backwards with a grunt.

"Darling, are you alright?" Lady Like exclaimed, rushing to her husband's side.

He nodded in a moment. "Quite alright, my dear, but I do believe I've found something."

Daroach nodded. "Yes, whatever this is, it's been covered by a cloaking device. That shouldn't be too hard to get through, and once we're finished, we should have an idea of what we're dealing with."

He worked for a while on a small, portable computer. After a moment, there was a sharp beep from the computer, signaling that it had succeeded at jamming the cloaking signal. "There we go!" he exclaimed with a smile.

The object soon went from clear to opaque, and the adults could see it for what it was. It was a small ship, painted in dark colors. They could tell in an instant that it was not one of the Star Warriors' ship.

In a heartbeat, they hurried out into the forest with a renewed vigor. They now knew the danger was more than they could have anticipated, since they were not only dealing with dangerous animals, but a servant of Nightmare as well.

To be continued…


	107. Journey into the Past, Part Three

"So, what do we do now?" Ribbon asked as the group huddled together. The flowers' expressions hadn't changed from when they first appeared. Most of them still had that pseudo-pleasant smile and that cheerful laugh. The fact that this was their default expression while a number of them had started to open and close their petals in a menacing pattern only made the atmosphere more hostile and unnerving.

"We try to inch our way out of this," Tiff replied. "After all, we don't have any proof that they're hostile yet, just weird."

The other nodded, and inch by trembling inch, they attempted to work their way over to an area where there were fewer of the strange blossoms. It seemed to be working, as the flowers made no move other than to continue their strange dance.

That luck ran out pretty quickly, though. They had gotten several feet from an area of escape when one of the flowers that had its petals bunched let out a shriek before smashing itself into the ground by the kids. They were forced to scatter to avoid being struck, and the flower only missed by inches. It was a good thing that it had, too, since the ground where it struck was practically shattered by the blow.

"I'd say that's proof they're hostile!" Ado exclaimed. In a moment, she and her sister whipped out their paint brushes. With a flick of the wrist, two fireballs appeared out of the tips of the brushes and flew at the flowers. At the same time, the Ebrum siblings pulled out their bows and started slashing away at the flowers, which continued attempting to bludgeon them.

"Where are these things coming from?" Tuff asked as he spun his bow around. He succeeded at severing the stem of one of the flowers, causing it to fall to the ground harmlessly. However, with that one downed, another three came up and attempted to entwine him.

"It's like they are everywhere!" Ribbon called out. Even from the air, these creatures were causing trouble, and it was taking everything she had to avoid being tangled up by the flowers.

"They can't be everywhere, only everywhere around here," Tiff called out. "Once we figure out a way to cut ourselves out of this area, we should be fine. Kirby, how are you holding up?"

Kirby, at that moment, found himself at somewhat of a disadvantage, since he still was protecting the little egg. He held it huddled to his body, which meant that he was also having a hard time finding a way to inhale and copy anything around. He was able to ward off the flowers by delivering sharp kicks, but he was starting to struggle with that mode of fight.

"It ha'd!" he called out, delivering a kick to one of the flowers, holding the egg away from the aggressors. "Gotta wun away!"

"I'm with you there, but how are we going to do that?" Ado asked. She spun around, summoning a large razor. Unfortunately, it was only able to slice through several of the flowers before becoming weak, and several hard blows from the flowers caused it to shatter and melt back into paint.

"We've got to just keep this up and hope that they weaken before we do," Tiff called out. She let loose an arrow at some of the flowers that were in the upper regions of the trees before slashing again at some of the flowers around her.

"How can we even hope that?" Adeleine asked. "There are so many of them, and just the six of us!"

As she wove in and out to avoid getting caught, Ribbon noticed something about the attackers. "Hey guys, guess what! This isn't a lot of plants, this is only one plant with a lot of heads!"

"Well, gee, that sure is a comfort to us," Tuff replied sarcastically. "So we'll all just feed one plant instead of thousands. That's so much better."

"No, really, listen to me!" Ribbon called out. "This could be to our benefit. Ado, Adeleine, can you paint up some plant killer?"

"Sure," Ado answered, "but I'm not sure it's going to kill this thing."

"It doesn't have to," Ribbon responded. "If you can get one of those things to swallow the poison, then it should spread to, and weaken, the rest of the heads. It might not kill it, but it also might give us a better chance of escape!"

"Alright, I guess it can't hurt," Ado called back. With a flick of their brushes, the twins painted up two large balls of weed killer. They then shot the killer at some of the plants that had left their faces unguarded. The shots hit their marks, and several of the flowers ended up swallowing the weed killer.

At first, there seemed to be no effect. The flowers continued their rhythmic dance and attack pattern with apparently no change. After a few minutes, however, there came a marked change. All the flowers seemed to slow down a bit, and though they kept the creepily cheerful looks on their faces, they appeared rather wilted and ill looking.

"Now's our chance!" Ribbon called out. "Tiff, Tuff, can you guy do a large Sword Beam?"

"On it!" Tiff called back as she and her brother charged up the sword-like portions of their bows. They then unleashed the beams, which sliced right through the hordes of flower heads.

Weakened by the weed killer, the flowers couldn't gather up quickly enough to block up the newly opened escape route. Taking the opportunity now opened to them, the kids rushed through the gap, Ribbon grabbing Kirby to help him speed up, and made it away from their attackers. The flowers attempted to go after them, but rooted to one spot, they couldn't keep up with the fleeing children.

Once they had made it away from the grove of killer flowers, the kids stopped and caught their breath. "Kirby," Tuff said between pants, "I know you guys come from this planet, but I'm sorry, I hate this world!"

"'S key," Kirby replied. "Kaabii wanna go home, too."

"We just need to find our way back to the Halberd," Adeleine said. "Once we make it back to the ship, we should be home free."

"We'll need to do it without catching the attention of any more killer animals, plants, or that psychotic knight," Ado groaned. "Why can't we ever take one trip that doesn't involve having to fight for our lives against some sort of horrible monster?"

"Because it wouldn't be us if we didn't," Tuff said, giving a weak laugh. "Come on, we'll have a better chance if we keep moving."

As they headed out, they had no way of sensing the beady, dark eyes that watched them closely. Nor could they hear the paw steps as the creature hurried to follow them.

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"We have an urgent alert!" Meta Knight called out through the radio as he and his companions hurried through the forest. "We are not alone on this world. I repeat, we are not alone! A servant of Nightmare is also somewhere on this planet!"

"We hear your call," Sir Galahad called back. "Do you have any idea of who it is we're dealing with?"

"No specifics," Meta Knight replied, "but we did find the ship. It is a small, one person ship, and it was empty by the time we made it there. Whoever brought it here attempted to cover it with a cloaking mechanism, but we were able to uncover it."

"Very well," Arthur said, calling over another radio. "Everyone, stay on alert. We know we are dealing with at least one of Nightmare's troops, and there may be more than one. Keep your eyes open and your weapons at hand. It is more important now than ever that we find those children and get off of this world!"

"Right!" Every person on the radio call practically answered in unison to order before hanging up.

When the call was finished, the four companions turned back to the matter at hand. "Here," Lady Like called out, motioning for the men to come join her. "Look over here. I think I've found footprints."

The other three came over and examined the area she was pointing out. "Those are footprints alright," Daroach responded. "Looks like they're fresh, too. Someone, maybe the kids, were here, and here recently."

"And they left in a hurry, by the looks of things," Meta Knight added.

"You don't think they were chased out by whoever was piloting that ship, do you?" Sir Ebrum asked.

Lady Like stood straight at that question, and with a look of sheer determination, charged right into the forest ahead. "There's only one way to find out, and I intend to fulfill it right away," she stated, emphasizing her words with a flourish of her knife-fan.

The three men nodded and hurried after her. There was no doubt in their minds that what she said was completely true, and that she was fully capable of carrying out her intentions.

Thankfully, tracking the children proved to be rather easy, since in their rush, they hadn't thought about covering up their tracks. They had been, however, moving at a higher speed than the adults were now, so there was quite a but of ground to cover.

"Alright, it looks like they stopped running here," Meta Knight said when they came to an area where the trail wasn't quite as clear. "They still came over this way, and went right over…there." He pointed to some foliage. "We'd better get a closer look."

As they came nearer, to their distress, they found that the foliage was horribly torn up. Signs of fire and sword damage were everywhere, and the area looked as if a battle had gone down in it. It was not the sort of place that parents wanted to think their children had been in.

"It appears as if there was some sort of struggle here," Sir Ebrum stated, holding his dueling pistols at the ready. "Maybe with the Nightmare agent?"

"Unlikely," Daroach said. "All this damage was done with Star Warrior weaponry and paint magic. There would be elements of Nightmare's evil everywhere if one of his had been part of the fight. However, I do think I know what they were fighting against."

He pointed out to a nearby grove, which was covered with bunches of smiling, albeit ill-looking flowers. "Don't get too close," Daroach warned. "If I remember correctly from Galahad's journal on Popopo wildlife, that's a lovely. Lovelies are a member of the Gobchomplin class, multi-headed monstrosities that eat flesh. From the fact that there are no bodies around here, and this one looks so beat up, I'd say the kids won, but there was a struggle in it. They're probably pretty weakened by now."

"Then we need to find them before any more wildlife or that agent of Nightmare finds them," Meta Knight stated.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry so much about them," a voice from behind said. The team spun around and found themselves face to face with Galactic Knight. The evil warrior narrowed his eyes. "After all, you're the ones who are in danger right now."

In an instant, the band of fighters sprang into action. Lady Like and Daroach took the rear, swinging off a volley of knife-feathers and stars, respectively. At the same time, Sir Ebrum aimed his pistols and opened fire. Meta Knight took to the air, raising Galaxia in anticipation of a coming melee battle.

Galactic Knight was ready for them all. Leaping up, he effortlessly dodged the volley of projectiles, and moved too fast for the gunshots to reach him. Spreading his wings, he charged at Meta Knight, and sword and lance met each other with a clang of metal clashing on metal.

Meta Knight worked to keep the killer in a battle with him, but that didn't mean the others were about to sit around and do nothing. Working their way from below, Sir Ebrum and Daroach continued to attempt to fire at Galactic Knight, though they did have to reign some shots in to keep from harming Meta Knight. At the same time, Lady Like got an idea for what she could do from a small cliff behind the duelers. She would have to move fast, but if she made it to that hill, she would have a good opening.

"You're slower this time," Galactic Knight taunted. "What, can't take me without the Bloodwrath?"

"A true warrior does not need wrath to achieve victory," Meta Knight responded. He glanced down, taking note of what his team was up to, before turning his attention back to the fight. "Sometimes, he just needs to know when backup is needed."

In a split second, Meta Knight darted down, allowing himself to drop down a few feet before catching himself. Galactic Knight was not expecting that move and froze for a moment, trying to figure out just what his opponent was doing. That proved to be a mistake, as it allowed the five knives that Lady Like had flung in his direction to hit their mark.

Without the time to raise his shield, the knives mostly struck him in the face, but they were deflected back by his metal mask. However, one of the blades missed his face and struck his wing instead. It didn't cause a deep cut, but it did draw blood, and the villain was forced to land.

Once he was on the ground, the Star Warrior made quick work to surround him. Daroach and Sir Ebrum, who had been directly beneath the villain when he descended, move in quickly, grappling with the villain to pull him back. At the meantime, Meta Knight swooped over and caught Lady Like by the hand before turning around and bringing the two of them to the ground in front of where Galactic Knight had been trapped.

"Surrender now!" Meta Knight exclaimed as he and Lady Like hurried over to provide backup. "We have you out numbered and out armed. You have no chance of success."

"No chance, you say?" The Demon Beast began to give a dark laugh. "That might have been true for the weakling I once was. With the help of Nightmare, however, I have power that is untold!" He tossed off the two Star Warriors who had been holding him back, and in a moment, he raised his lance. "I call upon the Dark Fire!"

At first, it appeared as if nothing had happened, but then the ground began to shake. The tremors caused fissures in the earth to open up, and out of these splits came huge tongues of fire. The warriors were forced to scatter to avoid being burned alive.

"Do you see now?" Galactic Knight called. "I have been granted the very power of Nightmare himself! I can call on anything I need to fulfill any mission I choose, and right now, that mission is to destroy you!"

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Once the kids had escaped from the grove of killer flowers, the kids moved on to try to find their way back to the ship. After all they had gone through, it was starting to seem as if they were never going to make it back, and the temptation to give up was becoming incredibly strong.

They were able to resist, however, and their determination was soon rewarded. They took a small break, and while Kirby was tending to the egg, he caught a glimmer of something in the distance. Springing up, he hurried over to see what it was.

When he spotted it, he sprang up and started dancing with joy. "Wook! Poyo, wook! We saved! We gonna go home!"

"What's that, Kirby?" Ado asked, going up to join him and peering in the direction he was pointing. "Hey, wait! He's right!" She immediately turned and ran to join the others. "Guys, there's a Star Warrior ship, just over the bend! We're almost home free!"

The other got up when they heard this and looked out. To their delight, a small Star Warrior ship was there, landed among patches of Pep berries.

"Come on, then!" Tuff called out. "We'll be home free in no-!"

Before he could finish his sentence, a black creature sprang out of the foliage. It bowled over Tuff, and charged the other kids. It was huge and sleek, with pressed down fur. It also had sharp teeth, which gleamed dangerously. Its eyes locked on Kirby it let out a screech before charging again.

Kirby reacted fast, tucking the egg against his body and kicking the creature in the face. This stunned the beast, which gave Kirby the opportunity he needed to run. Leaping over his foe, he took off into the forest in an attempt to keep ahead of the beast.

Unfortunately, the stunning kick did not hold effect for very long, and it was only seconds after Kirby had run past that the beast scrambled back up and took off after him. The other children attempted to match speed with them so that they could help in the fight, but unfortunately, they weren't able to catch up on their own, and they soon fell far behind the pursuit.

Fear and adrenaline coursing through his veins, Kirby didn't bother to watch where he was running. All that he was watching was that he and the egg were safely away from the monster that had attacked them. However, this meant that he was not watching where his feet were falling, so before he had run too far ahead, he tripped. The egg tumbled from his paws and rolled into a patch of tough, sharp grasses.

In panic, Kirby scrambled near the patch, trying to find where the egg had rolled away to. Before he could find it, however, the beast from before arrived and attacked him. Kirby was forced to abandon the search, at least for the moment, to fight back.

It wasn't easy, since the beast had utilized the element of surprise to pin him to the ground. Kirby was a fast thinker, though, and as soon as he realized the position he was in, he reached over and snatched up a piece of grass and held it firmly in front of his face. The sharp point and stiffness of the grass meant that the beast could not attack him directly without cutting its own face up, though it would still not release the little Puffal from the prone position.

This was soon remedied, though. After some time of fighting, the sound of voices broke in. "Look, there they are!"

"I've got it!"

"Come on! Let's help!"

In a moment, there was a barrage of sword beams and paint attack. These flew around the beast's head, and it was soon forced to release Kirby and run off.

As soon as it was gone, Ribbon went up to help Kirby to his feet. "Kirby, are you alright?"

"Kaabii 'kay," Kirby answered as he accepted the help. However, he then paused and realized something was missing. "Eggy! Whe'e eggy go?" He scrambled into the grass patch, seeking out the egg in a panic.

Tiff, however, cut him off. "Kirby, it's okay. You don't have to worry."

"Eggy gone!" Kirby exclaimed in response. "Kaabii find eggy o' eggy die!"

"No, it's alright," Tiff insisted. "Look." She pointed out some distance, revealing that they were standing on a hill. At its base, a figure was moving away from the patches of grass with two bags.

Kirby peered out after him, but was still confused as to the point. "Who t'at?"

"That was Sir Heavy Knight," Tiff answered. "Or, should I say, the Sir Heavy Knight of the past. Remember, we traveled back in time. When we were arriving here, I saw him pick up the egg and put it in his bag. We can leave now, knowing the egg is safe."

"But how we know?" Kirby insisted.

Tiff gave a smile. "Because that egg will be Sir Meta Knight. Kirby, you just helped your grampa find your dad."

Kirby staired blankly ahead for a moment, not quite sure how to process the information he had just been given. His mind worked hard, trying to put the pieces in place, before he slumped down. "Kaabii head hu't."

"Don't worry," Ribbon said, settling down by his side. "You're not the only one who's confused."

Before anything else could be said, there was a sudden quake. Behind them, spouts of fire appeared from behind the trees, sending numerous animals into flight. Seeing the damage, the kids sprang to their feet.

"What is that?" Adeleine asked.

"Something we're going to have to stop," Tuff responded, twirling his bow in one hand. "Come on; let's go!"

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The battle against Galactic Knight was incredibly hard. Now supercharged with the power of a Demon Beast, the monstrous warrior was attacking without holding anything back. Even though they still outnumbered him, the four warriors had to keep moving to avoid being hit, which made attempts to fight back a struggle.

After the fire-spouts had died down, they had expected to receive some amount of relief. These hopes, as it turned out, were in vain. As soon as the fire had died down, then Galactic Knight took to the skies and summoned up balls of electricity, which he flung around him with great abandon.

The whole time, the four warriors were forced to run, scattering for cover and looking for an opportunity to get in an attack. Occasionally, Lady Like would be able to throw one of her knives, Sir Ebrum or Daroach would get in a shot, or Meta Knight could attempt a closer attack. If they were lucky, the attack might even hit its target.

These lucky blows, however, weren't often, and they often didn't do much. They would only slightly stun Galactic Knight before he focused again, unleashing an onslaught more ruthless than before. Their attempts were valiant, but it was becoming clearer to them by the moment that they weren't going to be able to win this way.

This fact was clear to Galactic Knight, too. Seeing his foes reduced to running for cover while looking for an opening, no matter how small, to attack, he let out a vicious laugh. "Now you see my power, don't you? You were never better than me, no matter what anyone thought! Now I will destroy you, Meta Knight! You and all you hold dear! Then I will-!"

He was cut off when two energy arrows came out of nowhere, striking him in the midsection. The blows were not enough to pierce his armor, but they were intense enough to knock him from the sky. He was knocked back a full eight feet, sending him plummeting to the ground.

"Oh, why don't you just shut your mouth?" Tuff asked as he and the other kids arrived on the scene. Both he and his sister had their hands on their bows, having just unleashed their arrows. "Or is it that you just can't get enough of the sound of your own voice?"

The adults turned in surprise as the children hurried in to help. They were about to tell them to leave, as it was too dangerous, but they were too late.

"I will destroy you all!" Galactic Knight bellowed, charging right at the group. Everyone was forced to scatter to avoid being impaled on the lance.

Meta Knight responded fast, springing straight into the air and slamming Galaxia down upon the lance. There was a clang of metal as the two came in contact.

Once more, the two took to the air and battled there. Those on the ground attempted to provide as much support as they could. Unfortunately, the two warriors were moving too fast and in too close proximity to each other for any firepower or projectiles to be profitable. There was just too much of a chance that they'd hit Meta Knight.

As they watched on, Adeleine noticed Kirby scrambling along the ground, looking for something that might be of help. Thinking quickly, she painted up a yo-yo. "Here, Kirby! Copy this!"

Kirby noticed her call and nodded. Jumping up, he inhaled deep and caught the yo-yo in his mouth. In a flash, he transformed into Yo-Yo Kirby.

This transformation came just in time, too. Nearly as soon as it happened, Meta Knight plummeted to the ground, and Galactic Knight landed nearby. "Now, Meta Knight," Galactic Knight said with a growl, "you shall taste the fires of Nightmare!"

He raised his lance, but before he could call up the flames, Kirby struck out with his yo-yo. It wound itself around the enemy warrior, and with a yank back, Kirby pulled him away from Meta Knight. As a result, when the fire sprang out of the ground, Meta Knight was able to leap out of the way to avoid demise.

Galactic Knight was not so lucky. Though it had been unintentional, the path that Kirby's yo-yo had taken had brought its captive right in the path of the fire spout. In an instant, Galactic Knight had been caught in his own insidious fire, and soon he was dead.

The group paused for a moment, not quite sure what to make of the situation. They had regrouped, and their foe was dead, but this whole ordeal had been draining for everyone. It was going to take more than just victory to recover from this experience.

Daroach composed himself first. "Well, it seems as if we have located the children," he said. Taking out his radio, he called to the others. "We've found the children and we will make our way back to the Halberd."

"Good job," Sir Arthur stated. "Any news of the enemy?"

"He is dead," Daroach responded. "Caught in his own trap."

"As often happens with their kind," Arthur mused. "All you, come back to the ship right away. We are ready to go, and the sooner we are away from this place, the better."

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Nightmare had known the moment that Galactic Knight had died. That fool had forgotten his mission. He should have been looking for that egg, but instead he had gone off to face the adult Meta Knight. If the Demon Beast hadn't destroyed himself, Nightmare would have done it for him.

To make matters worse, he had lost his most experienced Demon Beast. True, he still had the other two, but they would need to be unleashed soon. Nightmare could feel the waning of his powers beginning, and he knew that if he did not destroy the Guardian soon, his end would be at hand.

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It had not taken long, once everyone had gathered together, to get the Halberd back into space and through the wormhole. No one wanted to stay on Popopo longer than necessary.

On the bridge, the group of children, along with Meta Knight and a few others, sat in wait as Sir Galahad looked over the scroll that had been given to them. Since he was one of the few left who could understand the language of Popopo it was given to him in hopes that he could translate it.

"It's just as I thought," Galahad replied. "It's a note, stating that the woman who wrote it was a Puffal by the name of Genli. She wrote this in hopes that whoever received this would care for her child, to be named Liandur if it was a boy or Kie-La if it was a girl."

"So, you are quite certain that was my birth mother?" Meta Knight asked.

Tiff nodded. "I saw the past Sir Heavy Knight take the egg with him, just like in the journal."

"It appears as if our arrival here was a play in the hands of fate," Heavy Knight said. "It is of great relief that things happened this way."

Before anything else could be said, there came an outcry from the main portion of the ship. "We're coming in to Pop Star! We'll be home soon!"

There was a great cheer, and everyone rushed out to the main deck to catch sight of their home. Sure enough, there in the distance, was the star-shaped world coming in fast.

"Home!" Kirby chirped happily. "Gonna go home!"

"Indeed we are," Meta Knight said, taking up a place next to his son. "You have done very well over this trip, Kirby. I am proud of you."

"Alright, everyone!" Sir Arthur called. "Everyone prepare for landing. We'll be coming in at Stormholt very soon."

To be continued…


	108. The Winding Road of Fate

When the Halberd pulled into the port at Stormholt, celebrations was on everyone's mind. There was much to celebrate, after all. The return of friends and loved ones, the arrival of new friend like Lor Starcutter, the safety that had been achieved by their brave efforts. Indeed, it seemed as if there was enough that the returning heroes did to celebrate through the remainder of the year.

There were things to celebrate at home as well. One of them was that in the time the warriors had been gone, Lynette had two little eggs, an orange one and a black one. All the Naito were thrilled to find out, and Kirby was especially excited to find out that he was going to be a big brother again. Of course, the Puffalings knew, too, but they were too young to understand quite what that meant.

As soon as the returning party had returned, preparations for the celebration went out. The repairs had already been made to the ancient fortress, so it was agreed that was where it was to be held. Orders went out for food, Waddle Dees came in droves to help with decorations, and entertainments of every variety were scheduled to celebrate.

When that night came, all was a great hubbub. There was much feasting, dancing, singing, and laughing all through the halls of Stormholt. It seemed as if nothing could quite top the excitement of what was going on then and there.

Once all the eating was finished, for the most part, all fell silent. It had been decided that one of the entertainments that would come at the end of the night would be the finishing of the history of Metian and Erran. All were eager to hear how the tale ended, so when the time came, the crowd gathered together and stayed stiff silent. A few still had plates, these were very careful to keep quiet. No one wanted to miss a single detail.

When all had gathered together and were quiet, Sir Ebrum removed the ancient scroll. Taking a breath, he cleared his throat and started to read.

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With the defiance of Haltmann, the war had begun. It started as just a fight between the planet of Pop Star with their bird allies, but over time, the resistance built up to an unimaginable degree. For centuries, Haltmann Works had gone completely unchallenged, their Bukiset guard-dogs allowed to run amuck wherever they felt like it. This had gained them more than a few enemies, though these had usually been kept down with little to no difficulty.

Then the news came that two slaves had dared to defy the empire. Word of the Puffal Metian and the Dreamlander Erran spread like wildfire, spreading hope and excitement wherever it went. The tales of how, battle after battle, the Bukiset kept sending in troops of apparently better armed, better trained soldiers down to the primitive world Pop Star, only to have them sent back, soundly beaten and humiliated.

As such, it was not long afterwards that new worlds wished to join in the conflict on the Warriors' side. One by one, emissaries of other worlds, including Ripple Star, Neo Star, Rock Star, and Aqua Star, had come to join up in the resistance. Because so many of the worlds who joined in the fight were called "Star," it was decided that the conglomerate forces would be dubbed the Star Warriors. Metian and Erran had been decided upon as the joint leaders for the new band, and with this newly acquired force, they were able to, slowly but surely, carve out portions of the Haltmann Empire.

It wasn't until a fifth of the Gamble Galaxy had already been lost that President Haltmann himself was alerted to the damage that was caused. Haltmann was an old man, though he didn't look quite as old as he was, and he had worked long and hard to expand his influence as much as he had. When he heard that his territories were being threatened, and threatened by a pair of escaped slaves on top of it, he was infuriated.

"You idiots!" he bellowed, flinging a goblet at the unfortunate Bukiset guard who had been sent to give him the news. "You morons! Can't you even handle a set of escaped slaves?"

"But sir," the guard tried to argue, "they were armed with weaponry the like of which we've never seen before!" He was immediately knocked down by a flung plate.

"It was still two slaves against a supposedly well-trained army!" Haltmann yelled. "My men can't even deal with simple pests! Idiots! I am surrounded by morons!"

While Haltmann was wrapped up in his own complaints, the guard took the opportunity to hurry out. As he was rushing out, Grand-master Eloroy passed him as he went in.

"President Haltmann, sir," the bukiset leader said, throwing a salute as he spoke. "We have news about the slaves' background. I believe we have a way to trap the Puffal."

Hearing this, Haltmann calmed down, if only a little. "I am listening," he said, taking a seat. The expression on his face, however, stated that he was ready to fly back into a rage if he didn't like what he heard. "Speak, and it had better be good."

"It is, my lord," Eloroy responded. "I have heard from the Puffal's former master, the one he escaped from. He was not the Puffal's first owner, and he had been purchased from another."

"And this matters to me how?" Haltmann asked with a growl.

Realizing the position his was in, Eloroy gulped. "Well, sir, I contacted that bukiset, and according to him, the Puffal known as Metian had a family. A female named Celestina was his mate, and even now, she has three pups that he sired."

Catching the drift, Haltmann gave a cruel grin. "I see. This family didn't escape with him, did they?"

Eloroy shook his head. "No. He was sold away from them after he started tampering with their master's electronic equipment. That bukiset still has them."

"Perfect!" Haltmann exclaimed. "Then the trap is almost set already! Have them brought before me right away, and prepare to send out a message to those Star Warriors.

…

On Pop Star, the Dreamlander settlement had already become full. With so many of different races all around, the area had started to feel a bit confined. As a result, it had been decided to move a portion of the newly formed Star Warriors into a natural cave system within the mountain range near the Orange Ocean. Once things were more peaceful, they would build the area into a proper fortress, but until then, the caverns would work well enough.

At that moment, Metian was hard at work in one of the caverns. He had selected that specific area as his own personal workshop, and with the tech they were able to get from scavenging's and raids, he was able to begin working on some of his own projects.

"Hey, Metian," Erran called out as he entered into the lab. "What are you working on now?"

"Oh? Hello," Metian replied, looking up briefly from his workbench. "I'm working on the translator units. With everyone running around from all corners of Gamble Galaxy, we can't have the language barrier we have now if we have any hope of stopping Haltmann. These should help, at least until we can come up with some language that everyone knows, a common tongue, so to speak."

"Neat," Erran said, leaning in to look at the translator device. "By the way, those Air Ride machines you made work like a charm. The bukiset squadron we took on never knew what hit them!"

"I suspected as much," Metian responded with a laugh. "They're too full of themselves. They consider us Puffals to be animals, and Dreamlanders to be primitive savages. Thus, they can't imagine for the life of them why they're getting defeated over and over again."

"Which works out in our favor," Erran agreed. "Do you ever think old man Haltmann will catch on?"

"Almost certainly," Metian stated, becoming grim all of a sudden. "He's arrogant, but keep in mind, he's also wily. One does not build up an empire like he has over night on nothing. We've been able to take advantage of his cockiness, but we shouldn't get too comfortable. Eventually, he will figure out we're a force to be reckoned with and up his game."

"But come," he said, getting up all of a sudden. "I've finished with these translators, so I can go check up on my personal project."

"Other project?" Erran asked. "Already? You only just finished the Hydra and Dragoon Air Ride machines. How many projects can you work on at once?"

"As many as pop into my mind," Metain responded, giving a laugh. "Honestly, I don't really have much control over it. An idea comes into my mind, and I don't have any peace until I can make it a reality."

He jumped over a pile of scrap metal that was lying to one side and hurried over to an object that was covered with a tarp. "I started this one right after I finished the Hydra and Dragoon," he said grabbing the tarp and starting to pull. "I thought this might come in use for me when we are able to launch the final attack."

The tarp slipped off without too much trouble, revealing a grey mech underneath. It was just under twice Erran's size, with a bulky middle section shaped like a Puffal's face, with a set of long arms and legs. "Well, this certainly is something," Erran said, gazing up at the machine with a small amount of confusion. "Uh, what exactly is it?"

"I call it the Robobotrix Armor," Metian replied. "It's a mech suit, capable of enhancing strength one hundred-fold. It can also scan and mimic the abilities of its opponents, just like it was rumored that we Puffals were able to do years ago." He paused for a moment to appreciate his weaponry. "It's not finished yet, but when it is, it'll be one of our best weapons yet."

"Sir Metian! Sir Erran! Hurry!" The two of them turned to see a young Boxin, who had been among the newcomers to join the fight. The youngster seemed to be in a bit of a panic. "Please, come quick! You have to see this!"

"What is it?" Erran asked, coming up to the painicked teen.

"It's Haltmann Works, sir," the Boxin replied. "They're sending a transmission, and, oh, it's so bad…"

"Come now, young lady," Metian said with a slight scolding tone. "What is it?"

"Sir Metian, this is especially important for you," she said. "They've got your family!"

Metian froze, feeling as if the whole of the Haltmann Works artillery had been dropped on his head. "What is that you say?"

"They've got your family!" the young Boxin repeated. "They've shown them on the feed and everything! Oh, I can't…it's so…you need to come now!"

"Show me," Metian said, motioning for the Boxin to lead him to the transmission room. She complied, and the three of them hurried as fast as they could to another large cavern chamber.

Here, many of the more senior members of the Star Warriors were gathered around the large monitor. The image of President Haltmann's secratary, Susie, was on the screen, frozen by the pause, and everyone around was busy in loud conversation, some talking, some arguing, all in a panic.

That changed the moment Metian and Erran entered the room. As soon as they were seen, everyone froze up, as if unable to discuss the problem now that the one who this concerned the most had arrived.

Seeing that no one was going to say anything, Metian stepped forward. "What's going on here?" he asked. "I heard my family was brought into this. What is going on? What did he say in that transmission?" He pointed a paw at the screen, emphasizing that it was Haltmann Works that he was speaking about.

There was a moment's lull, as those around attempted to find a way to articulate what was going on. Finally, an older Boxin woman sighed and broke the silence. "Perhaps," she stated, "it would be best for you to simply see for yourself."

Going over to the control panel, she rewound and started up the clip. No one uttered a world as the video started.

The clip opened as all clips did, with a small opening featuring Haltmann's anthem. Then, the scene flashed so that Susie was on screen. "Hello, Gamble Galaxy!" she stated. "As you know, we have started to go through some very troubling times. As you all are aware, a rebellion has been started by the ungrateful members of the planet Pop Star, using some of our own animals as weapons." A canned sound effect of horrified gasps played to try to give the lackey's words some emphasis. "I know, it's hard to imagine why this would have happened after all we've done for such primitive worlds. To make matters worse, other ungrateful traitors have joined in on their actions, and have stolen and encouraged the escape of our work Puffals in order to facilitate their fight."

There was another sound effect, this time of groans of outcry. Susie raised her hands, as if trying to calm a crowd down. "Now, now, not all is lost. Our brave Bukiset military are doing everything in their power to put this horrible uprising down. I can assure you that they, with the assistance of the highly trained Starman Organization will soon have everything under control."

Sound effects started again, this time of cheers, and then Susie went on. "Now, regrettably, that means there must be action on the part of you, the loyal citizen, to do your part in ending this horrible rebellion. Since, for some reason, the rebels have made it their mission to use the Puffal work animals in their fight, then for the time being, the number of Puffals must be cut down." There came a gasp of shock, and Susie raised her hands again. "There, there, I don't mean simple pets. However, until things have been brought under control, eighty percent of all work Puffals will need to be brought in to the government and euthanized, under our president's supervision. All money lost because of this order will be reimbursed."

"This will all occur two weeks from today, in the Heart of the Empire, starting with this band." The screen changed, and now there was the image of an aquamarine female Puffal clutching three little ones close to her. "These have been of particular trouble to us, so it has been decided that they will be the first effected by this order."

"Now, once more, I want to assure you, this is all necessary for our war efforts," Susie stated as the camera came back to her. "Without access to the Puffals as warbeasts, the rebels will be forced to fall back to other strategies, which hopefully we will have better luck in putting down. Once this has all blown over, things will return to normal." The screen then faded with another piece of the anthem fanfare.

Metian's grip on Galaxia's handle tightened as he watched the announcement. "This is a challenge," he stated, his voice low and dark. "They knew we'd see it, and they know we can't just sit still."

"But what are we to do, Metian?" A Pippian man asked. "We cannot sit and watch this happen, but we are also not strong enough to take them on full force yet."

Metian closed his eyes. "I will go in, taking the Dragoon with me. I understand this mission will be difficult, so I ask only for volunteers who wish to come. I will not force anyone to join me."

"You will have me by your side," Erran said, placing his hand on Metian's shoulder. "I will bring the Hydra with me as well. Between the two of us, we should be able to give them a fight they won't soon forget."

"I shall take volunteers from my own people as well," the Boxin lady stated. "We cannot sit and watch as a genocide is taking place."

One by one, everyone in the room swore that they, too, would stand by their leaders in the attack. This challenge would not go unanswered.

Touched by the loyalty of those surrounding him, Metian raised a paw. "I thank you, my friends. We will not allow this atrocity to happen. Now, not all of us can attack all at once. That would be exactly what Haltmann will be expecting. I would like each of you to choose from those who wish to come the most experienced with stealth mission and moving in secret. These will be the ones to personally accompany us on the attack. The rest will stay behind and wait for further orders."

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While everyone had been sitting and listening to the story, Kirby started to drift off. At this portion, the history became a detailing of the planning period, listing various strategies and ideas that could have gone into play on the day of the fateful attack.

Unfortunately, this was a rather boring area of discussion for the little Puffal. His little siblings agreed, as they had all fallen fast asleep. Well, that would mean that he wouldn't be able to play with them right now.

Kirby searched around the room to see anyone who might play with him. He glanced over at his parents to see what they were doing and see if they would play with him. However, they were both paying attention to the story and tending to the eggs at the same time, which meant they were out. The older children were out as well, since they were pretty much completely engaged in what was being said.

Sighing, Kirby resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to amuse himself. Staying as quiet as he could so that no one noticed him, he crept away from the seating place and went wandering off, certain he'd find some place in this great fortress that would interest him.

He wandered through the halls until he reached the doorway to the garden. Remembering the great Pep Berry plants in the garden, he hurried over, opened the door, and rushed out.

Outside, the night air had the nip of winter to it. The first frost had yet to come, so the plants were not yet effected, but the chill was more than perceptible. Kirby picked a good armful of the berries before hurrying off to find some sort of shelter where he could enjoy them.

He had gone a distance off when he heard voiced out in the garden. Jumping behind some bushes, he sat out to hear what was being said.

"Thank you for meeting me out here, Lor Starcutter," one voice, who Kirby could identify as Trident Knight, said.

"It was my pleasure," the Starcutter responded. She was out using her MCU, allowing her to move around in relatively smaller space. "Now, you said you wished to speak to me of something?"

"Well, uh, yes, I would." Trident shuffled awkwardly back, and it was clear that the robot was trying to build up courage. "Well, Miss Starcutter, I just wanted to say that I've really been enjoying this time we've had together. I can honestly say I've never quite met anyone like you before."

"Nor I you," she responded. "There were not many machines when I was built, and it has been wonderful discovering that I am not the only one with consciousness."

"That was something wonderful to discover," Trident stated. He then made a sound like taking a breath before continuing. "Well, I was just wondering, well, since we've been spending so much time together as of late, if, you know, one of these days, you'd like to go get some oil together or something."

Lor looked over at him, and a look of amusement came into her eyes. "Why, Trident Knight, are you asking me out on a date?"

"Well, uh, yes," he responded. "I mean, unless you don't want it to be a date. If you don't, I understand…"

He was cut off as she leaned in and kissed him on the face plate. "I'd love to. It's a date."

The two probably said more, but Kirby wandered off at that point. They weren't talking about food, or games, or anything Star Warrior related. He was still bored. Popping a Pep Berry into his mouth, Kirby toddled off, eager to find something else that might be of interest.

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On the day that had been selected to carry out that horrible order, a crowd had been gathered together at one of the largest buildings at the Heart of the Empire. The crowd had been separated off into three groups. Those who were among Haltmann's upper class kept to the balconies, away from the rest of the crowd. For them, everything had an air of an important, if unpleasant meeting. The lower-class citizen, or slaves in all but name, had been herded into pen-like stands. They all looked unhappy about what was happening, but they had no control or opportunity to do anything about it.

The third section was where the Puffals were being held. They were all in varying states of distress. Some were crying, others yelling, others yet holding silent in horror and disbelief. None of them could fully express the fear and anguish they were feeling, such was the sense of evil in this place.

The bukiset guards had primarily been set up around the stage and seating areas to make sure that the captives in the stands and pens were not able to do anything to disrupt the ceremony. On the stage, two Starmen stood on either side of a cage, where Celestina did her best to comfort her whimpering pups. She had no idea what to do, but she was not going to let them take her children without a fight.

Of course, some of the guards had been sent out to keep patrol over the area. It was acknowledged that the Star Warriors would make some kind of move during the ceremony, and thus a guard composed of both bukiset and Starmen had been charged with keeping an eye on the grounds for the rebels.

Too bad for them, the Star Warriors were not on the grounds. Guessing that there would be a welcoming party left for them, Metian and Erran had decided on a more covert plan of attack.

There was a cliff face a distance off from the stage. Metian went there alone, taking with him his own chariot, the Dragoon. A beautiful red and white Air Ride machine, the Dragoon was one of the few Air Ride machines capable of traveling the distance between the cliff side and the stage. It would be perfect for the Star Warrior to make his entrance.

A bit closer to the stage in a tunnel prepared for the attack, Erran waited with his chariot, the Hydra. The Hydra as not as elegant or aerodynamic as the Dragoon, but what it lacked in aesthetics, it made more than up for in raw, sheer power. Primarily green with a few accents of white, the Hydra was the most powerful of the Air Ride machines. Once it got moving, there was no known force in the Galaxy that would be able to stop it. Perfect for mixing things up while the captives escaped.

Along with him was the primary task force of volunteers who had been selected to help with the mission. Each was riding on one of the smaller, faster Air Ride machines, with the strict orders to get as many of the captives away from the stage and to the escape ships which stood in hiding all around. All knew the roll they were to play, and all they were waiting for was their signal to move.

About a half hour after the event was supposed to start, Haltmann took his place on the stage. He had stalled things for a while in the hopes that the Star Warriors would attempt to make their move before things began. The tyrant had been hoping that the execution of the rebel leaders would have been the first to occur, but since they had not arrived, he assumed that meant they weren't coming.

Taking his place on the stage, Haltmann cleared his throat. "Thank you all for coming today. I understand this is not quite the event that most of you would choose to participate in, but know that your government appreciates and values the fact that its citizens care so much." There was a loud roar of applause, but it was clear this was a canned sound effect, since the only ones to make a move in response were the ones in the balcony.

"Now," Haltmann went on, "I know it might be a bit confusing as to why such a course of action must be taken, but I assure you, it is all for the greater good. The rebels, these 'Star Warriors,' wish to destroy our way of life! We must show them we will not be cowed!"

There was another canned cheer, and Haltmann raised his hands. At the same time, Celestina was pulled out of the cage, despite the desperate fight she was putting up. "We now show them what happens when they dare to defy such a powerful empire!"

Before any other move could be made, everything started. In a flash, Metian launched himself from the cliff. Angling the Dragoon so that he landed on the stage, he cut a line between Haltmann and Celestina. In a moment, Galaxia was out. "So, this is what such a mighty empire is capable of doing?" he asked with a mocking tone. "Murdering helpless woman, children, and elderly, while cowering behind their own locked doors?"

In a moment, Haltmann was tossed into a rage. "There! He is within your reach and alone! Get him now!"

"Oh, I might be within reach," the masked Puffal responded, "but I'm far from alone." As the guards surrounded him and Celestina, Metian let out a high-pitched whistle.

For a moment, the guards paused. They had no idea what was happening, and they weren't sure how to respond. Eventually, several of them shook themselves to try to take Metian again, but it was too late.

Hearing the signal, Erran led the charge in the area. Ramming through almost every obstacle in his way, he maneuvered the Hydra in such a way that the bukiset and Starmen guards were in a state of shock.

Raising the Duciel Bow above his head, he let out a cry. "Friends of Star Warriors, reveal yourselves! The time of freedom is now!"

Hearing their leader's cry, the other Star Warriors rushed out of hiding on their Air Ride machines. Most of them acted as defenses against the guards, while others hurried escaped slaves of all races back to transport ships.

Back on the stage, Metian struggles with several of the guards to free his children, who were being held in the cage. At the same time, Celestina fought as well, having retrieved a blaster her husband had relieved a Starman guard of. Between the two of them, they were able to make it back with their pups to the Dragoon.

His family safely loaded onto the Air Ride machine, Metian prepared it for launch. Before he could, however, Haltmann himself came up and gripped the side. "No! I will not allow you to escape!"

"Who said you had any say?" Metian asked. He then struck out with the hilt of Galaxia, smacking Haltmann right in the face.

The moment the blow landed, Haltmann was forced to release the vehicle. As they launched off, Metian let out a call. "Come, friends! Victory is ours!"

The battle would only go on for a few moments more. When the dust settled, the Star Warriors were gone, having vanished as quickly as they came. However, they had also taken all of the Puffals, and most of the members of the second class races, with them.

Realizing he had been beaten, Haltmann scowled. "This isn't over, you blasted rebels. Things have only just begun."

To be continued…


	109. The Winding Road of Fate, Part Three

Still thoroughly bored, Kirby wandered through the halls of Stormholt, looking for something or someone to entertain him. He wasn't really moving with any sort of rhyme or reason, just wandering wherever the whim happened to take him.

As he wandered, he walked into the old workshop of Metian. The Halberd was stationed there once more, as it had been for many years. It was, by now, repaired and cleaned up following its maiden voyage, and was thus ready for the next time it would be called upon for action.

Moving through the workshop, he made his way over to a room where the artifacts of the great warriors were held. The Warp Star and the halves of the Flight Star were housed here now, so that they would not be lost or damaged by being carried around.

There were other devices there as well, such as the grand Air Ride machines, the Dragoon and Hydra. They were in immensely good shape for their age, with only the paint having faded over time. It had been decided that they would be refurbished some time soon, so that they would be brought back to their former glory, but they hadn't found the time to do so yet.

Kirby, though amazed by the beauty of the machines, was not here to see them. Though the machines might have been fun, he had been warned not to touch them, so he had no interest in them right now.

No, instead he remembered something he had discovered a while back. He crawled past the display to the small hole he had found there a few days ago. It was little more than a crack in the wall, but it was just big enough for Kirby to get his feet through, which meant he could squish his way through the rest of the passage.

Once through the passage, he came out into a small cavern. Moonlight shined into the room through a hole in the roof, giving the whole place a pleasant atmosphere. The cavern was not as large as some of the areas in Stormholt, but it was just about perfect for him.

In one corner of the room, wild berries and vegetables grew. Nearby this area, a hot spring sat, keeping the area warm and pleasant even with the nippier weather. When he was more in the mood for relaxing, he could slip into the spring and relax with the food available, which must have come over from the garden.

On the other side, an opening out into the ocean allowed the saltwater to creep up to a slope in the rock floor. From here, he could see colorful corals and non-sapient fish swimming about, giving an area for fishing or leisurely swimming.

Added into the pleasant atmosphere, Kirby had found several small toys that had been left there for who knows how long. A little hardwood top was the primary interest, though bits of chalk and a small toy fishing rod were also good amusements.

Kirby didn't know who had left them there, but he had been pleasantly surprised when he had found this area. Of course, the first thing he had tried to do was tell others about his discovery, but no one had been able to listen. They had been busy setting up for the feast, or doing repairs on the Halberd. Thus, no one else know of this little hideaway.

For the evening, Kirby amused himself with the small toys there. He attempted to catch several fish, but didn't have any luck. None of them were interested in biting on a line with no bait. Dropping the fishing rod, he then turned to doing little scribbles with the chalk before turning the top a few times.

After a while, the time and the full meal he had took its toll on the little one. He let out a big yawn and settled down in some of the ferns that had started to grow near the hot spring. They were soft and springy, and before long, the coziness of his surroundings got to Kirby. With another big yawn, he drifted off to slumber land.

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In the caverns of the mountain range, celebrations rang out. Those who had been liberated from Haltmann's slave camps were quickly introduced to their new surroundings. Those who wished to join in the fight against the despot were introduced into the ranks of the Star Warriors. Those who did not have the skill or will to fight were shown other ways that they could help in the resistance.

No one could have been happier, though, than Metian. Finally reunited with his wife and pups, the Puffal was overjoyed. For the first time in ages, he was completely content with his life.

Of course, this peace could not be expected to last forever. This victory, though wonderful for their band, had been a humiliating slap to the face to Haltmann. There was no doubt he would want to get revenge for the defeat, and the Star Warriors were aware of the dangers looming on the horizon.

As such, these were not formal celebrations, but rather little pockets to allow those tasting freedom for the first time to get used to their new surroundings. Translator units were handed out so everyone would be able to understand each other, and families were lead to where they could find food.

At the moment, Metian was enjoying the company of his wife on the nearby beach as they watched over their children. They now had three pups, two little boys who were green and yellow and a girl who was a dusty red. All of their feet were a rich black, matching their father's body color.

"It has been too long," Metian said, hugging Celestina closer.

"By far," she agreed, returning the embrace. "What happened to you after you were sold away? I was afraid I would never find out."

"It's a rather long story," her husband replied. "One that ultimately leads up to here. I suppose it all began when-"

"Hullo! Metian! Overe here!" The two Puffals looked up when they heard Erran's call. He and his wife, Tabitha, were coming up. Their son and three daughters were with them as well, and eagerly rushed up to join the young Puffals.

"Enjoying the view, my friend?" Erran asked as they sat down alongside the other couple. "There is nothing like the sunsets of Pop Star."

"It is amazing," Celestina said in agreement. "I never knew there was such beauty like this."

"Just wait until you see the spring," Tabitha responded with a smile. "So, what was it you two were talking about?"

"I was just asking him what happened since the last time we saw each other," Celestina answered. "It is rare that a family is ever reunited after being sold apart, and I have wondered what happened to him for a long time."

"Ah, that is a marvelous tale!" Erran said cheerfully. "Go one, my friend, you explain it. It's mostly because of you that we made our escape."

Metian laughed in response. "Come now, I couldn't have escaped on my own."

"But it was because of your devices that we made our way out," Erran pointed out.

"And I wouldn't have been able to utilize them without you," Metian responded.

"Very well, we will accept that it was a partnership," Tabitha cut in. "Now, don't leave us in suspense about what actually happened to you."

Erran laughed at his wife's comment. "Said quite well, my love. Now, I can't speak for Metian, but my end of the story began several months after I was abducted…"

…

Haltmann was fuming. He couldn't believe how easily the Star Warriors had come in and interrupted everything. His men weren't just defeated, they were utterly humiliated. There would be many heads that would roll because of this indignation.

He was so infuriated about everything that could happen that he couldn't think straight about what to do next. As a result, he decided to go to the device that had earned him his empire in the first place.

Moving past huge doors that were usually locked, Haltmann made his way into the huge chamber and up to his greatest tool. There, in the center of the room, was the ancient super computer, Star Dream.

Truth be told, even Haltmann himself did not know where the ancient tech had come from. He had found it in his youth, buried in the remains of some forgotten empire. It was a huge, cylindrical device, white, with a large gold jewel on one side and large red lines running over it. Two sets of red, white, black, and gold wings, one large and one small, were located at the top and bottom of the machine. From these wings, blue crystals hung down. It was a sight to behold.

Haltmann marched over to the one area on the device that would allow him interaction. "Welcome, user," Stardream greeted in a soothing, laid-back voice. Its avatar, which looked like a white version of the Ancient Nova, appeared onscreen. "What may I do for you today?"

The dictator didn't bother to speak, knowing full well that the device wouldn't hear him. Instead, he began typing furiously, uploading the information about the past few battles and how the Star Warriors seemed impossible to defeat. When he was finished he pressed enter to allow the information to flow into the machine.

Once this was finished, it took Star Dream but a moment to process the information. The avatar closed its eyes as it went over the newly gained data. "Processing," it stated, giving updates as it went along. "Uploading. Analyzing. Solution found."

"And?" Haltmann asked despite knowing it didn't hear. He was starting to lose patience with just about everything.

"There are three different solutions to this current problem," Star Dream stated. "Would you like to hear them?"

"Yes! Yes, I want to hear them!" Haltmann snapped, though he also had to press the yes button.

"The solution that would have the least number of casualties would be surrender," the computer said. "Allow those who want to leave to leave and not have any other dealings. This way, all fighting is averted and all can go about their business."

"That is worthless," Haltmann responded with a huff, going to the next suggestion.

"The next best solution would be compromise," Star Dream said. "Find a middle ground that both parties are content with. Using this method, both sides give and take a small amount, allowing the other something that they want. Once more, fighting is averted, though both sides must also be content to accommodate."

"Worthless!" Haltmann snapped again. "Come, you must have something that I can use." He moved on to the final suggestion.

"The final solution to the problem would be elimination," Star Dream said. "Once the enemy has been wiped out, then no more problems can be caused. However, this side requires an amount of fighting and massive bloodshed. Are you sure this is the option you wish to take?"

"Yes! I've been saying that for years!" Haltmann exclaimed. "Now how do I do it?"

"There is one near-foolproof way to achieve the complete detraction of the Star Warriors. It has 97.4% chance of victory." Star Dream paused for a moment before continuing. "However, it would require planetary level assimilation and destruction. Furthermore, should this plan be stopped, as unlikely as that is, it would result in the utter annihilation of your own empire. Are you sure you wish to continue?"

"Yes, I want to continue," Haltmann said, pressing the button to move forwards. He's put too much into this quarry to back down now.

When he saw what the computer had to offer, he made a huge, wolfish grin. Yes, this would do quite nicely.

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"Meta," Lynette said, leaning over to speak with her husband. "Meta, do you know where Kirby is?"

Glancing over to where his son had been sitting before, Meta Knight found to his dismay that Kirby was missing. "He was here a moment ago," he whispered back. "Is he over with his friends?"

"I looked over by them, and he's not there," she replied.

Realizing what this meant, Meta handed the egg he had been tending over to her. "I'll see if I can't find him. He can't have gotten far."

Moving as quietly as he could, Meta made it out of the room without being noticed. Everyone else was so concentrated on the story that it wasn't too difficult.

Once he had made it out into the main hallway, he turned his attention on trying to figure out where Kirby had gotten to. The fortress was huge, and there were many areas where the little Puffal could lose himself. Had it been the daytime, Meta would have looked around windows and alcoves where the tot was known to take naps, but in the cooler nighttime hours, he could be anywhere.

Deciding to limit himself to the most likely of places, Meta Knight decided to go down to the kitchens. They would likely still be active, thanks to the volunteers who had helped with the feast, so perhaps Kirby had wandered down there to get another snack.

When Meta Knight reached the kitchens, things had pretty much died down for the time being. The dishes were long done, the food put away, and most of the ovens and stoves turned off. The only one that was still active was the largest of the stoves, which most of the volunteers had gathered around.

The only person in this collection who looked unhappy was the proper head chef, the Dreamlander Lei Dall. She was trying to get through the crowd to voice her displeasure at what was happening at the center of the gathering, but her attempts were in vain. Whatever it was, it was too amusing for the others to break away from.

"I see things have slowed down in here," Meta Knight stated, coming out from a shaded entryway to the kitchens. "What, may I ask, is going on in here?"

Hearing the Knight's voice, everyone jumped and turned around. Everyone, that is, except the very nucleus of the confusion, apparently Chef Kawasaki.

"Sir Meta Knight!" Lei Dall exclaimed. "Thank heavens you've arrived. Maybe you can talk some sense into them and have this travesty, this abomination of my kitchens, to stop!"

"It depends on what is going on," Meta Knight replied, coming up to the stove. That was when the smell hit him. It was pungent, with a hint of bitterness to it, and it was overpowering after only a moment in it's presence. "What on Pop Star is that smell?"

"Oh, hi, Sir Meta Knight," Kawasaki said, as if noticing the Puffal warrior for the first time. "Well, the kitchens were slowing down, so I thought it would be a good time to try a new recipe." He tilted the pot a little, allowing meta Knight to see a messy mash of bright colors. "I was told I don't have enough vegetarian dishes, so here's my new Pep Berry and Parmesan cheese stew, garnished with Brussels sprout slices and seasoned with chili powder. Looks good, huh?"

Truth be told, the concoction in the pot couldn't have looked more revolting if it was a witch's brew. The Pep Berries hadn't mixed well, causing them to sit in lumpy piles at the bottom on the pot. The cheese, however, was thoroughly melted, causing a dull white film to collect over everything. Add in that the brussle sprouts had turned a shade of brown, it was the sort of thing even a Puffal would think twice about ingesting.

Meta Knight's mind raced to think of something both polite and honest to say regarding the concoction, but words escaped him. There was no way he was putting any of that anywhere near his mouth, and it went against a knight's code of chivalry to lie. However, he could not think of anything that could be said to convey that principle in a polite way. Thus, he sat there for a moment, uncharacteristically lost for word.

Lei Dall, on the other hand, had no time for mincing of words. "You see what this brute has done!" she practically shrieked. "He has defiled my beautiful kitchens!"

"Now, Miss Dall, please don't lie," Kawasaki said, looking genuinely hurt. "I haven't taken any files from the kitchen."

"What do files have to do with any of this?!" she snapped in response.

"Well, you did say I de-filed the kitchen, but all the files that were in here before are here right now," he pointed out.

Lei Dall then turned to Meta Knight. "Do you see what I have had to put up with! If that ignoramus is in this kitchen for any longer, I'm going to blow a gasket!"

"I am not an ignorant moose!" Kawasaki said in an indignant tone. "If anything, I am a very observant moose."

At this response, Lei Dall looked like she was about deck Kawasaki in the face. Meta Knight, however, raised his hands, hoping to ward off the incoming disaster. "Now, now, I'm sure there is some peaceful way to end this."

"Now, how did this all start from your point of view," Meta Knight asked, turning to Kawasaki.

"I was just putting some of the dishes away when I saw those Pep Berries, and inspiration hit," the chef responded. "I was so excited that I just had to start cooking, and now you see the masterpiece in front of you!"

"Yes, but did you ask before going through the supplies?" Meta Knight asked again.

Here, Kawasaki's smile faded a bit. "Well, no. I mean, I intended to, but I got so excited that I kind of forgot to."

"I see," Meta Knight said, giving a nod. "That was not a very considerate thing to do. You see, Miss Dall is very peculiar about how her kitchens are to be run, and she doesn't like it when big changes are made. You should have asked for permission first."

"And, Lei," he said, then turning to the head chef, "please, can you resist springing to violence and argumentation when diplomacy is still an option."

Sighing, she frowned but nodded. "Alright. I'll try to hold my temper next time."

"Good," Meta Knight responded. "Now, going back to what I came in for. I was in the great hall with the others when I noticed that Kirby was missing. None of you would know where he's gotten to, do you?"

"Oh, I think I saw him," a young Star Jumper Puffal responded. "I saw him walking off to the Halberd's docking station. He might have gone in there to look at the Air Ride machines; we all know how much he likes those."

"Thank you for your help," Meta Knight said, and as silently as he had slipped in, he slipped out to go find his wayward son.

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When the day of reckoning finally came, no one was expecting it. It had been a beautiful morning on Pop Star, as the mornings of that world often were. Thus, it was a strange and unexpected sight when the sun appeared to be blotted out from the sky.

Metian had been hard at work in his workshop when the disaster happened. He was putting the final touches on the Robobotrix armor, listening happily as his children played in an alcove just on the other side of the wall, when he was surprised by his wife coming up to him. "Metian," she said, and her voice was weak with fright, "you need to see this."

"Celli?" he asked, turning to her. "What's going on? What's wrong?"

She looked too afraid to speak, only held out her paw for him to take. He did so, and the two of them hurried out to the main portion of the hideout with the others. From there, they could see the sight of their intended doom.

A huge ship, the likes of which no one had ever seen before, had appeared in the sky. It blocked out the sun and covered much of the sky. As it moved closer, four large arms emerged from the ship and descended to the ground. There was a huge drill on the end of each arm, and when they touched down on the planet, each of the drills began boring into the ground.

At the same time, smaller drones were flying from ship. Smaller ones were also tipped with drills, and these started to terraform the ground around them once they landed. Others carried troops of the mechanical, bukiset, and Starmen variety. It was clear that all out invasion was underway.

"He's gotten desperate," Iral stated.

Immediately, Jestina, the lady chieftain of the Boxin, spun around to one of her lieutenants. "Evenby, call all our people to their guard. Invasion had been started, and we must be prepared to meet this foe!" Several of the other leaders called their troops and ordered the same.

Turning to Celestina, Metian took her paws. "Please, find the pups and get down to the lower levels of the caverns. All of the children and non-combatants will be down there."

Celestina frowned. She wanted to stay and fight, but she knew that their pups could not be left orphans, and Metian was better prepared for the fight. She sighed, but gave a nod. "Alright, but I'm making sure there will be other armed fighters down there, in case worse comes to worse. We'll make sure they stay safe down there."

Metian gave her a small smile. "Thank you. I understand it's hard to sit and wait."

The two kissed, and she rushed off to find her blaster of choice. Others would be armed as well, and left as sentries by the entryway, in case the enemy came through.

Once she was gone, he turned to find his partner. It didn't take too long, as Erran had also seen the approach of the enemy. He already had the Duciel Bow strapped to his back, and a spare blaster had been buckled at his waste.

"Ol' Haltmann caught us off guard," the Dreamlander muttered as he joined Metian. "We should have been ready for this."

"We can't worry about 'should haves' or 'could haves' right now," Metian responded. "All we can do now it focus on what we can do."

Erran flashed a grin at this comment. "I'll get the Hydra out, then."

"And I the Dragoon," Metian said with a nod. "Meet you outside the mountains?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world," Erran responded with a laugh.

…

Outside, it appeared that the fight was going badly for the Star Warriors. The sudden invasion of their home territory had not only been unexpected, but shockingly brutal. Several villages had been in the path of the descending drill arms, and while their citizenry had been evacuated in time, they had only the time to get out their people, not any property or livestock. This was especially devastating for the planet's Cappy inhabitants, who were mostly peaceful farmers.

To make matters worse for the escaping refugees, their path away from the destruction of their villages sent them right into the arms of the incoming invaders. Those who could not or would not fight were rounded up into slave camps, while those who put up resistance were mercilessly slaughtered. It was clear that the invaders were fighting for keeps.

Of course, these attacks summoned immediate response from the Star Warriors. Nearly as soon as the raids started, they were met head on by troops of warriors, all armed to the teeth and ready to repel the advancing invaders.

The invading troops were better armed and outnumbered the defenders, but they weren't as familiar with the lay of the land. The Star Warriors also had the advantage that they had Air Ride machines, making it possible for them to move in, preform a wasp-like attack, and pull back before any of theirs was lost. Thus, both sides were equally matched in the fight.

There were also the terraforming stations to be concerned about. Though they did their work slowly, wherever these devices landed, the ground beneath it turned to metal. They were not heavily defended, but that was only because they, on their own, were near impossible to destroy. Troop after troop of Star Warriors attempted to demolish the devices with their own weapons, but were unable to cause a scratch before having to turn to defend themselves against oncoming troops.

Thankfully, they did find out that the Guardian forged weapons did very well in destroying these insidious devices. Just one slash from Galaxia or a bolt from the Duciel Bow was enough to weaken the machine to the point where a good, hard ram would be enough to utterly annihilate it. This was then delivered, courtesy of the Dragoon or Hydra.

Still, this was slow work, and not easy for the defenders. Try though they might, they were unable to form some sort of strategy that would keep their foes at bay for too long. Even with the successes they had, those devices they had torn down were soon replaced. Troops they had defeted were replaced with new, fresh soldiers.

"We can't hold up like this for much longer!" Metian called through his com-link to Erran. "Our own are getting exhausted. We'll be destroyed if we don't pull back!"

"As much as I hate to say this," Erran responded with a groan, "you're right. I'll call in the retreat. We're going to have to think things through a bit better."

The call went out, and those who were engaged in battle hurried to retreat. It was clear to them that they weren't going to be able to win this war by brute force alone. No, they were going to need to think things through if they were going to be able to win this war.

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It was a little while later when Kirby was roused from his slumber. He hadn't napped for very long, but an unusually large wave had come up, sweeping over the sleeping child and pulling him into the water. Kirby was in no danger, since Puffals over a certain age can breathe underwater, but he was rather frustrated to be woken up in such as manner.

Fighting against the current, he righted himself in the water and intended to swim up to pull himself back into his alcove. Before he could do that, however, something caught his eye and he had to go to check out what it was.

Swimming down, he saw it was a gap in the wall, probably caused by erosion over the years. It was just wide enough for him to squeeze into, so he took the opportunity to wiggle through and get a look at what was inside.

In the cave, it was very dark. So dark, in fact, that it took Kirby's eyes a moment to start glowing enough for him to see through the inky darkness. Thus, at first, he was not impressed by his surroundings, as they were composed mostly are pitch black shadows.

One he was able to cut through those shadows, however, what he saw amazed him. It was a workshop, filled with all sorts of tools and inventions, and the one in the far corner was more amazing that anything Kirby could have ever imagined.

To be continued…


	110. The Winding Road of Fate, Part Three

Finally able to pull himself out of the kitchens, Meta Knight wandered down the halls of Stormholt in the direction of the Halberd's docking bay. He hoped that Kirby would be somewhere obvious, since he knew well that the child was capable of getting into places where his father could not follow.

Making it into the storage room that now acted as the display area for the Warp and Flight Stars and the famed master Air Ride machines, Meta Knight glanced in, initially only giving the area a passing glance. After all, it was such a small room that Kirby would not really have any place to hide.

Not seeing Kirby within the room, Meta Knight turned and was ready to go, when he heard something. It was faint and rather muffled, but he could hear a yelp. Kirby's yelp.

Rushing back in, Meta Knight scanned the area to find any place that Kirby might be hiding. That was when he found it: a small crack in the wall. It was too small for Meta Knight to force his way through, but it was just large enough for Kirby.

Seeing it, the warrior groaned. There was no doubt that was where his son had gotten too, but there was no way for him to follow, at least, not in the same way that Kirby had. Still, he wasn't about to give up yet. Perhaps there was another way in, and if there was, then he'd be able to work his way there.

Rushing out into the great hall, Meta Knight searched for an open window where he'd be able to take flight. He spotted one out by the doorway to the gardens, he spread his wings and hurried out. Moving as fast as he could, he zipped around from the garden to the area just outside of the hangar and gallery. He was intent on finding out just what was out there.

The area, he found, was not barren. There were two holes in the wall around that area, one in the roof and one closer down to the ocean. Diving through the hole in the roof, Meta Knight found that inside was a sizable cavern.

Just as he expected, at one side of the wall was the same crack he had seen from before. That is likely how Kirby made his way in here, the warrior thought to himself.

It was also clear that the cavern had recently been inhabited. Toys were scattered around the cavern, and though somewhat washed away, there were chalk drawings scrawled all along the back wall. Still, disturbingly enough, there was no sign of Kirby himself.

Meta Knight was getting truly concerned, and was almost ready to call in a full-on search, when he felt the ground begins to shake beneath him. Throwing himself down to stabilize himself, the warrior watched as a hole opened up in the ground in front of him. In a moment, a robotic arm reached out of the hole and started pulling itself out.

The warrior sprang up, snatching Galaxia out of its sheath, and prepared to do battle with whatever it was that was emerging from the cave. However, as soon as it was out, it became clear that his precaution was unnecessary, though he was still baffled by what he saw.

Just as he had assumed, a giant robot emerged from the hole in the ground. What he did not expect, however, was that it was going to be a giant tan-and-pink robot in the shape of a Puffal. It had bright yellow headlights shaped like eyes and a slot that looked just like a mouth.

What he really wasn't expecting was who the pilot was. Seated in the cockpit at the very top of the robot, wearing a little aviator's cap he had found in the workshop, sat Kirby, who was running the robot with the greatest of ease.

"Hiii, Papa!" Kirby exclaimed, waving from his seat.

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Within the Star Warrior HQ, there was an air of those who were near defeated. Despite their great struggle, they had been unable to drive the invaders back from their territory, and it was becoming increasingly clear that if they didn't win soon, they would be wiped out.

"I don't understand it," Majori, the Princess of the Pippians, stated. "He came so fast. Even before, nothing like this has ever happened so fast."

"He knew just how to hit us, and without any sign of what was coming," her husband, Prince Toimlin, added.

Jestina frowned and slapped her paw against the table. "There has to be some secret to it. No one can come that fast, that hard, without any sign of what was coming."

"I have an idea," Metian said. "While I was a prisoner, I heard talk that Haltmann had some sort of computer or other piece of tech, and it was through the use of it that he was able to arrange everything in his empire so fast and accurately."

"Well, then we have it already, don't we?" Erran asked, his spirits lifting slightly. "We'll just need to figure out what it is he's using and then destroy it. It'll be child's play from there."

"I heard of that, too," another Puffal leader, named Phenoxin, commented, "but it's not quite that simple. No one even knows if that computer is real or some figment made up to scare people out of rebelling."

"That does sound like something Haltmann would try to pull," Toimlin said glumly.

"There might be a way we can find out, though," Majori said after a moment of thought. "I'll need to talk among my people, but I do believe that some of the Pippians who were rescued in the recent attacks worked as servants in Haltmann's own palace. If anyone would know if he had anything like this rumored contraption, it would be them."

"Of course!" Toimlin exclaimed. "Why didn't I remember that?" In a moment, he turned, sending one of the standing guards off to fetch one of the recently rescued.

"Good thinking," Iral stated, "but it won't solve all our problems. Even if the rumors are true, it is doubtful that its destruction would end all of our problems. We will need to come up with some way to try to drive the invaders out once they have been crippled."

"And that's where the majority of us will come in, father," Erran stated.

"You have a plan?" Jestina asked.

Erran nodded. "It's not much of a plan, I'll admit, but it's better than sitting around and doing nothing. There will need to be an all-out attack. Of course, on it's own, it won't be of use, but it will buy whoever goes in to destroy that computer the time they need."

"And who will that be?" Metian asked.

There was a moment's pause before Iral spoke. "I think that would be best decided once we know exactly what it is that they will be looking for, none the less if it even exists. After all, we don't want to start counting our tookies before they hatch."

Those around the table gave a chuckle of agreement, realizing they had been stepping into things a little quickly. Still, the fact that the hope of a plan of action was so close in reach was tantalizing. None of them wanted to wait a moment more before stepping out to make a decision.

Thankfully, they did not have to wait for much longer. Soon, the guard returned, and he brought back with him an old Pippian lady. "Sirs and Ladies," the guard started, "this lady is Olanden, one of those rescued. She says she knows what it is you want to know about."

"Then speak, my good woman," Iral stated.

Olanden gave a small smile. "This would be the first time I spoke of Star Dream to anyone, save Haltmann himself. He never wanted anyone to find out the truth of the matter."

"Star Dream?" Metian asked. "So the device we are searching for is called Star Dream?"

"Indeed, it is," the elderly woman said with a nod. "It is an ancient computer, the likes of which has never been matched. Haltmann is dependent on it for everything; he hardly chooses what to eat for dinner without it."

"Then he made this incredible computer?" Jestine asked.

Olanden shook her head and laughed. "Make it? Haltmann barely understands how it works. No, he found it when he was young. Back then, he had the founding of his empire, but he was hardly what you would call a tactical mastermind. That all changed the day Star Dream was found."

"Star Dream," she continued, "was discovered in a meteor. No one's sure how it got there, but almost everyone was certain that it much have been either Ancient or Guardian in origin. It was near flawless in forecasting what move Haltmann should make, and it was utilizing this magnificent work of ancient machinery that he was able to build up his kingdom to where it is today."

"So, he twisted the work of the Ancients to his own end," Erran said, crossing his arms. "That would explain why he's so hard to defeat. Only something made by the Guardians would be able to do any damage to it."

"Thank you, Olanden," Iral said, "but there is one more question. Do you know where this Star Dream is held?"

The Pippian woman gave another laugh. "I sure hope I do; I was the one tasked with its upkeep while I was there. That Haltmann made a poor move with it, too. It's right in that large ship, the one he's parked right on this planet."

"Thank you, miss," Jestine said. "You may return to your former activates now. We know everything we need for now."

"Thank you, Sirs and Ladies," Olanden said, giving a curtsy before hurrying out.

"So," Iral said once they were alone, "that answers two of our questions right away."

"Indeed," Jestine agreed. "For one, we now know where the battle must be concentrated if we are to have any hopes of survival. As contradictory as it may seem we cannot allow that ship to leave Pop Star."

"Second of all," Iral continued, "we know who must attack the computer directly. Sir Metian, I hope we can trust you to do the honors?"

Metian paused for a moment when he heard the request. "I'm sorry, I'm afraid I don't quite understand. I am not afraid of the task, but I fail to follow why it should be me in specific."

"You are one of the two people who wields a weapon of the Guardians," Iral explained. "Since Star Dream is a work of the Ancients, than only a weapon of the Guardians can destroy it."

"That makes sense," Erran said, "but by that logic, it could just as easily be me."

"That is true, my son," Iral responded, "but this mission would require an element of stealth, which you have never been very skilled at."

Erran looked like he was about to argue, but he thought over what was said before making a statement. Once he had thought about it, he sighed and crossed his arms, but dropped the subject. "I will keep as many of them away from you as I can," he said, turning to Metian.

"I thank you, my friend," Metian responded with a smile.

The decisions made and the course of action plotted, there was only one last decision to be made. However, Metian already had an idea how that goal could be achieved. "I think I know how I can make it in," he said, "but I'll need to have a sizable diversion."

"Consider it done!" Erran replied with a bright smile.

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Meta Knight could not believe what it was he was seeing. "Kirby! What on Pop Star is that?! Where on Pop Star did you get that?! How on Pop Star are you piloting it?!"

As soon as the robot was fully out of the hole, Kirby clambered out of it, though he kept the aviator's cap on. "It a wobot!" he exclaimed, completely oblivious to his father's confusion. "Kaabii founded it in t'at hole. T'ewe a wot of cool t'ings down t'ewe."

Meta Knight was still trying to process what it was he had just witnessed when Kirby ran off again. The tot came back in a moment, though, carrying the little toy fishing rod with him. "Wook at t'is!"

Setting the fishing rod down, Kirby scrambled back into the robot and maneuvered it so that it was facing the rod. Working with the controls, Kirby activated a mechanism in the mech, which then opened it's "mouth." A scanning beam came out of the "mouth" and ran over the toy, and in an instant, the robot shifted. It's color scheme shifted to brown and tan, and a large hook appeared, replacing the right hands. "See, Papa?" Kirby called out. "T'e wobot can copy, too!"

Realizing that Kirby was dealing with something ancient and powerful, Meta Knight took a deep breath and attempted to compose himself. "Kirby," he said, "you had best not play around too much with that."

"Why? It a good wobot," Kirby asked, somewhat disappointed with the course of action.

"Because, it is very old," Meta Knight answered. "Until we have someone look it over, we don't know if playing with it will break it. You wouldn't want to break it, now would you?"

That idea hadn't dawned on Kirby, who glanced down at the robot with an amount of surprise. "No, don't wanna bweak it," he said, and clambered out of the robot once more. "But Kabbi gonna wea' t'e hat."

"That's alright," Meta Knight responded. "You can wear the hat."

"Now," he went on, "I want to get a look at what is down here. I doubt that would have just been left here without rhyme or reason. Whatever's down here might be important."

Meta Knight then leapt down into the crevice, spreading his wings in the process to slow his fall. Though not quite as much as it had been when Kirby first arrive, it was still rather dark within the cavern. The warrior withdrew Galaxia, which gave off a glow. This glow, mixed with the moonlight that reflected off of the blade, illuminated the region, making it easier to see.

The cavern was shaped in an odd manner. It was a natural cave, but the only way in or out, other than the hole Kirby had bored in the ceiling, was a little drop point into the ocean. That certainly wouldn't have made it an easy place for coming and going.

There could be no doubt that someone had been there before, however. Across the room was shelves and desks. Scrolls and blueprints were scattered everywhere, and in the corner was a little crystal lamp that, when a candle was placed inside it, would cause the firelight to be scattered all around the room.

"It looks like a workshop of some sort," Meta Knight said. "A very old one at that."

Wandering over to one of the desks, he picked up the blueprint on it. "The Robobotrix Armor," he read aloud. "This must be for that robot you found."

Kirby, having already floated down to join the older Puffal in his search, looked at the blueprints and scratched his head. "Wobobot Ahmah?" he asked. "What t'at mean?"

Meta Knight lay the blueprint back down on the desk. A part of him wanted to roll it up or fold it to bring for further study, but it was so old that a part of him feared that to do so would damage the ancient parchment. "I'm not entirely sure myself, Kirby. Mechanics are not exactly my strong suit. Still, there are plenty of people here who do have that strength. We will have to ask them later."

"For now," he continued, "we'd best be heading back to the story. The others have grown worried about you, so it will be a relief for you to come back safe. We'll tell them about this place afterwards, alright?"

"Ahight," Kirby replied. "Kaabii get snack fahst?"

"Yes, Kirby, we can get a snack first," Meta Knight said, giving a small laugh as he spoke.

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When the day of reckoning came, it was a windy, overcast day. One couldn't see the top of the spaceship for the clouds that covered it. The legs, still stuck firmly into the planet, were still very plain to see, though, as were the terraforming stations that had been scattered around.

In the previous pause, Haltmann had taken the opportunity to launch more of his troops. As such, there was hardly a field or village that was not overrun with bukiset or Starmen wandering around. What areas of the land that had yet to be mechanized was now set up as slave gathering stations, and those who had failed to reach the safety of the Star Warrior hideout were rounded up and sent there.

To the dismay of the people, and the amusement of the invaders, the Star Warriors had themselves remained inactive for a long time. Ever since that fateful battle when they had been forced into retreat, it appeared that the Star Warriors had fled for good. Thus, those who were working for Haltmann had assumed there would be an easy victory at hand.

They couldn't have been more wrong. That very morning, just as Haltmann's lieutenants were readying their troops for the day's activities, the attack began. It started at the terraforming stations, where the rebel leaders had been spotted.

The Dreamlander and the Puffal were both utilizing their chariots and were dressed in their masks and armor. They lead the charge, attacking in on the stations. The Dreamlander slashed at the stations with his bow, launching the occasional arrow, as well as ramming them with his chariot. The Puffal rammed as well, and the attacks left gaping holes in the stations that the other warriors could use to their advantage, taking them out for good.

Of course, Haltmann's troops were quick to respond. They rushed out to do battle with the warriors, knowing well that failure would land them in trouble with their leader.

The fight was not easy for either side. The Star Warriors battled fiercely, knowing well that loss here meant the loss of their cause in complete. They were not about to roll over and allow for their enemies to defeat them without a struggle. At the same time, the invaders knew that any hesitation would be punished severely, and that the loss of the terraforming stations and the regression of the work that had already been done would be taken out on them. Thus, the two parties struggled hard with each other, and all attention was thrown onto the battle lines.

Which meant that no one noticed the single object that flew up towards the primary station. Since all eyes were diverted to the battle going on, that meant that Metian, piloting his Robobotrix armor, would have the opportunity to make it up there by himself. The thick clouds aided in his movement, as they obscured him from view from anyone who might look to the sky.

As he flew, he absentmindedly placed a paw at Galaxia's hilt. This would be the last chance. He had to make it in there and destroy that computer system. Once it was down, Haltmann's troops would be left without communications, and would thus scatter. From there, they would be easier to deal with.

Still, that meant that he'd have to make it into the ship, and that was the part he was still nervous about. He had used the copying ability of the machine to turn it into a jet, which meant that he wouldn't be able to use it to cut open the hull. He hoped Galaxia might be able to help with that, but he'd have to start from a distance.

Moving up to the hull, Metian activated the autopilot to keep the jet-bot where it was. This action done, he jumped out, raised Galaxia so that a Sword Beam was charged, and then he swung, letting it loose on the invader ship.

The cut did as it was supposed to. As soon as it collided with the ship, it cut a gouge into the hull of the ship, leaving an opening for Metian to slip into with the armor.

Of course, once he made it in, he had to move fast. The cut had caused a drastic drop in pressure, which gave warning to the ship that something was off. Protective measures started up, and airtight doors were beginning to close by the time Metian made it in. He had to hurry, using the jet mode's top speed to hurry into the main halls before he was cut off completely.

When he made it through, he abandoned the jet mode to ship back to the typical robot mode. He expected to meet some sort of resistance, and he didn't want to meet them in a position where he couldn't fight back.

He wasn't disappointed. Most of the Bukiset guards and all of the Star Men had been sent out to deal with the attacks on the terraforming stations, but not everyone was completely gone. Of course, they were no match for the might of the Robobotrix armor, and he pushed through them without much difficulty,

Once he was finished with the guards, Metian hurried out, moving up and to the center. He honestly has no idea how to locate Star Dream, but he supposed that up and to the center was the way he needed to go if he was to have any chance.

Thankfully, he didn't have to go much farther for that to be proven true. Once he came out from the side passageways, he came upon a huge circle of doors. One of them was to one side of the room, and it was larger than the others, with an ornamental H over it.

"No prizes for guessing what's behind door number one," Metian murmured to himself as he headed over.

As he faced the door, he paused. A feeling came over him, as if sensing a danger that would meet him on the other side. Once more, his paw went to the blade at his side, and a part of him instructed him on what he must do.

Taking Galaxia from it's sheath, he tossed it up, then angled the Robobotrix armor so as to copy it. In a moment, the blade was absorbed into the armor, which shifted along with it. The color changed to gold and white, with red tipped feet. The left arm gained a silver blade, like that of a long sword, but the right one changed so as to match the blade of Galaxia. As Metian touched the controls of the robot, he could sense the power in it just as he could sense the power held in the blade. Now he was ready.

Moving ahead, he shoved through the door like it was nothing and stormed in. There, at the center of the room, stood Star Dream. It was larger than he expected it to be, and designed in a fashion that he had never seen before. In better times, he might have wanted to examine it closer.

Now, however, he was going to have to destroy it if he wanted to keep his friends and family safe. Without any hesitation, he raised the sword arm of the Galaxia armor and prepared to strike.

As his arm came down, however, it was caught before it could land on the computer. With a jerk, the newcomer twisted him around and tossed him to the other side of the room, where he crashed into the wall.

Metian stumbled for a moment from the blow. Once he was able to regain his balance, he turned to look at who was facing him.

There, across from him and wearing a golden robotic armor of his own, was President Haltmann. "Well," the despot said, "it appears my caution was not misplaced. Star Dream said there was only a 1% chance of this happening, yet here we are."

As he faced his opponent, Metian said nothing. He knew words would be useless, and what he needed to do here was vitally important. Thus, he ignored the comment and instead rushed to attempt the blow again.

Haltmann seemed to be expecting that. Moving fast, he intercepted the blow, deflecting it upwards and grabbing the Robobotrix's arm. "You don't really believe you can defeat me, do you, boy?" he asked, sneering at Metain.

"I'm not going to give up without trying," the Puffal responded.

Haltmann sneered at this, raised the arms of his own armor, and fired at Metian. The shots came fast. They were small robots that chased after the Robobotrix and exploded whenever they got close. It took all of Metian's maneuvering skills to avoid being hit by one of the robots.

As Haltmann prepared to shoot off another volley of the robots, Metian got an idea. Spinning around, he caught one of the robots and, before it could explode, sent it flying back in the direction of the other robots. It collided with the first in the line and the two bots exploded, causing damage to all the ones coming after them.

Metian smiled when he saw the progress his attack had made, but he didn't have a lot of time to savor his victory. Haltmann had caught on to what he did as well, and he wasn't happy. He launched himself at Metian and seized the other armor. In an instant, he tossed the armored Puffal backwards, and he crashed into the far wall.

Stunned by the sudden attack, Metian worked to right himself. It was a struggle, but he was able to do so, and only just in time. He was barely able to dodge out of the way when a bright red projectile came flying at him.

Once safely away from the projectile, Metian turned to look and see what it was. It was a huge red gem, large and hard enough that had it hit the Robobotrix, the armor would have been destroyed.

Seeing the instrument of his near doom, Metian scowled. "Is your lifestyle so opulent that you can waste such resources?" He spat on the ground in disgust.

Haltmann gave a disdainful laugh. "These gems are the largest and hardest in the Gamble Galaxy. True, they might be worth much as ornamentation, but they are far more useful as weapons." Spinning his armor around, he launched out another of the gems in the direction of his enemy.

Metian was expecting it this time, and thus had no trouble in catching it. He had to brace himself make sure he wasn't thrown backwards, but he was able to do so with some struggle. Once he had it secured, all he had to do was give a hard push to send it back at Haltmann.

He did so just in time, as his foe had already sent another in his direction. The two gems collided, clashing in midair, and the blow was hard enough to shatter them both. The shards from the gems scattered this way and that.

Haltmann had to raise the arms of his armor to shield himself from the rain of rocky shards, and by the time he had recovered enough to look up, he had lost some ground.

Metian had charged again, this time raising the pronged sword of the armor in the air. Haltmann tried to respond, raising the arms of his own armor to block the blow, but the effort was in vain. Since it had copied the Guardian made Galaxia, the Robobotrix armor was currently made of sterner stuff than even the grandest armor the tyrant could have every hoped to devise. The slice came down and severed off the limb entirely.

"Give in," Metian said once the act was finished. "Your time is over. To continue would be in vain."

"I will die before you take my empire, slave!" Haltmann shouted, and he threw himself against Metian once more. The Puffal attempted to raise his sword in response, but Haltmann was expecting that. He caught the sword arm once more, forcing it up and dealing a blow to the middle of the armor.

Metian was thrown back, but he recovered from the knock fast. Maneuvering the suit as fast as he could, he sprang back up. He only just missed getting impaled by a long knife Haltmann had withdrawn from his own armor. The tyrant went in for the kill so fiercely and so hard that the knife sank down half it's length into the floor and remained there, stuck.

Seeing his opportunity, Metian moved in to finish the fight. Striking out with the Galaxia Sword, he cut into Haltmann's armor and, giving a twist, yanked it out again. The barbs caught on the internal workings of the machine, and when the blade was jerked out, it tore the engine out with it. Haltmann's armor collapsed in a heap.

Now having the opportunity that he had previously been denied, the Puffal hurried over and, with a heavy cut, sliced into Star Dream. Once, twice, thrice he cut, until there was so much damage that no one would dream of being able to put it back together.

Sighing heavily, Metian stepped back and allowed the copy of Galaxia to fade from the armor. It returned to it's tan and pink hue, and the famed blade clattered to the ground.

He sprang out of the armor in a moment and hopped over to try to relieve the weapon. Before he could, however, he was hit by a heavy blow that sent him flying backwards. He smacked hard into the back wall, and the breath was knocked out of him.

Once he could see what it was that had happened, the turned to face Haltmann. The tyrant looked wild, the singe marks left from his damaged armor all too clear. He had a savage look in his face as he faced Metian. "You! Will! Not! Take! My! Empire! From! Me!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "You will fall by your own blade!" He then reached down and attempted to snatch Galaxia up.

This was a mistake. As soon as he touched the blade, an intense electric shock came out of it. It knew who its master was, as it would obey no one else. What's more, it could sense that the one who touched it was far from worthy of wielding it. Thus, the shock it gave was more intense than had ever been experience by one on Pop Star. It was a severe mistake on Haltmann's part, and it was also his last.

The bolt from Galaxia caused sparks to fly off of Haltmann, and in less than a second he fell down. He was now singed near completely black and made no move. When Metian went to examine the figure, he realized that the despot was dead, slain by the electricity of Galaxia and his own hubris.

The Puffal did not have too long to consider these happenings, though. Without Star Dream to guide things, the Mothership began to break apart. Alarms went off around the area, and all personnel were called to evacuate.

Metian made haste to obey the warning as well. Snatching up Galaxia, he hurried back to the Robobotrix armor and rushed out. Finding a launch area, he copied one of the ships, changing his armor into the Jet armor, and hurrying out of the bay.

Once he was out, he turned to look. All around, the terraforming stations were falling, unable to stay in action without Star Dream. So, too, were the armies in confusion, lost without a way of keeping in contact with each other

Grinning, he turned his flight to the battle field. He knew the day's battle was already won, but he wished to observe things at a closer range.

…

When Star Dream fell, all became clear to those who were fighting. All at once, the terraforming stations went dark, and some of the ones that were more damaged began collapsing on their own weight. All around, captains and lieutenants on Haltmann's side looked at each other in confusion, unable to communicate with the mother ship or each other, as their radios had gone dead.

For the Star Warriors, however, hope began to be truly kindled. When the first of the stations fell, a hearty cheer went out, and the fighters launched another attack, forcing the already confused foe to have to recover fast. Things were finally turning their way.

It didn't take long to rout the enemy. Without any leaders, they were unable to fight against the warriors in such a way that didn't involve getting in each other's way. When the entire structure of the mother ship started to crumble, the forces beneath them realized that all was lost and surrendered. No help was going to be coming, so there was no reason for them to continue.

By the time Metian arrived back on the ground, the remaining troops of the Bukiset and Starmen were being rounded up and placed under arrest. When the Puffal hero touched down, a cheer broke out among the Star Warriors, and looks of confusion among the foe.

The Puffal who had been driving the Dragoon, a brown youngster who couldn't have been older than 280, flung off his mask and hurried over when he saw the Robobotrix armor. "Sir Metian, I did just as you said," he called out. "It was amazing!"

Seeing the teen, Metian chuckled before taking his chariot back. He touched a few buttons in the Robobotrix armor, which then took itself back to his workshop. "You did quite well, Pedar. Do not allow this to go to your head, but you have proven yourself today. Hold fast to your training and you'll have an amazing future ahead of you."

"Thank you, sir," Pedar replied, beaming with the praise.

"Now, go, and hurry to help the others finish things here," Metian ordered. "There is still much work to be done."

When the teen had run off, Metian turned to the field, where he was greeted heartily by Erran. "Friend Metian!" the Dreamlander called out. "We have achieved victory this day!"

"Indeed," Metian responded with a smile. "The work is not yet finished, though. Haltmann is dead, and his troops here routed for the moment, but there are still those loyal to his empire who must be dealt with."

"And we shall find them," Erran replied. "However, tonight, we have victory! Generations from now will sing of this day, and it is all thanks to you, friend!"

"It is thanks to all of us," Metian stated. "Yes, tonight, we have taking the first steps to true freedom, for now, and for as long as courage and a love of what is right exists."

The two warriors raised their weapons, and the tips of Galaxia and the Duciel Bow crossed. Both warriors beamed as they called out the band's motto. "Donect Tenebras Perit!"

"Et ad lumen, nunquam evanescere!" came back the cries from the army.

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"'It has now been over six hundred years,'" Sir Ebrum read as he come to the end of the scroll, "'but I can still hear the cries from that day. Of course, we were successful in eradicating the last of Haltmann's crooked empire, and peace has reigned in the galaxy. I know that Metian, may he rest easy, would have been pleased to see this day.'"

Ebrum then looked up. "This is where the scroll ends," he stated, "but there are many others like it. Rest assured, these will be translated, and the stories spread once more. For now, however, it is getting late, and it is time for all to go off to bed."

There was a mumbling of dissent, but eventually, all got up and hurried off. What was left over for cleanup would be dealt with in the morning, and despite the excitement from the evening, everyone was ready for bed.

Of course, that was when Meta Knight and Kirby came back into the room. "I'm sorry, but you missed the end," Lynette said, kissing Meta Knight on the cheek and handing him the eggs as she made sure the Puffalings didn't wander off.

"That's quite alright," Meta Knight replied. "Kirby and I made a little discovery of our own."

"It's big, an' coo', an…" Kirby began, but Lynette patted him on the head.

"I'm sure it was amazing, but why don't you tell me tomorrow?" she suggested.

Kirby thought for a moment before nodding. "A'ight. Kaabii s'ow yew tim'ah. But it weally coo'!"

To be continued…

 


	111. Vision of the Dawning Future, Part One

The time had come.

There was no doubt about it. Nightmare could feel it in his very being. The time was now or never. He would need to crush the Guardian here and now, or else lose chance of ever doing so. Loss of that opportunity, he knew, would mean the end of him, and he was not going to roll over and accept his fate.

But there was the matter of the Guardian's allies. As long as they stood by his side, then Nightmare's fight would be for naught. He'd need something to deal with this blasted allies while he moved in for the attack.

That was when the idea struck him. "John! Come here!" the warlock bellowed.

In a moment, his servant had arrived. "What may I do for you, my liege?" the man asked, bowing low upon his arrival.

"I know that the Galactic Knight has been slain," Nightmare said, wasting no time in getting to the point, "but what of the other Demon Beasts? How are they in development?"

"They are both ready for your observation," Honest John replied. "Their new forms have both taken root, and they will be ready to be sent out at a moment's notice."

"Perfect," Nightmare commented. "Prepare them for the teleportation center. I intend to send them out right away."

"However, before we get to there," he continued, "there is one last measure to be made." He waved his hand, and series after series of threads appeared in the air.

Seeing what was happening, Honest John grinned. "I suppose it is time to call in the debts."

"Indeed, it is," Nightmare responded. "Every deal I've ever made was leading up to this. The time has come, John, to wipe that miserable planet out of existence, once and for all."

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"It is a fascinating device," Sir Arthur said, moving around the mech armor that had been previously discovered. He, Sir Meta Knight, the Ebrums, and a few others were examining the device to see what to make of it. "It is quite old, though in good shape considering how old, and it does seem to match the description of the Robobotrix armor as described by Erran in the ancient text."

"Kaabii founded t'e Wobobot ah'mah!" Kirby cheered.

"Yes, indeed you have," Mace said. She was one of the few youngsters who were allowed near it, considering her aptitude for mechanics. "You've made a great discovery, and with a bit of repair and some good old-fashioned elbow grease, we can get this old thing back up and running like it used to."

"Don't get too eager, young one," Sir Percival pointed out. "True, we will try to restore it, but there's no guarantee this will ever see combat again. Even the best of restoration projects sometimes cannot bring something back completely."

"Doesn't mean we're not going to try our hardest, sir," Mace responded, giving a small grin.

"Good response, young lady," Sir Arthur said with a laugh. "We should always try our hardest, even when things look impossible."

Kirby didn't pay much attention to the adults' talk. He was too interested in getting a look around the Robobotrix armor. The huge device was just fascinating to him, and it took every ounce of willpower in the little one's body for him not to scramble into the machine and take it for a ride.

Of course, he couldn't do that, though. He had been strictly ordered by his father and the other adult Star Warriors that he wasn't to touch it, at least until he was a little bit older and better trained. Still, it was fun for him to look at.

He briefly looked back at the adults, about to ask them if they really didn't want him in the armor right now, when something else caught his attention. It was the window, which looked out over the Orange Ocean. Under most circumstances, the ocean looked bright and blue on a midday, even one in the dead of winter like today.

That, however, was clearly not the case. The sky, and by connection, the water reflecting it, had changed from blue to a greasy looking orange. In the air, flecks of black seemed to be descending from the sky, falling like a filthy snow. The birds seemed to not like it, too, as the seagulls and other shore birds flew everywhere in a panic, squawking and squealing the whole while.

The adults hadn't seemed to have noticed yet, as they were still talking, so Kirby went up by himself to investigate further. Taking a deep breath, he floated up to the window sill and peered out the window to see if this affected all the area around, or if it was only a single diseased patch.

The former turned out to be true. Despite the child's eager searching for anything that might show signs of normalcy, the sky was completely covered in the darkness. It was if the entire area had been choked out by some sort of disease.

"Uh, t'at good?" the child called back to his elders, hoping to catch their attention.

Meta Knight, hearing Kirby's call, turned to look and was horrified by what he saw. "Sirs," he called out to his superiors. "Look, at the sky!"

They hurried over and stared out to the strange scene. "What is happening, Sir Meta Knight?" Sir Arthur asked. "Has this happened before?"

"It might be a meteor," Sir Pervival suggested. "I've heard in some cases that they can cause a meteorological event such as this one."

"No," Meta Knight replied. "In all my years here, I've never seen anything like this."

While the adults discussed what was going on, a feeling grew within Kirby. He couldn't state just what is was. Heck, he had no idea what it was. However, he did know that this meant something both very powerful and very important was going to happen.

Without knowing what quite drew him to do so, he rushed off the windowsill and ran out of the room. "Kaabii gonna see Kabu!" he called out. The others only just had time to comprehend what he was saying before he disappeared from view, and none of them had the opportunity to grab him. They could only hurry after them to try to figure out what was going on.

Meta Knight took off after his son without a moment's pause. "Wait!" he called out, but by the time he had made it outside after the child, it was too late. Kirby had already called the Warp Star and was flying on it in the direction of Kabu Canyon.

Turning to Sir Arthur, Meta Knight saluted. "I am going after him," he stated. "I will get the Lor Starcutter to bring me to the canyon."

"Go," Sir Arthur said with approval, "and being several others with you. With all that is happening now, we may need Kabu's wisdom ourselves as well."

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Kabu had already sensed it was time when Kirby arrived. The ancient Servant of the Guardian's had sensed the exact moment when the Distort had decided to make his move, and he knew that the Guardian would make his move in turn very soon. Thus, when the very sky changed to its sickly color, he was prepared.

Thus, when Kirby arrived, running as fast as his feet would carry him, Kabu was ready. "Greetings, Kirby of the Stars," he called out. "What may I help you with?"

"Poyo! Wook at a sky!" Kirby called out, motioning with both paws to the orange atmosphere. "What goin' on? Why alla bad come?"

"Now, now, little one, calm down," Kabu said. "What is happening heralds grave times, but you must face things calmly. Panic will only harm your mission."

Kirby was still frightened by everything around him, but he struggled to do as the Servant said. Taking a few deep breaths, he sat down and tried to think through what was going on.

While he did this, others who had come in pursuit finally caught up. Meta Knight was, of course, in the lead. Behind him came Lynette, Sir Heavy Knight, the Ebrum family, and a variety of Star Warriors and Children of Erran.

Noticing them come, Kabu let out a laugh. "Well," the ancient Servant stated, "isn't this the surprise. To what do I owe this visit?"

"Kabu," Meta Knight said, bowing before he spoke, "we are in grave danger. The very sky has changed, and there are black materials like ashes raining down. We wish to know what is happening to our world, and how we can stop it."

"I fear to tell you that there is nothing that you Star Warriors can do to stop this phenomena," Kabu stated. "This is a sign of the times that have arrived; times of great trial and struggle the likes of which this world has never faced before."

A murmur went out among those who had arrived. It was as if their worst fears had been confirmed. Not only was this atmospheric change a sign of evil, but of an evil that cannot be stopped.

"Please, Kabu," Tiff called out, trying to raise her voice above the panicking adults. "There must be something that can be done."

"Indeed, there is," Kabu replied, "and it is something that has been decided on for years. However, despite the best of intentions, it is not something that the Star Warriors as a unit will be able to do."

"What is it, sir?" Sir Heavy Knight asked.

Kabu paused, as if trying to think out the best way to make his statement. "This is something that Kirby and Kirby alone will be able to fix. Indeed, it is for this very reason that he was born."

There came a hush over the crowd, as all those present understood exactly what that meant. Kirby toddled up closer to Kabu when he heard these words. "Kaabii gonna fight Nightmewe now?"

"Very soon." Kabu's voice was pensive. "Even as we speak, he is gathering up all his strength and allies to launch an attack on this place. If it is caught unprepared, than we will be destroyed."

"We will not be caught unprepared," Meta Knight said quickly. His hand instantly shot to Galaxia's hilt. "Come! We prepare for war! We will meet Nightmare when he arrives!"

"Yes, prepare for his armies," Kabu said, "but Kirby must not meet Nightmare on the world."

This confused those around him. "What do you mean, 'Kirby must not meet Nightmare on the world?" Meta Knight asked.

"What I mean is that as soon as Nightmare makes a physical contact with Pop Star, then this world will be lost," Kabu explained. "The destruction you see now is merely the reaction this atmosphere is having to his presence. Should he come to this world, then all would be lost."

"But Nightmare has been here before," Sir Ebrum pointed out, "and for a very long time at that. What makes this time any different?"

Kabu's response did not give any comfort. "Last time, Nightmare had wished to seduce Dreamland into following him, and thus had not come with his full power. Now, he comes with full strength and the intent to destroy all. He is coming here as powerful as a Distort can be, and while Kirby would still have a chance of winning, the utter destruction of the battle would decimate the world."

"T'en Kaabii go ta fight Nightmewe in space?" Kirby asked, completely missing out on the looks of fear and anguish in his parents' faces.

"Indeed," Kabu replied. "My fellow servant, the Lor Starcutter, will take you up. You must challenge Nightmare and defeat him there, or the whole universe will be lost."

"A'ight, Kaabii weady!" the little one exclaimed.

"I am glad to hear this," Kabu said. His eyes seemed to spark with the light of hope. "Just remember to bring the Warp Star with you; it will be your help and protection. But make haste! You cannot wait to intercept Nightmare."

"I will go with him," Meta Knight stated, stepping forwards, but before he could get too close, a rocking earthquake happened.

Spinning around, the Puffal turned to the others present. "Hurry, get back to the Lor Starcutter! We must get back to Stormholt before we launch our attack. Everyone not needed for the fight will stay there to fortify the fortress! Hurry, now!"

At they all hurried out, Kabu let out a sigh. "You mean well, warrior," he said, though no one could hear him, "but you do not understand. Though you wish to help, this is something that the Guardian must do alone."

When he was alone, a dark feeling of foreboding doom came over Kabu. "There need be no fear of your intervention, Protector of the Guardian," he said, though the recipient of the prophecy wasn't there. "You will have an evil to deal with yourself."

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In Cappy Town, the villagers were in an uproar. The sudden change in the atmosphere had not gone unnoticed. The peaceful creature who lived there, and those who were visiting, had gathered in front of the palace, all calling out for an explanation of what was going on.

"Now, now, everyone, calm down," Mayor Len called out, trying to bring the crowd under control. "I'm sure there's a perfectly logical explanation for what's going on."

"Logical?!" Nago exclaimed, waving a paw at the unfortunate Cappy. "What about this whole situation seems natural to you? Something evil's going on here! I'd bet my tail on it!"

"Yeah!" Dedede added, pulling out his hammer. "We need to beat up whoever's responsible for all of this calamastrocity!"

There was a mutter of agreement from those around him. Realizing the turn, the mayor raised his hands again. "Please, just keep calm! Doing something rash won't help with anything!"

As the uproar grew even more frantic, the mayor scanned the area for anything that might help him to regain control. He spotted just what he needed in the forms of the Star Warriors, who were passing through on their way back to Lor Starcutter.

"Sir Meta Knight!" he called out, running towards the group. "Thank Nova you're here. Do you have any idea of what is going on with the sky?"

The warriors looked to each other, as if silently contemplating whether or not it would be wise to allow the others to know what it was that was going on. Finally, Meta Knight stepped forwards, taking the responsibility on himself. "We believe that it is the sign that Nightmare is preparing for his attack."

Hearing that information, the people of Cappy Town huddled around each other in a panic. The last time Nightmare made a personal attack, it had ended in disaster for the little village. They didn't want to even think about what this new attack was going to do to them.

Kirby then ran through the crowd and sprang up so that he was standing on the edge of the Fountain of Dream. "Don' wowwy!" he shouted out, trying to be heard over the cries of panic. "Kaabii gonna fight Nightmewe an' stop him now!"

There was a moment of silence as the viewer who watched turned to him. None of them doubted what he said. They had seen him fight before. Still, it was all so frightening. They didn't dare to hope that he'd be able to win easily. As a result, they all stood silent and watched.

After a moment, however, a voice broke over the silence. "Here, here, Kirby!" Ribbon called out, flying up to join him. "We're all behind you!"

"Yeah!" Tiff added. "We'll stand with you, Kirby!"

"Three cheers for Kirby, the Guardian of Dreamland!" Tuff shouted out.

One by one, the other villages joined in. After all, it was their best hope. If nothing happened, they were all going to die anyway, and Kirby was the Guardian. Each and every one of them had seen what that power entailed.

While the cheering was occurring, a ball of fire became apparent in the sky. It let out a sonic boom as it hit the atmosphere and came hurtling toward the palace. The viewers were forced to scatter, and it came to rest about fifteen feet from the Fountain of Dreams. It sat there for a moment as the fire surrounding it died down, and it soon was just a black ball of some unknown material.

There was an almost instinctual gathering around the object, and Meta Knight had to raise his hand to keep anyone from getting too close. "Wait!" he called out to the crowd. "We don't know what it is. Do not approach it until we know what is going on."

Hearing this, Dedede puffed himself up. "This is my property and that thing is encouching on it! I have a right to see what it is that tore up my lawn, and you can't stop me." He then shoved Meta Knight aside and marched over to the fallen object.

"Dedede, don't touch it!" Meta Knight cried out, but his advice fell on deaf ears.

Dedede marched over to the black thing and looked it over. After a moment, he laughed. "This is just a rock! Imagine that, the tough ol' Star Warriors are afraid of a li'l ol' rock!" He laughed again and leaned against the object. "Ya know, I think I'll keep this as a trough just so ya'll…" he trailed off when he felt something in the object move.

The object's side jerked, and a heavy amount of soot crumbled off of it, falling away and leaving a colorful pattern surrounded by something pink and sharp around it. The same thing happened on the other side, and as soon as the soot was off, the shapes expanded out, revealing themselves to be wings, each edged with three claws.

That was when the rest of the shape came clear. The soot fell away, revealing a purple face, which was horrible deformed. It huge mouth took up about half of the space, and sharp fangs shone from the opened mouth. His oversized tongue, too, constantly lolled from his mouth, as if he wasn't able to fit it inside. The eyes were also oversized, even for the creature's face, and they bugged out of the skull. The creature was garbed in an exaggerated jester's hat, a ruby amulet, and a pair of oversized shoes.

In a moment, those who had been around the palace from the start recognize who he was. "Is that Marx?" Bandanna Dee asked, raising his spear in front of himself as he asked.

As if in response, the Marx-creature let out an ear rending scream and launched itself into attack. Without any other warning, the beast began to attack, slashing with claws and firing off beams in all directions. Civilians were forced to flee to find shelter, lest they be harmed by the ravaging attack, and all those with fighting abilities hurried to take the monster down.

Kirby, too prepared to face the beast, but Meta Knight stopped him. "No, Kirby, get to the Lor Starcutter," the warrior ordered.

Hearing the order, Kirby frowned. "But Kaabii wanna he'p."

"I know, but you will be helping more by making it to her," Meta Knight responded. He gave a sigh and placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "I had hoped this day would never come, but you will need to face Nightmare. Remember what Kabu said: if Nightmare makes it to the planet's surface, then nothing we do here will matter. I will stay here and fight the creature, but you need to go back to Stormholt, prepare for the journey, and stop him. Alright?"

Tears welled in Kirby's eyes, but he nodded. "'Key, Papa. Kaabii go." He then reached out and embraced his father. "Bye-bye."

"Farewell," Meta Knight responded, returning the gesture. "Good luck and Godspeed."

Their interaction finished, Kirby turned around and summoned the Warp Star, before speeding off in the direction of the living ship. There was no time that could be wasted in the meanwhile.

Once he saw his son off, Meta Knight turned and went to help his fellow warriors against the foe. He could tell in an instant that this was not going to be an easy task. The beast in front of him was Marx, or something that had once been Marx, at the very least. However, the horrible mutations suggested that he had been changed by something. Probably the same thing that turned Galacta Knight into a Demon Beast, Meta Knight thought to himself.

The new Marx fought like a Demon Beast, that much was for sure. The creature was constantly teleporting all over the place, launching out missiles, slashing with claws or utilizing powerful laser weapons. The attacks were devastating, and it was a miracle that no one had been slain yet.

Meta Knight planned to keep things that way. Withdrawing Galaxy from its sheath, he turned and leapt into the fray.

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At Stormholt, things were already on the move. They had already received the message from the Lor Starcutter of what was going on with the atmospheric condition, as news of the attack at Cappy Town. Thus, everyone inside was getting ready, some to go to join in the fighting, and some to help Kirby for his journey.

Lynette and Lady Rosalyn were waiting at the launch area when the Lor Starcutter came in. They had finally gotten the Puffalings down for their nap, and they wanted to make sure they saw Kirby at least once before everything went down. Neither of them looked very happy, and none could blame them. This was a terrible circumstance they all were in, yet one that could not be avoided. They could only hope they were doing the right thing by allowing Kirby to go into this.

When the ship landed, Kirby tumbled out and ran over to Lynette. "Mama!" he cried out, jumping into her arms.

Lynette returned the embrace, and she wanted to speak to him back. However, the knot in her throat stopped her, and she could only just hug him back.

Rosalyn, too, reached over and patted the child on the back, unable to think of anything to say. All they could do was hold the toddler close and wish there were better times.

"Ladies," the Lor Starcutter said all of a sudden, "please hurry. Time is of the essence, and Kirby will need to go very soon."

"Of course," Lynette responded, but her actions moved slower than her words. She had already lost so much time with her family to that monster. Did she really need to lose more?

"We've got the supplies, Lady Rosalyn," a young Boxin warrior said, coming up to the three. "Do you wish us to load it into the ship?"

"Yes, with all haste," Rosalyn replied. "We'll need to help Kirby get airborne as quickly as he can."

"Indeed," Sir Arthur said in agreement as he approached. "We have no time we can lose."

"Sir Arthur, thank you for coming so fast," Rosalyn said, giving a salute.

"I owed Kirby as much," the leader of the warriors said. "There no time for small talk, though. I doubt Nightmare will wait for us to be completely ready for what is to come."

"Lady Starcutter," he then said, turning to the ship, are the provisions in? Are you ready?"

"I am ready," Lor responded.

"Good," Arthur said, giving a nod of approval. "Than we must load up and be on our-"

Before he could finish his thought, there was a crash as something slammed hard into Stormholt. Whatever it was hit the building hard enough to cause a deafening crash, and the very foundations of the building shook with the impact. Those within were forced to fall down and grip the ground with all their strength to keep from falling over.

"What happened here?" Arthur snapped, turning to one of the nearby soldier who ran by once it was stable enough to do so."

"Something hit the fortress, sir," the young guard responded. "It smashed through the wall and is lying in the main entrance."

Shooting to his feet, Sir Arthur got up and raced to the entrance to see what was going on. The others with him did so as well, all wanting to find out what had hit with enough force to do that much damage.

When they made it out, they could see clearly what it was. A massive blackball was lying curled up on the ground. It had smashed through the wall just above the main entrance, and it was a miracle that no one had been buried under the rubble that resulted.

Warriors of every race present in the fortress surrounded the thing, not knowing what it was or what it was going to do. They lowered their weapons at it, hoping for the best but ready for the worst if it came to it.

"Hold your fire, but keep ready," Sir Arthur ordered as he pushed through the crowd towards the thing. Withdrawing his own sword and keeping a blaster close at hand, he got closer to the thing to get a look at it.

It was then that the thing started to move. With a sudden jerk, it straightened itself out, revealing a massive, long, but somewhat flattened body covered with thick black fur. Its red eyes glared at the warriors surrounding it, and there was a jewel of the same color on its forehead. It had a gaping mouth full of fangs that jutted this way and that past its lips, and when it straightened itself out, it revealed that it had eight legs, four on either side of its massive body.

The Star Warriors only had a split second to notice these details, since as soon as the beast straightened itself out, it immediately went on the warpath. Opening its mouth, it began launching fireballs at the warriors, forcing them to scatter to avoid getting hit.

"Now!" Sir Arthur called out as he staggered to his feet and started attacking. "Open fire now!"

The order came on time, but he hardly needed to have made it. As soon as the beast started its attack, the warriors had responded in turn, opening up attacks with gunfire, Sword Beams, arrows, and whatever else they could throw at the enemy.

Unfortunately, the enemy seemed prepared for such an attack. It lashed out, slashing with claws, roaring out bursts of flames, and tearing through anything in its way as it charged through the fortress.

Once more, Kirby wished to throw himself into the fray to help with the battle, but in the back of his head, he felt a pull at him, telling him that he needed to go. He didn't like it, but he knew it was true. There were warriors here more than capable of fighting this new monster. He needed to stop Nightmare before he could arrive, and he had to do this alone.

He hurried away from the battle, trusting the the warriors would hold their own, and made his way to the Lor Starcutter. He made a quick stop in one of the armories to pick up the Star Rod and, calling the Warp Star again, hurried off to find the living ship.

When he arrived, he found that she already had a door opened for him. "Are you ready to go, Guardian Kirby?" she asked as he came on board.

"Kaabii weady," the little one replied. "Wet's go!"

To be continued…

 


	112. Vision of the Dawning Future, Part Two

The battle at Cappy Town waged on against the insane foe. In the midst of the fight, it became clear that reasoning wasn't going to work with this enemy. While the beast had clearly been Marx at one point in time, his actions here and now betrayed no intelligent thought.

Instead, he flailed around madly, not only launching out projectile attacks left and right, but charging himself into the warriors as well. He endured the brunt of many attacks this way, but the move was also so unexpected that it caused harm to anyone who was hit by it.

In the meanwhile, there were still none-combatants all around the battlefield. They had been stunned into silence and stillness, and found themselves unable move from their spot.

Seeing the danger, Tiff jumped away from the fighting and grabbed the nearest Cappy's hand. "Come on!" she called out, and she was soon followed by her brother and friends. "We need to get away from that thing!"

As if stirred to wakefulness by the girl's cry, the citizens began to move. They all made a mad stampede away from the fight, allowing the Star Warriors more room for dealing with the enemy. It took everything that Tiff and the other kids had to keep them in line and out of danger.

"Dedede!" Ribbon called out, slowing down so she was flying in close range to the Pengu. "We need to get to some safe place underground. Do you have anywhere we can hide?"

He was able to try to shoo her off, but the wisdom of her request hit him. "Yeah, I've got a place. But only I know where it is!"

"Then show us!" she replied. She then pulled up, and using her magic to amplify her voice, called out to the crowd. "Everyone, follow Dedede! He's got a place for us to lie low!"

For a few moments, there was confusion. "Follow Dedede? Why?"

"What does he know?"

"Isn't he usually the cause of these problems?"

"We're just going to need to trust him right now!" Ribbon replied. "Come on, we're losing time!"

They hurried into the palace, though a number of runners had to slow down to allow Dedede to take the lead. Once inside, they raced down into the hallway until they came across a tapestry. "Alright, everyone," Dedede said, pulling on the drawstring of the tapestry, revealing a secret pathway. "Everyone line up!"

As the citizens were making their escape, the Star Warriors had their hands completely full dealing with the monster. Though they now had more room to fight without any bystanders around, the foe still seemed unbeatable.

Even Meta Knight was having immense difficulties. No matter how many times he attacked, it appeared it was to no use. Every sword stroke that landed, even by Galaxia, seemed to glance off the monster. Once, Meta Knight was close enough to see that wasn't the case, but the truth wasn't any more comforting. Many of the blows did, indeed, cause damage, but nearly as soon as they were dealt, they knit themselves back up!

Not that this meant that the defenders were about to give up. Quite the contrary. They knew that if they gave up now, then many innocents would be left to suffer the brunt of the monstrosity's attacks. Thus, they bolstered up and doubled in their attack, eager to defeat the monster once and for all.

Taking up a new strategy, the warriors arranged a pattern, setting a group of soldiers in the back, wielding guns. They kept at a distance, and a number of spear bearers stood in front of them, holding out their spears in anticipation for if the beast would swoop in for another attack.

At the same time, the melee fighters, Meta Knight included, came in and attacked in hand to hand combat. Meta Knight was the one who was able to get the furthest into the action, since he was the only one who could fly up to meet the monster on his terms.

Meta Knight was on one such charged when they discovered a new ability of the beast. The Demon Beast turned to face the oncoming warrior, and when he was directly in the creature's face, it let out a blood curdling, ear rending scream.

Surprised and stunned by the attack, Meta Knight fell back. His wings temporarily locked up, sending him plummeting ground-ward. He smashed into the dirt, leaving a small crater where he lay.

Taking the opportunity, the monster swooped down, eager to finish the kill. However, as soon as it came near him, other warriors rushed in and attacked it was their weapons. They were successful in forcing the beast back away from the injured Meta Knight.

Unfortunately, though, they did not have the beast on the run. It lashed out again, sending razor-sharp boomerang projectiles into their faces. When they were stunned trying to defend themselves from the attack, it reached out and snatched one of them up, preparing to crush him within its claws. Heavy Knight let out a cry of pain as they claws came in contact with his skin.

Meta Knight, who had now recovered enough to see what was going on, let out a cry of dismay, and in an instant, Galaxia was in his hand. Lashing out, he held the ancient weapon high, and swinging it like he had never swung before unleashed the largest Sword Beam he had ever summoned up on his own power.

The light of the Sword Beam was near blinding. It tore through everything in its way as it moved in to reach the monster. Other Star Warriors dodged out of the way as fast as they could, and they moved just in time for the beam to plow a trough in the dirt behind it.

The beam clashed with the Demon Beast when it finally reached him, and for a moment, there was a pause. Everyone stood still, with the exception of Heavy Knight, who got away to a safe distance before turning to look. All the warriors around held their breath, eager to see if that was the winning blow for the battle.

For a moment, it seemed that the Demon Beast, too, was frozen in anticipation. Then, it split into two halves, separating right down the middle.

A cheer went out among the warriors when they saw this, but their jubilation was too soon. The halves of the monster began to glow, and in a moment, they transformed into balls of energy and launched out against the fighters once more.

Seeing the attack coming, the warriors were forced to scatter to avoid being hit by the assailing energy balls. After they had been forced to flee, to two balls came together and fused, and in a moment the enemy had reappeared, as if he had never been split in the first place.

Realizing what had happened, Meta Knight slumped down, though he tightened his grip on Galaxia. "[How are we ever going to defeat this monster?]" he asked, slipping back into his native tongue.

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Within Stormholt, things were no better. Evacuations of anyone too young or too old to fight had been successful, and the only non-fighters still around were doctors who had stayed behind to tend injury. However, the fight was still difficult.

The monstrous Wolfwrath, on the first opportunity, charged into the long dark hallways of the fortress. It was faster than one would expect from a creature its size, and it was fierce and ferocious. In it's mad rush to get away from the lobby, it sized one unfortunate Dreamlander in its teeth, and it was only the warrior's tough armor that saved his life. Still, he was thrown out of it and to a side, while the beast finished turning the armor into scrap.

Lynette, being one of the doctors to stay behind, raced over to his side. "Where are you hurt?" she asked, opening up her emergency medical kit.

"No time," the Dreamlander responded, and he tried to force himself up. However, as soon as he leaned on his right arm, he let out a cry of pain and fell down.

"It's no good," Lynette scolded as she started to split his arm. "At the very least, this arm's been sprained beyond use. It's more likely that it's fractured. You've also got some serious burns. You're not going to be able to rush back in there."

"But someone's got to stop that thing!" the warrior tried to argue.

As they had been speaking, the battle had still raged on behind them. As if it had been waiting for the opportunity, the Wolfwrath reared up on its hind legs and hurled out a long stream of flames. The warriors were forced to scatter to avoid being hit, and a few of them were too slow and got burnt.

Thankfully, Lynette had seen the attack coming and got her charge away from the place of battle before they could be hit. "Yes," she replied, "but not you, and not right now."

At the same time, the Wolfwrath creature had turned to flight. It raced through the halls on all eight legs, and it crawled on all surfaces, walls and ceiling included. It achieved this by digging its claws into the stone walls of the building, giving it a grip and an advantage over its enemies.

Arthur himself lead a charge against the beast into the maze of a fortress. "Come on, men!" he shouted. "We can't let that foul creature take our home!" There came a cry of agreement from the other warriors, and they plunged in after the beast.

As soon as they got close, the monster opened its jaws and launched a stream of fire at them. It licked the walls of the building, scorching the stones and making anything metal almost unbearable to touch.

The warriors, however, had been expecting that mode of attack. When they saw it coming, they scattered around, knowing the monster would only be able to send its flames after one of their groups. It did, chasing after the rightmost group with its attack.

At the same time, those in the leftmost group circle around. They worked their way closer to the beast, and when they were in position, the launched out with an attack on the beast's head and chest, which had been pretty much been left undefended.

The beast, however, was not about to be defeated that easily. Though it kept it's inferno on those who were attempting to work their way around to the creature's right, it lashed out with its claws on at anyone who came near it, keeping anyone who had melee weaponry at bay.

To make matters even more difficult, those who had weapons that could strike at the monster from a distance had no more success than their companions. The beast had no reaction to gunfire of any sort, and though arrows were about to make their way to the monster, it's fur proved to be so thick and matted that they weren't able to completely pierce it, meaning they either bounced off or became entangled in fur.

After the fight had gone on for some minutes in this way, the beast let out another roar, this one of higher pitch than any before it. It was so ear-piercing that the warriors around it were forced to drop to the ground. The monster took advantage of this opening to open its jaws and prepare to launch out another blast of fire.

Before it could do so, Sir Daroach materialized in front of it, the Triple Star aloft in one paw. Swinging it down hard, he unleashed a large ice beam, which caught the beast in the mouth. It froze the monster's jaws open, but he didn't stop until the creature's mouth was filled with ice.

Shocked by the attack and choked by the ice, it took a few steps back. This gave the mouse warrior another opening. Using his cloak, he disappeared and reappeared right in front of the monster again. This time, when he swung the Triple Star, three stars came out of it and crashed right into the Wolfwrath, leaving it off balance again. He swung again twice more, which knocked the foul creature over. Once it was on its back, he threw in a bomb, which exploded, leaving the creature on its back.

"Nice to see you were willing to come and join us," Sir Arthur said, coming over and placing a paw on the mouse's shoulder. "That ice trick of yours seemed to come in handy."

Daroach cast a grin at his superior. "Now, sir, I'd imagine you know that a precise entrance is twenty percent of success."

"I suppose that's why Sir Meta Knight always succeeds then," Arthur said with a smile.

"Now, seriously, good job," he said. "I was starting to get concerned we weren't going to be able to take that thing down."

"Don't thank me just yet," Daroach cautioned, and he straightened his hat. "We don't yet have proof that thing has been taken dow-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he, Sir Arthur, and those closest to them were struck by a blast of steam. Indeed, the monstrous Wolfwrath had survived the attack, and in the meanwhile, had melted the ice between its jaws. It hated the water, but it was now smart enough to know how to use it in its favor.

The steam blast had not killed any of the warriors who had gotten caught in it, but it had been unexpected, and thus those hit had been injured to the point of incapacitation. Seeing the damage dealt, Lynette got up and tried to make her way over to the injured, as did two other doctors who had also been there.

"No! Don't come closer!" Sir Arthur called out. "You can't fight back! It will kill you!"

Taking a few steps back, Lynette battled with the tension growing within her. She wasn't a warrior. She had never trained to fight, nor had she every had any inclination to. She had taken defense classes, of course, since she was of Star Warrior blood, but she was a healer first and foremost.

But there won't be anyone to heal if you do nothing, she scolded herself. She needed to find some way to help the injured, and it was clear she couldn't do so unarmed.

She then remembered something hidden away, something that might be able to help her to stop the attack. For a brief moment, she thought about shouting out to one of the warriors, but realized this would be a mistake. After all, they already had their hands full, and with the damage that the monster had already done, none of the remaining fighters could be spared against the beast.

So it was up to her. Turning on her heels, she raced down to the small antechamber where all ancient weapons were held. Getting there was her only hope.

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While Kirby was loathed to leave either battlefield while an attack was in the progress, he knew he had no choice. Still, he couldn't help but stare out the window at Stormholt, occasionally casting a glance in Cappy Town's direction.

"You wish you could help them, don't you?" the Lor Starcutter as as they went on their way.

Kirby nodded. "Uh-huh. Kaabii could fight t'e monstahs. He'p alla Star Wa'ee'yahs."

"It is a noble sentiment," the ship replied, "but one, I'm afraid, that would play right into Nightmare's hands. He knows well that you would want to try to fight and stop those Demon Beasts, and that's likely why he sent them. He knew that if he could get you distracted fighting something else, you wouldn't be able to go and fight him in time, and his victory would be assured."

"Yeah…" Kirby replied in a wistful tone, though he stilled stared out the window.

"Kirby, I-" the Starcutter began, but she was cut off by an alarm system. "It looks like we're coming up on them!" she declared.

Kirby raced around, coming up to the main screen, which flickered on in a moment. He could now see just exactly it was he was up against.

An armada had been assembled. Ships and monsters, dripping with all sorts of evil magics, was coming in a swarm on Pop Star. From the looks of them, it appeared that Nightmare had gathered together all of his servants. Kirby could recognize the bits of paint magic scattered here and there, and he could swear that one of the ships belonged to the Collector.

As vast as the armada was, though, they were nothing in compare to the one who was leading it. Nightmare had by then gathered himself to his full strength and had taken on his orb shape for travel. The dark blob would have been near invisible, if it weren't for how he blocked out every star and vehicle he moved in front of. It was clear that he was now ready to begin the final assault.

"Kirby," the Lor Starcutter said, "there's too many for you to face on your own. I'll try to ward off the armada. You go deal with Nightmare."

"Uh-huh," Kirby said, though he was so quiet he almost wasn't heard. Racing to the back of the ship, he snatched up the Star Rod and Warp Star and, coming to a door, rushed out.

The moment he was out, Nightmare took notice. "So, the Guardian wishes to challenge me here?" the warlock asked. He gave a deep, booming laugh, and Kirby had to think back on all his friends Nightmare was threatening just to hold on to his nerve. "Very well. We shall fight here, just as it had been decided ages ago!"

Without warning, the orb spun off course, moving away from the armada in another direction. Kirby had no choice but to swerve around, forcing the Warp Star to move as fast as it could, in order to keep up with the monster.

As they raced around the area, they battled. Nightmare acted first, sending projectile after projectile of dark energy, ready to strike the youngster and knock him off of the Warp Star. Kirby battled hard against this attack, clinging to his star with all his might. In response, he lashed out with the Star Rod, sending the bright bolts at the monster in hopes that they would do something to stop him.

The attempts were valiant, but ultimately in vain. In the way the attack was going, both fighters were fairly weakened. In his orb form, Nightmare could take more damage than could be imaginable, but at the same time, could only lash out with his weakest attacks. At the same time, Kirby, though more capable of attacking than his enemy, had a hard time actually launching the attack. The speed at which he was traveling made aiming near impossible and the fact that he also had to dodge debris and the ships made the attack far more difficult.

At the same time, the Lor Starcutter battled courageously against Nightmare's armada to hold them off. She was vastly outnumbered, but had an advantage over her opponents. She was lighter and faster than anyone she was dealing with, and more advantageously armed. Since she was a servant of the Guardians, she had been supplied with the armament of the Guardians, and it showed in the way she fought.

She wove in and around the larger ships, which being too bulky and heavy to maneuver that easily, were forced to attempt to attack her as they passed. A few of their attacks came close to landing, but these were only the guns that were small enough to move fast enough to aim at her. The heavier guns were only able to aim and fire where they hoped she would be soon, which was rarely ever true. More often than not, the attack would miss her completely, and either diffuse harmlessly in space or end up striking an unfortunate vessel of their own, which had not gotten out of the way in time.

The lighter, smaller ships were able to pick up enough speed to attempt to chase after her, but their attempts were in vain. Even though they were closer than their larger companions to being able to keep up with her, it was still a struggle they were not prepared for. As a result, they would often end up running into each other when she pulled one of her hairpin moves, causing a collision that the ships behind them would inevitably end up caught in.

Those ships that were able to avoid the multiple pile ups weren't much more fortunate. Since the ones who could actually keep up with such maneuvers were usually smaller scouting ships, they were usually not prepared to handle a direct fire-fight, and as soon as they came face to face with the Lor Starcutter's guns, they were torn to shreds.

Though the fight was going well for the Starcutter, this unfortunately made the fight a bit harder on Kirby. Since between the two, Nightmare had it more at his advantage to keep up the chase, he proceeded to move as fast as he could, keeping as far away from Kirby as he could. What's more, since he also had durability and agility on his side, he made a point on weaving in and out of the ship debris.

Kirby did his best to keep up with Nightmare, but the struggle was immense. On the unguarded Warp Star, he was more in danger from the rubble and debris than his opponent was. He was forced to slow down in his attack to avoid being struck of his vehicle and cling on for dear life at some of the turns. The face that the occasional shot meant for someone else often veered close to him did not help, and more than once did he find himself forced to pull a turn on a dime to avoid being struck down.

Not that he was about to let this get to him. Kirby was fiercely determined: the battle was ending, here and now. There was no other way it could end. If he gave up or failed, then it meant death for the world he loved so much. Death for everyone he knew and cared about. Death for everything good and pure and beautiful in this universe.

He wasn't about to let things end that way.

Summoning up as much strength and power as he had, Kirby briefly stopped trying to hit Nightmare with the bolts from the Star Rod and instead turned his attention to the debris. Using the ancient weapon, he cut broad paths through the stone and metal that surrounded the area. None of the wreckage could stand up against the star bolts, and soon, he was cutting a path right down to his foe, who he rushed to take on.

Nightmare, realizing his initial plan was failing, immediately turned to change his mode of attack. Spinning wildly, he changed from fleeing Kirby to charging right at him at a break-neck pace.

Kirby was forced to move to one side in a hasty manner to avoid being struck by the monster. This threw him off balance just enough to allow Nightmare to spin around and come at him again. This time, the young one was not able to get clear in time, and he was struck hard by the warlock.

When the blow made contact, Kirby was thrown backwards. He, the Star Rod, and the Warp Star were all sent backwards into the nearest moon, where they crashed down hard.

Nightmare now saw his opening. Rushing to the moon, he hurried over to where the young Puffal still lay, too stunned from his trip there to tell what was going on. In an instant, Nightmare swept away the Warp Star and Star Rod, so they would be out of the Guardian's reach. He then seized Kirby and picked him up. "Now, Guardian!" he declared. "We will fight on my terms! No weapons, no aid, no allies, no powers, save my own! We will fight in the realm of nightmares!"

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Kabu could sense all as it was happening. He knew, now, of Nightmare's full plan. By sending the creatures Marx Soul and the Spider Wolfwrath ahead of him, he has cut Kirby off from his allies. Aside from what assistance the Lor Starcutter could give, Kirby was going to be facing his battles on his own.

"Do not be afraid, Guardian Kirby," the old statue bellowed, and he knew that somehow, Kirby would hear. "Remember, no matter what the fiend says, you do not face this terror alone. Persevere and you will be victorious!"

To be continued…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It all comes down to this! Only one chapter left! How will this story conclude? Log in January 7th to see!-SilverWarriorWolf.
> 
> ...Wolf: Take a look on Silver's account on DeviantArt. The first few pages of Hidden Star should be up at this time.


	113. Vision of the Dawning Future, Part Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is it! It's the end of this story! We have reached our happy ending!
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading all the way to one hundred and thirteen. It's hard to believe this story has been up since 2014, and here we are, almost four years later wrapping up. I hope you all enjoyed this series!
> 
> If you need some more Kirby, then head over to DA to view Wolf's new webcomic, Hidden Star. Wolf: Hopefully, this will be out the same day that this chapter airs. However, there are some technical difficulties on my end, so if it doesn't work I will get it out next Sunday. I hope to keep my updates on every other Sunday, but like Silver I will give fair warning if I have to change schedules. If you're more in the mood for some written word, Silver has more stories on this account, especially the already running Inspector Gadget: ReInitiated and the brand new Exceptional Spider-Man, which will debut on January 21st.
> 
> From the both of us, thank you again to all our loyal readers. Goodbye!

The battle in Cappy Town was not going well. Despite their best attempts, the warriors there were struggling to hold their own against the beast. When they had seen Meta's strike finally cause damage to the beast, hope had arisen that they might be the victor after all.

That hope had been smashed back down the minute the two halves of the creature fused back together. The attack had left some damage, as the beast now had a seam running down his body. However, this seemed to be nothing more than an annoyance, as he immediately turned back to continue the rampage.

"Sir Meta Knight!" one of the soldiers called, racing up alongside the Puffal. "What can we do now? This thing is invincible!"

"He is not invincible," Meta Knight corrected. "This is a Demon Beast; I have dealt with one before. They are strong and difficult to beat, but not impossible. I have seen once perish in his own attack. There must be some way we can trick the monster, if we cannot defeat him with brute force."

Before anything else could be said, the monster unleashed another scream, freezing all those who heard it in place. The scream then faded into wicked laughter as the beast resumed his attack. He swooped down on two of the unfortunate soldiers and seized them before tossing them aside.

In response, the others arose in an attempt to defend their brothers, but their attack came too late. As the closest few soldier reached the creature, it split in half again and changed into two goopy balls, one blue and one pink. The halves then flew around the battlefield, raining down poison over its foes. Most of the Star Warriors were able to avoid the venom, which then seeped into the ground, killing all plant life that had once been there. Those unfortunate enough to be hit had been left with acid burns and were forced to get away from the fight to try to cleanse themselves.

When it was finished with this attack, it refused into one whole. Once more, the remaining warriors took this as their opportunity to rush in and attack the monster. It was becoming clearer and clearer with every passing second that if they did not defeat the beast soon, they would all be done for.

This time, it appeared their attack had succeeded just as they needed it to. The monster that had once been Marx was now weakened and had to pause, and this gave his foes just the opening they needed. Rushing in, they attacked the monster with everything they had in a desperate attempt to stop it.

For a brief moment, it appeared as if the attack was going to work. For once, multiple warriors were able to reach the beast, and attacking with all their might, they hit him with everything they had. They knew well that this may be their deciding attack, and they meant to make it count.

All in all, seven warriors reached the beast and unleashed everything they had with gun, sword, spear, and ax. The monster, however, was tougher than they were expecting, and nothing they threw at him would do anything more than slightly bruise him. Not that this was going to cause them to give up, far from it. However, if did shake them down to their very core.

As if this had been the monster's goal all along, it now unleashed another shriek, tossing its foes backwards by the sheer force of the cry. It then rose into the air again and split in half once more. This time, a black hole appeared between the halves and proceeded to suck the monster into it.

It didn't stop there, though. Its strength increased and started to pull in the debris from the battle. As it did, it grew stronger, and it took the warriors all they had to avoid getting pulled in themselves.

After a moment, however, the pull stopped, and the hole simple vanished. It left nothing behind in its wake, and without the debris, it appeared as if there had been no battle at all, except for the acid burns on the grass.

"Is that it?" a Boxin warrior asked. "Is it over?"

"I wouldn't bet on it," Sir Ebrum cautioned. "Monsters like this have a knack for finding ways back right when you least expect it. Brace yourselves, because he will be back."

In that moment, as if the monster had been waiting for an announcement, the beast reappeared, appearing from behind and swooping down on the soldiers. His jeering laughter could be heard over everything else, as if mocking them for the futility of their battle.

"He is back!" Meta Knight called out, and he took to the air as he spoke. "Strike the monster now! Now, before he has the opportunity to attack again!" Leading with action as well as words, Meta Knight dived in, Galaxia in hand and ready to finish the fight.

The beast was ready for them, though. When he saw Meta Knight, he charged up and shot several razer-sharp boomerangs in the Puffal's direction. Meta Knight was able to swerve out of the way in time.

That, however, sent him right in the direction of the beast's claws. With a slash of his claws, the monster was able to land a blow on the warrior. Thankfully, the strike missed his wings, but it was still hard enough and painful enough to send him down into a spiral. Meta Knight then crashed into the ground, as he had been unable to regain his wings' steadiness.

The monster attempted to land on him to land a killing blow, but he was driven back as Sir Heavy Knight and Sir Ebrum charged in. The combination of the gun blasts and sword beam were not enough to stop the monster completely, but eh suddenness of the attack and their near idiotic charge was enough to startle the monster into a retreat.

As the beast was attempting to beat a hasty retreat, Meta Knight saw his opportunity. Raising Galaxia, he swung down one more time, his aim completely on the monster's wing. He had no hope that the strike would finish the creature off completely, but he did hold out hope that it would strike in just the way to cripple the foe.

His aim was true. Though the strike was not enough to defeat the creature, it did deal enough damage to his wing that it sent the monster into a crazed flight pattern. Unable to control where he was going, the monster veered into the palace walls and crashed right into the Fountain of Dreams.

An unearthly wail emanated from the walls, and in a moment the warriors rushed over to find out what had happened to their downed foe. To their surprise, the monster had become trapped in the fountain and was flailing about, shrieking as if the pure waters were burning him.

As they drew closer, it became clear that this was what was happening. The purifying waters of the fountain had weakened the monstrosity, and he was now flailing to get out of the fountain.

"He is weakened!" Meta Knight called out. "We have our opening! Charge now!"

In a moment, the soldiers rushed upon the now-weakened monster. They were able to catch the beast off guard, and, for the first time, they stood a fighting chance against the horrible creature.

This is not to say that the fight was easy. Weakened or not, the monster that had once been Marx was still quite powerful, and the moment he saw the warriors rushing him, he let out another shriek. He threw himself on the nearest of them. Raising his claws, he prepared to slash down on the Boxin and end Sir Heavy Knight once and for all.

Meta Knight moved fast. In a blur, he rushed upon the monster, striking down on him directly with the pure blade of Galaxia. He would not allow the beast to have his kill, and he was ending this fight once and for all.

For a moment, there was a pause. Then, at a tone and volume higher and more intense than ever before, the monster screamed. All those who were able to fled away from the sound, but Meta Knight held fast.

In a moment, however, it was over. The monstrosity had been weakened by the purity of the Fountain of Dream, and he certainly couldn't handle the light emanating from Galaxia. The shriek rang out for a few moments, but then the monster evaporated, finished off once and for all.

Once the monster was gone, there was an uneasy pause. Those on the battle field waited to see if the creature would come back, just as if had last time, but there was nothing. The monster that had once been Marx was gone.

That quiet, however, did not stay for long. During the fight, one of Pop Star's many moons had come up in the sky, and while the warriors were recovering from the battle, a burst of light came up from it. They fighters all turned in shock to look at the event as the pure, white light coming from that burst seemed to drive away the polluted atmosphere.

"What is that?" a young Dreamlander asked.

Meta Knight's eyes flashed green as he looked on. "That is Kirby. May we hope his battle is going as well as ours has."

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Within Stormholt, Lynette's heart beat furiously. She wasn't certain she liked what she was about to do. No, scratch that. She knew darn well she did not like what she was about to do. Aside from one or two other times, she was not used to fighting, nonetheless using an ancient, no doubt complicated war machine.

Still, there was no other choice. If she refused to face the beast head on, then many people would die. That creature would rampage through the warriors and go down to where those who couldn't fight were hidden. Down, into the tunnels, to get at the elderly, the ill, the young children, her eggs.

She couldn't allow that to happen. She had to stop that beast before it came to that.

Taking a sharp turn into the recently reopened design studio of Sir Metian, she hurried over to the repair stand where the Robobotrix armor had been placed for restoring. She could see that the work was far from complete, but desperate timed called for desperate measures, and times were most certainly desperate.

Swinging herself into the piloting seat, she turned her attention to the controls. To her relief, the system was relatively simple, and though the controls were labeled in a language she couldn't read, a few of them had a translation scrawled out on them in a marker.

"Alright, let's see if I can't start this thing up," she muttered to herself. She turned a large green knob that had been labeled "ignition" and hoped whoever had written that was correct.

In an instant, the machine seemed to flare to life. Excitement and energy seemed to flow from the device and into Lynette herself as she activated the machine. Without a minute's hesitation, she reached for the controls to move the machine forwards.

This was her first mistake, since the sudden jolt also took the machine into a wall. She was able to pull it back before she was hurt or the armor damage badly, but it did teach her to be more careful when judging the controls.

Making sure to move more slowly and deliberately this time, she began moving the armor upwards and outwards, knowing that many lives depended on her being able to get the machine up and out.

…

In the hall, the warriors knocked unconscious by the steam were begging to regain their senses. Daroach had been among them, but he had escaped the severe injuries some of them had endured by the sheer fortune that he was wearing his cloak.

He forced himself up and strained to get a look around himself. Unfortunately, before he could quite measure out what had happened to him and where he was, the monstrous Wolfwrath noticed him and sprang. It snatched him up in its jaws and tossed him across the room, leaving a painful bite wound in the process.

By instinct, Daroach wrapped his cape around himself, vanishing before he could slam against the back wall. He reappeared in the main hallway, skidding across the room before stopping right in front of the door.

When he came to a stop, he instinctively felt around for the Triple Star, but that had been left behind at the sight of the recent battle. Still, he wasn't completely out of luck, as there was a spear that had been dropped by one of the previous fighters. Snatching it up, he was able to use it to force himself to his feet.

The monster seemed to deem the one moving figure left as the most important enemy. It opened its jaws wide and launched a fireball at Daroach, who was only just barely able to throw himself out of the way in time for the projectile to zip by him. It was still close enough for him to feel the heat of the blast.

Spinning around as fast as he could, Daroach chucked the light spear in the direction of the Wolfwrath. Unfortunately, the weapon was too small to deal the beast any amount of harm. The head of the spear became entangled in the monster's fur, and the beast just looked down, grabbed it by its shaft, and yanked it out, snapping it in half in the process.

The monster then lunged at him again, prepared to snatch him up in its jaws. Daroach was prepared to teleport away again, but this time it wasn't necessary. As the Wolfwrath sprang at him, it was stopped mid jump by a punch to the face. The blow was harder than anyone expected, and the Wolfwrath was sent flying across the room.

Still aching from the wounds he had taken in the battle, Daroach still forced himself to turn and look over at who it was that rescued him. "Well," he said, giving a grin. "I do suppose that's one way of dealing with a pest."

"I thought you might need to the assist," Lynette said as she moved the Robobotrix armor closer. "I'd offer you a hand, but I don't know this quiet well enough yet, and I don't want to hurt you."

"Quite alright, my dear, quite alright," Daroach responded, grasping a decorative carving on the wall to pull himself up. "I think you're doing quite well for your first time. I would just say-watch out!"

As they had been talking, the Wolfwrath had sufficiently recovered from the blow to prepare itself for another round. It had gotten up on its haunches to spring at them again when Daroach had spotted it.

Thanks to his swift warning, Lynette was able to react in time. Moving ahead and grabbing the mouse so as to get him out of the way, she swiftly sidestepped, allowing the monster to pass them by in the heat of its attack. She then tossed Daroach away as gently as she could so that she could grasp the beast by its mane and force it down.

The monster wasn't about to give up so easily. It bucked this way and that, twisting its head around as it did so in an attempt to bite at the restraining mecha. It took all of Lynette's willpower and control over the machine to keep the monster at bay.

While the battle was waging, Daroach moved back over to where the other warriors lay, unconscious, and dug up the Triple Star. It took every ounce of will he had to keep himself upright, even with the support of the cane-weapon, but he knew that he had to help, no matter how difficult it was. Once he was on his feet, he raised the weapon high above his head and let out an ice beam.

The ice struck the beast in the side, and the monster let out a shriek of pain. This also weakened it temporarily, which allowed Lynette to pin it down and force it to the ground.

Unfortunately, this advantage did not last for long. The ice melted fast and the water evaporated even faster, and once the effects of the attack were gone, the beast was able to recover enough to throw the Robobotrix armor off.

However, that had given Lynette an idea. "It hates the cold!" she exclaimed, thoroughly cheered by the revelation. "When it's cold, it is weakened! Daroach, can you give it another round of ice? One more continuous this time?"

"I can certainly try," the mouse replied, and he forced his weapon above his head again.

While he prepared the attack, Lynette charged the monster and met it head on. The two clashed, and she caught it by the neck. Unfortunatly, it twisted its head around and caught her other arm in its jaws.

Lynette grew anxious, as she could already see the armor melting under the heat and pressure of the beast, but it was too late to give up now. "Now! Daroach, blast it now!"

"On it!" the mouse shouted back, and he unleashed a steady stream of ice into the beast's side.

The power shift started near immediately as the ice struck. The Wolfwrath let out a cry of pain when it was hit, and it was forced to release the armor as if desperately tried to squirm away from the freezing beam.

Lynette, however, blocked its escape. Keeping a hold of its head, she held the beast in the beam of the ice. After a few more moments of being in the freezing blast, it went still.

The battle now finished, Lynette backed off the dead creature, which crumbled into ashes in a moment. As she got out of the Robobotrix armor, Daroach hobbled over to her. "There, the dreadful thing is finished," he said, looking at the ashes, which had already started to blow away.

"I needed to finish it off quickly," Lynette replied. "It's unknown why, but Wolfwrath venom has some sort of tie to the creature itself, so if we wanted to heal those effected, I needed to slay the creature."

"Well, you did a wonderful job of that," the mouse replied, working stiffly to doff his cap to her. "I do think I'm feeling better already."

"Still, we've got to get you and the others to a med-station," the Puffal said with a small shake of her head. "Hopefully, there will be other doctors available to-"

Before she could finish here statement, a blast of light went off from one of the moons of Pop Star. It let out a thunderous noise, and a pure white light filled the sky.

In an instant, Lynette and Daroach hurried to look into the sky. "That's Kirby," Lynette said, her voice almost catching in her throat. "I'm sure of it. He's up there."

"If that is indeed him," Daroach said, shielding his eyes while struggling to get a look, "then he is having a battle for the ages, indeed."

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When Kirby became aware of himself once more, he struggled to get onto his feet. However, to his dismay, he found that he wasn't lying on anything. He wasn't sitting or standing, either. He was floating out in a stark, black void, with no signs of anyone or anything around.

"Frightened, are you, little Guardian?" a thunderous voice boomed out. Dark laughter accompanied the question. "You should be."

Kirby's eyes shot this way and that as he searched for the person who had asked the question, but he couldn't see anything or anyone anywhere. Whoever it was seemed to find this amusing. "You won't find any help here, Kirby. You're in my realm now."

In a moment, a shape materialized and took on the form of Nightmare. The warlock glared down at his opponent, malice gleaming bright in his eyes. "Welcome to the world of Nightmares. It is not a realm you can escape from."

As Kirby stared at Nightmare, a sense of revulsion filled him, and he had a strong desire to get away. It wasn't fear he was feeling, as for some reason, what he saw in the warlock did not scare him. It was more that what he saw disgusted and repulsed him.

Nightmare didn't seem to understand this, though, and he laughed. "This is the terror you cannot get away from, Kirby," he stated, appearing in the direction the little Puffal was trying to move in."

"Kaabii not sca'd!" Kirby called out, and he was truly more annoyed by the warlock than afraid of him.

"Then you are a fool," Nightmare said, and the level tone he spoke in bore more ill will than shouting would had.

Kirby attempted to get away from the monstrous being by wiggling away in a swimming motion, but Nightmare was too fast for him. Raising a hand, he caught the child in some sort of telekinetic wave and pulled him back, hanging him upside down in the process. Kirby gave a yelp as he was grabbed and he struggled to get away, but it was all in vain.

Seeing the struggling of his opponent, Nightmare laughed. "So, this is the mighty Guardian that everyone had held out hope for? A mewling infant, not even able to speak properly yet? Pathetic."

He flung Kirby to one side with a casual flick of his wrist. The pink Puffal went sailing in that direction for a long time, before smacking into a solid object. Kirby only had a brief moment to comprehend what was happening before Nightmare's hand enclosed around him.

"So this is what becomes of the hoshi no senshi," Nightmare said in a mocking tone. "The Warrior of the Stars will die, alone in this void, soon to be followed up by those that he cares about." The monster laughed again. "This will be a fitting ending to the so-called Dreamland chronicles…"

While he was saying this, Kirby struggled with all his might. This was everything he could do to fight. He didn't want to die here, and he certainly didn't want to leave everyone he cared about to be murdered. However, he wasn't sure what he could do.

That's when he heard a voice. "Remember, Kirby of the Stars, you do not go into this alone."

In that moment, in his mind, he could see them. The past Guardians. They were not there physically, but he could see them all in his mind. He recognized Stellara, and Photron, and Tchicalda, who he had met before. There were other creatures there, too, some who looked like members of other worlds he had visited, and some the likes of which he had never seen before.

Despite how different they all could look, however, Kirby felt a solidarity to them. He felt as if he had known them all his life, and in that moment, he knew he could rely on their strength.

Nightmare, however, was unaware of what was happening. He had taken the little one's going still as a sign that his victory was close at hand and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him. He prepared to laugh out in victory when he realized this.

However, just as the sound had started, Kirby stirred. A hot light filled Nightmare's hand, and he was forced to drop the little Guardian to stop the painful burn that was building up. With a cry, the Distort drew back, grasping on to his injured limb.

At the same time, Kirby gained control. Having tapped in to the true power of the Guardians, he had become supercharged and had gained his second wind. Without hesitating for a moment, he charged straight at the monstrous warlock.

For the first time in his life, Nightmare was afraid. In a moment, he summoned up a sword to attempt to ward the young Puffal back, but the attempt was in vain. The moment Kirby came near it, the weapons shattered into a thousand pieces. Then the young one hit Nightmare, and the entirety of the Nightmare Landscape crumbled down.

Once the illusion had been broken, Kirby awoke on the moon's landscape. A distance off, Nightmare lay still, recovering in this world from the attack that had been dealt in the mindscape. Closer to the Puffal, however, lay the Star Rod and the Warp Star.

The moment Kirby saw his two weapons, he knew what he had to do. The stars in his eyes had already started flashing by the time he got to his feet, and the minute he pushed himself up, he started inhaling as deeply as he could. Because of the Hypernova, the Star Rod and Warp Star came to him in a heartbeat. Taking them in his mouth he copied them.

There was a bright flash of light, brighter than ever before, and when it faded away, there was Kirby. He was seated on top of a chariot shaped with white wings extended back on either side. On the front and beneath each wing was a little golden star. He had summoned up the Star Chariot.

When Nightmare saw this new weapon, he knew his time was at an end. However, not wanting to give up so easily, he attempted one last charge, trying to strike the young one with a blast of dark energy before he could use his grand weapon.

It was too late, however. The moment Kirby saw what was coming, he responded in turn with his own blast of light. The light cut through the darkness with ease and, not having even been slowed down by its previous contact, ripped right into Nightmare. The shot hit the Distort right in the chest, knocking him back hard.

At the same time, Kirby took the Star Chariot, and remembering what he had done in his fight against 02, closed his eyes and opened the rift to the Tartarus Dimension. As soon as the rift was opened, its effects were felt. Nightmare immediately felt the pull, and despite some feeble attempts to pull himself back, he was yanked into the rift. "I cannot go now!" he attempted to bellow, but the effects of the void caused it to come out as more of a whimper. "I…cannot…go!" With that, he slipped into the void and disappeared.

Unlike last time, when Nightmare vanished, the rift did not close. Instead, it moved over to the armada and began pulling them in, with the exception of the Lor Starcutter, who was quite grateful for the break. You see, the rift could not close until every last servant of Nightmare had been caught, for no trace of the warlock's power could be allowed to manifest. Those who had taken their side with him would join him in his fate.

The rift ended by going to the very lair of Nightmare and pulling the whole place in. It was truly a spectacle to behold as the meteor the size of a palace disappeared into the gapping darkness, never to be seen again. When this act was finished, the rift closed up, and it was like it had never been there in the first place.

His work now finished, Kirby turned from the place of battle and zipped down and in the direction of Pop Star. As he moved that way, he was joined by the Lor Star Cutter. "You did it, Guardian Kirby," she cheered. "You defeated the Distort. Because of your action, this universe will be at peace once more!"

"Poyo!" the child exclaimed cheerfully.

Moving at the speed they were traveling, it wasn't long until they reached the atmosphere of Pop Star. As soon as the made it on to the planet, it was like they had broken through a barrier, and what little remained on the evil atmosphere Nightmare's approach had made shattered into a thousand pieces, and the blue sky became clear over all the land.

Kirby sailed over Cappy Town before settling down in the palace grounds near the Fountain of Dreams. As soon as he touched the ground, the chariot dissolved and broke apart into the Warp Star and Star Rod once more.

As he was gathering up the pieces, he heard a rise of cheerful calls behind him. "Look! It's Kirby! He's back!"

"Yes, he did it!"

"He drove that monster away!"

Turning around, he saw a huge wave of people coming right at him. It was mostly the citizens, who had started filing out of the palace, but his friends were taking the lead. Ribbon in particular was moving the fastest, and when she reached the Puffal, she gave him a big hug. "Congratulations, Kirby!"

"You did it!" Tiff called out.

Great cheers were picked up by the civilians, who were more than eager to greet the hero of the hour. Even Dedede raised his hammer in appreciation for the little one.

It was at this point that the Star Warriors came up, led by Meta Knight. "You have done well, Kirby," the older warrior said, giving the young warrior a pat on the head. "Because of you, many lives have been saved this day."

"Yew'elcome," Kirby said, giving a grin. He then let out a huge yawn. "We go home now?"

Meta Knight gave a laugh. "Yes, indeed, I think we should go home now." With that, the two Puffals and everyone else headed to Stormholt loaded into the Lor Starcutter and went back to the fortress.

(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)(0u0)

Epilogue

"It's hard to think it's been almost four months already," Sir Arthur commented. It was a beautiful spring day, and most of the Star Warriors were out enjoying it on the beach. The leader of the Star Warrior was standing with Meta Knight, Lynette, Daroach, and a few others observing their children at play.

"Indeed," Meta Knight said with a nod. "It's a good thing the winter was mild. If things had been worse, repairs would have been more difficult."

"Thankfully there wasn't too much snow," Lynette said with a smile.

Her attention, however, was diverted in a moment when she realized that Kirby was carrying two little ones towards the water. "Kirby, no! Angie and Lilly are too young for the ocean! Let them stay in the tide pool!"

As she hurried off to rescue her newborns, Daroach laughed. "Kirby's a bright young one, but he still doesn't seem to understand there's a difference between the two littlest ones and his other siblings."

"He'll learn soon enough," Meta Knight commented, shaking his head. "He's been taking to his responsibilities well, and he'll be ready for the next step soon."

"Speaking of the next step, I've been wanting to talk with you about something, Meta Knight," Sir Arthur said.

"Yes, sir?" the blue Puffal asked.

"You know how I've been wanting to retire from the position of head lately?" Arthur went on. "Well, I have decided that I want you as my replacement."

This comment took Meta Knight by surprise. "Thank you, sir, but I do not know what to say. I do not think I've been prepared for this honor."

"You've been prepared well enough," Arthur commented with a laugh. "I know you'll do very well. Besides, even with Nightmare gone, there's still trouble out in the galaxy, and the leader of this group needs to be younger than someone like me."

"Thank you, sir," Meta Knight said, giving a respectful salute. "I shall do my best."

"I know you will," Arthur replied with a smile.

As the day wore on, everyone enjoyed it well, knowing that, despite whatever trouble may come, they would all stand together. Kirby and his allies still had trouble on occasion (Dedede was still up to his old tricks), but things remained happy for the most part. They would fight only when necessary, celebrate when was appropriate, and live out the rest of their lives doing the best they could in everything they did.

The End.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Just as a heads up, this is not a fan fiction for any particular Kirby media. This series is a separate universe, one where nearly all the characters and elements from the various series will interact. Also, most of the references made to the anime will be from Right Back at Ya, though some elements from Hoshi no Kaabii will be included.


End file.
